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Climate change isn’t just a theory — it’s the Greens’ universal scapegoat.

Adam Bandt may not be leading the Greens anymore, but that doesn’t mean he’s given up lecturing the nation on the evils of coal and gas.

And he doesn’t need much of an excuse. Literally any reason will do.

So with the arrival of bird flu, naturally, Adam Bandt saw an opportunity to sermonise on fossil fuels.

“It’s really distressing. Like I bet you’re upset. I am too. Watching the spread of bird flu over recent weeks, it’s just been incredibly devastating.

“One of the things that this has really brought home is that it is time to stop already vulnerable populations under even more pressure by habitat destruction and climate change.”

Just one problem.

Bird flu is not caused by climate change.

But I get the temptation. Honestly, I do.

The Swiss Army Knife of Excuses

Climate change has become the Swiss Army knife of political explanations. Whatever the problem, simply unfold the climate-change blade and start waving it around…

Scientists have blamed climate change for bumpy Jetstar flights.

The ACT Government has blamed climate change for potholes.

And the World Health Organisation has blamed climate change for bad hair days.

So why not add birds with the Influence A virus to the list of casualties?

“Now is the time to stop bulldozing their habitat. Now is the time to stop opening new coal and gas mines pushing climate change even worse and making already vulnerable populations take that one step closer to extinction.”

A Convenient Inconsistency

If Adam Bandt is genuinely worried about bulldozing habitat, he might want to have a word with the renewable-energy industry.

Because there is an awkward little problem with the Greens’ vision of an all-electric, all-renewable utopia: wind and solar infrastructure does not simply materialise on pristine land after being delivered by a particularly eco-friendly fairy.

It requires roads, transmission infrastructure, substations, construction and, in many cases, the clearing and fragmentation of habitat.

Perhaps Bandt could explain why bulldozing bushland for renewable energy is virtuous, while bulldozing bushland for anything else is an unforgivable sin.

And then came the grand finale:

“We have a really significant opportunity right here, right now to offer the best protection to our wildlife, and that means stop habitat destruction and stop making climate change worse.”

There’s something almost touching about Bandt’s confidence that Australia possesses a giant planetary thermostat hidden somewhere underneath Parliament House.

Apparently, if Australia stops opening coal and gas mines, the world’s climate will breathe a sigh of relief, and bird flu will reconsider its travel arrangements.

The reality is rather less convenient.

Australia should absolutely protect wildlife habitat.

It should absolutely take bird flu seriously.

And it should absolutely scrutinise any development — renewable or otherwise — that threatens important habitat.

But turning a bird-virus outbreak into another advertisement for the climate agenda isn’t environmental leadership.

It is opportunism with feathers.

Bandt doesn’t appear to understand that bird flu isn’t caused by climate change, that renewable infrastructure can itself have environmental impacts, or that Australia alone cannot meaningfully control global temperatures by refusing to develop another coal or gas project.

But at least he has managed to find one thing that apparently has an easier time spreading than bird flu. And that’s a climate change talking point.

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Republished with thanks to The James Macpherson Report. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.