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About the book
The world's scientists agree that to avoid the worst impacts of climate change we must cut global greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050. When Kevin Rudd was elected, he committed Australia to this emissions target, but he inherited an Australia on track to increase emissions 70 per cent by 2050. Why did the Howard government act so conspicuously against the world's interests, and against Australia's own future? How was that decade wasted? What were the lessons from the Howard era that the Rudd-Gillard government went on to ignore so spectacularly?
In this damning account, Liberal Party member, lobbyist and former Howard-government advisor Guy Pearse takes us behind the rhetoric he once helped write. He reveals that the Howard government had no plans whatsoever to reduce Australia's emissions, and how their approach threatened Australia's economy. He exposes a prime minister who was wilfully blind to Australia's real interests - a man who allowed climate change policy to be dictated by a small group of Australia's biggest polluters and the lobbyists they fund.
High & Dry is the most comprehensive account of Australia's response to climate change yet written. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to appreciate why Australian governments continue to baulk at cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Australia. From John Howard to Kevin Rudd to Malcolm Turnbull, the list of political leaders determined to find an easy, polluter-friendly way around climate change keeps growing. As our emissions spiral, and Julia Gillard 'throws open the government's door open to the mining industry', the greenhouse mafia behind Australia's inaction are as powerful and determined as ever. You cannot understand Australia's continued inaction on climate change without reading this book. 
