"Recently though, our State Governments have discussed instigating a carbon trading scheme - the details are still to be decided - and that's an encouraging sign"
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“Details are still to be decided” is doing the heavy lifting here: it’s a politician’s way of promising motion without committing to direction. Coming from Peter Garrett, that hedging lands with extra charge because his public identity was built on the opposite posture - blunt moral urgency, the kind you can chant to. As a musician-turned-minister, he’s always carried a split-screen expectation: part rock-era truth-teller, part cabinet-compliant realist. This line sits squarely in that tension.
The specific intent is to praise momentum while insulating himself from the policy’s eventual compromises. A carbon trading scheme is technical, contested, and easy to weaponize as either toothless market theater or economy-wrecking ideology. By foregrounding “State Governments” and the fact of “discussion,” Garrett distributes ownership. If it works, the movement is broad. If it fails, responsibility is diluted.
The subtext is reassurance aimed at multiple audiences who don’t like each other. Climate-concerned voters hear “encouraging sign” as moral progress: action is finally entering the rooms that matter. Industry and wary centrists hear the caution clause: nothing is locked in, the design can be negotiated, calibrated, softened. The line also signals a strategic pivot in Australian climate politics, where federal paralysis has often pushed states into a patchwork of leadership. Garrett is blessing that workaround while staying careful, translating activism into governance: optimism with an asterisk.
The specific intent is to praise momentum while insulating himself from the policy’s eventual compromises. A carbon trading scheme is technical, contested, and easy to weaponize as either toothless market theater or economy-wrecking ideology. By foregrounding “State Governments” and the fact of “discussion,” Garrett distributes ownership. If it works, the movement is broad. If it fails, responsibility is diluted.
The subtext is reassurance aimed at multiple audiences who don’t like each other. Climate-concerned voters hear “encouraging sign” as moral progress: action is finally entering the rooms that matter. Industry and wary centrists hear the caution clause: nothing is locked in, the design can be negotiated, calibrated, softened. The line also signals a strategic pivot in Australian climate politics, where federal paralysis has often pushed states into a patchwork of leadership. Garrett is blessing that workaround while staying careful, translating activism into governance: optimism with an asterisk.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
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