As you recall, I asked both for your nominations and your votes for the inaugural Environmental Arsehat of the Year. Nominees could be a person or an entity who stood out in 2016 for his/her/their egregious attacks on environmental integrity. There were many fine nominations, and so now I’m elated to announce the results of the voting. Drumroll …
In 4th place with 13.7% of the votes, Matt Ridley. He is Conservative hereditary peer in the British House of Lords, and a flack for the coal industry who has championed global-warming denialism.
In 3rd place with 14.9% of the votes, Gautam Adani. The multibillionaire is a major coal baron in India and elswhere who has made a lot of splash recently in Australia for trying to build the biggest coal mine in the world that will likely finish off the Great Barrier Reef once and for all. Nice one, Gautam.
In 2nd place with 17.7% of the votes, The Liberal-National Party of Queensland. The (former) State Government ushered Queensland into 2016 by making the state one of the world’s deforestation hotspots, yet again!
And now, for the winner with a whopping 30.3% of the popular vote; please put your virtual hands together for the 2016 Environmental Arsehat of the Year …
Greg Hunt!
Well done, Greg. You have exceeded all expectations, and you can now add this lovely accolade to your growing awards shelf. I sincerely hope you won’t be able to do as much damage in your current portfolio as your former environmental one because you and your cronies set back by decades the environmental integrity of Australia through your negligence and incompetence.
Mr Hunt will be a hard one to beat for 2017, but please keep those nominations pouring in over the next 12 months. Thank you for all who nominated and/or voted.
