A climate change reckoning

TLDR: Tipping points are an ugly feature of climate change science, but they can also apply in politics. Australia Inc went over its tipping point on Saturday night, showing that politicians, lobbyists, corporates and some voters can successfully hold back the tide of history for a long time, but not forever.

See more below the paywall fold of my analysis of what the Australian election result might mean for us (probably less than we imagine) and what to look for next in Australia on climate change.

Photo: Wendell Teodoro/AFP/Getty Images

Elsewhere in the news overnight and this morning:

• PM Jacinda Ardern is set to lead a trade delegation to the United States later tonight, but it’s not clear if she’ll get to meet US President Joe Biden because of her recent bout of Covid;

• China has begun talks with Kiribati and one other unnamed Pacific nation for a Solomons Islands-style defence cooperation deal, US intelligence officials told the FT-$$$ over the weekend;

• the U.S., Japan, Australia, and India, will unveil a satellite tracking system at their Quad summit in Tokyo tomorrow to curb illegal fishing in the Indo-Pacific, mostly by China, Reuters; and

• Core Logic reported 99.1% of sellers of existing homes made a median resale profit of $406,000 in the March quarter, down from 99.3% and 435,000 in the December quarter, with total capital gains from home sales in the 90 days of $4.2b. The homes are typically sold 7-10 years after they are bought, meaning many owner occupiers will have made more tax-free capital gains per year than their salaries or wages, especially after tax.

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