Five to be paid $300,000 a year to make sure Labor's 'Citizen’s Assembly' reaches the "right" conclusions #ausvotes

I knew it. It was always going to be a set up leading to a predetermined conclusion. But at the end they'll be able to say that they have "consulted" with the community! Tim Blair: Five lucky climateers are set to earn almost as much as the Prime Minister: The five climate change experts Julia Gillard hopes to inform public opinion on the issue will be paid an average of $300,000 a year.   It’s a four-year deal, so these temperature talkers will be rolling in it. The hours don’t sound too difficult: Part of the commission’s role will be to assist the 150-member Citizen’s Assembly, a group designed to find a consensus on the issue. The costing request shows the government expects the assembly to meet three times, the first being later this year and then twice more by the middle of 2012. The government expects its plan to cost $2.7 million. Who will be the chosen five? UPDATE. Henry Ergas on the citizens’ assembly: It undermines both the preconditions that make for good government. It avoids taking a stance on a crucial issue, thus circumventing the bases of political accountability. At the same time, it empanels what amounts to a jury, but without the safeguards indispensable for jury processes to have legitimacy. But it will make five clowns rich. UPDATE II. The global warming movement is kaput! Finito! Done!

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