Bernard Keane wrote recently in Crikey,  an article with a liberties taking analysis of Tony Abbott, which I have only just noticed because I just checked my backlog of email notifications. From my understanding of the content, it could also have been titled  "The terrified mind of Tony Abbott".

Our political preponderance of climate change denial is associated with conservatism, whether that of Tony Abbott or Ms Palasczuk, and is associated with basic fear. As it turns out, this kind of fear — that one is being threatened with losing one’s dominant status — is applicable across a range of issues. In Ms Palasczuk's case it should become a reality soon enough.

This is a key reason why Abbott is so adept at exploiting the politics of fear. All politicians traffic in fear, of course, but Abbott’s time in public life has been defined by it because his unparalleled genius has been to tear down or halt the achievements of others.

These people are cowards at heart. Fear of losing individual dominance status, by admitting that one's group is not in control of the situation, is a natural disaster of leadership. These people are hooked into social dominance and nature dominance. Having to give up on Coal energy is an admission that we human beings are dominated by Nature and its Limits. Those with simple dominances setting seem to have low empathy, and when emotions are cut off, we have a lower chance of communicating with common sense.

Benard Keane referred to a Publication on Science Direct, titled "Social dominance orientation and climate change denial: The role of dominance and system justification"

Climate change denial is driven partly by dominant personality and low empathy, and partly by motivation to justify and promote existing social and human-nature hierarchies. We conclude by suggesting that climate change mitigation efforts could be more successful if framed as being clearly beneficial for everybody and non-threatening to existing social order.

I think we already suggested this simple mitigation cure many times over, only these boobs are too frightened to understand it, so they need to be forced to take their frightened clutches off the reigns of power, and give up their job someone else who is brighter and sensibly courageous, and less afraid of admitting fear. What I do not understand, is how our universe conspired to have these maladaptive qualities of dominance and low empathy be the most adaptive qualities for success in the political behavioural sink, or rat-race. We are therefore screwed by our drives and those with the most success and interest in climbing a dominance social hierarchy, are the least able to cope with existential threats.