Previously I discussed what needs to be done in the Emergency, now we discuss the lack of political interest.
We have to understand how little interest there is amongst the political class at Federal or State level, in solving, or even recognising the emergency – which is one reason why we might have to work outside of Parliament, maybe at the local council level. As far as I can see there were only two current Australian Federal politicians present, and few State politicians. Although there were numbers of people from local councils, and from the ACT.
Perhaps politicians think that acknowledging the presence of an ’emergency’ would make them look weak or panic driven? Certainly they know it would leave them open to attack from the Murdoch Empire and the Minerals Council and probably the Business Council, and that this three pronged attack would not be comfortable. In some cases it may not be survivable….
Adam Bandt, the new leader of the Greens, remarked that when people brought the remains of their homes in protest to Canberra, they were largely ignored. The government continued to pretend it was acting to make things better while actively trying to make things worse.
When Greg Mullins, a former fire chief, was talking to people in his field, before the current fires, he found they all said the changes were worse than the predictions. There has been close to a 20% reduction in rain; the winter rains do not come; the season for hazard reduction burning is shortening; the gaps between major fires is shortening; and the fire season is lengthening at both ends. Fire fighters in different states could previously share resources, because the fires in one state would happen when it was not burning in another state, now the fires are pretty much continuous leaving no respite. In the current fires, areas can burn several times, which is almost unheard of previously, hindering the process of regeneration; usual fires leave islands of bush in which plants and animals shelter, these fires did not. They tried several times to get discussions with the PM, but he refused and, as we all know, went on holiday in the middle of the fires. When they did finally get a meeting with a minister, the minister rushed to a press conference to say the government was already acting and had done enough already… Mullins said that as soon as they mentioned climate change these older ‘chiefs’ were branded as activists, and as of no worth. The Murdoch Empire news sheet The Australian tried to emphasise that the group was funded by the Evil alarmist Tim Flannery and the Climate Council. A volunteer fire fighter who complained about the Prime Minster on Television, because he had seen so much loss, was dismissed from the Rural Fire Service. That is how politicised the Coalition has made the issue, and how dismissive they are.
SM’s only solution to the crisis is for us all to adapt, or get used to it, as the satiric Australien Government ads suggest. It is not possible to get used to, or adapt to, 25m sea level rises and dying land; anyone who thinks we can do this without massive planning is either lying or without imagination, so its not surprising they can’t think of solutions…
Even more to the point is that PM Morrison’s staff members are often heavily associated with the fossil fuel industry, business-favouring denial is right in his office, and we know the Coalition will not support a Federal ICAC, and Labor are reluctant.
Labor is little better. Some people describe the last election as the climate election, but Labor hardly explained its climate policy let alone emphasised it, was ambiguous about the Adani mine, promoted fracking in the NT, and allowed Morrison to get away with claiming his government was acting. After the election, Labor seemed to spend most of its time defending coal mining and the new leader dropped Labor’s 2030 targets, but that is not enough for some of his party who seem convinced that they lost because they were perceived as being anti-fossil fuels.
It also shows willful refusal to face the problems. A refusal which is contemptible and cowardly.
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In explaining the term ’emergency’ in ‘climate emergency’ Adam Bandt argued that we declare an emergency to safe lives. Ambulance workers and fire fighters are emergency workers. We could not live without them. An emergency does not always require a war.
As well as looking at the obvious fact that politicians seem controlled by factions of the corporate elite, who reward their lack of interest, there are also psychological factors which could be involved.
Tags: climate change, politics
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