It’s time to pause and think about the consequences of the step backwards our country has just taken. Because the policies and tendencies of the liberal party really do represent the past and not the future. In order to cope with the enormous challenges our society faces, we need to make gradual—if not radical—changes to our politics, to our society, to our infrastructure, and to our attitudes regarding our personal needs. Such changes can only be brought about by progressive politics. The labor party, despite being still conservative in this direction, nevertheless made important steps and motions which, if built upon and followed up by future generations, could help guarantee a sustainable future. Several of these steps are likely to be torn down, abandoned, or neglected by our new liberal government. Examples include: the carbon tax, which pressures energy corporations to move towards clean energy; the mining tax, which raises wealth from the super profits of mining corporations to benefit all Australians; clean energy initiatives, which are absolutely necessary, and yet which the liberal party choose not to prioritise; and public transport, which the liberals choose to neglect and instead propose to build more roads. This last issue is especially important in the cities of the future, and is a good example of the ludicrous short-term attitude of the Liberal party. As population density increases, the only long-term transport solution is trains and subways. This is also an important energy sustainability issue. Petrol prices are likely to skyrocket in the next few years as demand outweighs supply and remaining oil sources dwindle. Electric cars will not arrive soon enough to stop the mass exodus to public transport, and if the public transport infrastructure is not there, the economic and social impacts will be catastrophic. Campbell Newmann, the conservative premier of Queensland, spent his years as Brisbane Mayor constructing roads under the city which cost billions. These tolled tunnels are highly underused by motorists, have had a negligible impact on traffic jams, will not solve future traffic issues, have been a financial disaster for all investors, and have genuinely jeopardized the government’s ability to build a proper inner-city rail-based public transport system which will be required in future. The Liberal party is similarly pledging to more and more roads right when the car industry is about to die and is not intending to build the important rail networks which the Labor party and the Greens are proposing. The world has changed so much and grown so much in the past 50 years that it is hard to believe conservative politicians continue to think short-term and are continuing to maintain the fanciful myth of unregulated capitalism as a means to a better society. As our population grows and accessible resources dwindle—as they inevitable will—it is important that we make a smooth transition to a a sustainable society. A sustainable society is one that does not require enormous production and consumption of non-essential items to create wealth. A sustainable society uses renewable energy sources to their utmost capacity. A sustainable society is also one in which its citizens do not demand an unrealistic quality of life. Citizens of a sustainable society understand that the desire to be wealthy places great pressure on the economy and on the environment. They also understand that there will never be enough wealth for everyone to be wealthy. Citizens for a sustainable future will therefore have to think about accepting less. We do not really need that much to be happy. The four things we absolutely need are food, family, shelter, and access to medical services. We have the resources, the technology, and the ability to guarantee these things for all citizens in a sustainable way, without continually destroying the environment, and without continuing to maintain enormous financial inequality and economic instability worldwide.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 02:09:58 +0000
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