Image source: smh.com.au
After eleven and a half years of a Coalition government that has ignored critical issues like climate change, the plight of indigenous Australians, the popular support for a republic, and mass opposition to the Iraq war, there is now cause for optimism. The defeat of John Howard by Maxine McKew in his own electorate of Bennelong (after being the sitting member for 33 years) will be the icing on the cake.
Image source: www.international.mq.edu.au
The guy on the left prays to God for rain. The guy on the right explains why rain (or lack thereof) has got nothing to do with God and, using science, lays the blame firmly at the door of homo sapiens. Having recently finished reading his excellent book, The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery has now succeeded in making my ‘people I would most like to invite around for a BBQ’ list. I’m not sure this is an accolade that will compete with his recent ‘Australian of the Year’ gong, but listening to him, and reading his books, he seems like the type of bloke who wouldn’t turn down a veggieburger and cold one if it were offered at short notice. Apart from the fact he is a good bloke, he is also very clever and The Weather Makers should be compulsory reading for all people who care about the future their children will inherit. Please note deliberate non-reference to grandchildren here … yes, it’s that close … and yes, we are in deep do-do’s unless people like the bloke on the left don’t get their heads out of the sand. We are the weather makers and the evidence is on our TV sets right now with record floods in the UK and China, heat waves in Greece, and drought in Australia.
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), having won some respect under the new leadership of Kevin Rudd in recent weeks sank back to new lows, in my opinion, with its recent Conference resolution to allow new uranium mines. This is a huge mistake on the part of the ALP because by joining the Government in favouring nuclear power as a solution to reducing reliance on fossil fuels it means that, yet again, it has forgone an opportunity to differentiate itself from the ruling party. Listening to Tim Flannery on ABC radio this week, the ALP would do well to take advice from him. Flannery, author of best-seller, The Weather Makers, makes the point that given the widely acknowledged problems with nuclear power (e.g. dealing with waste, the time and cost involved in constructing nuclear power plants, and the dangers associated with plants becoming targets for terrorist attacks) it makes an inordinate amount of sense to explore this option only as a last resort. Far better, suggests Flannery, to go as far as you can to reduce emissions by increasing the efficiency of energy use and exploring clean and safe renewable energy options. If future demand for energy can be met through these means, the taxpayer can save a whole lot of money, the environment will experience less damage, and the community will be a safer place to live in. The lack of thought by the major political parties regarding climate change is also exemplified by Flannery’s observation that they have yet to identify what increase in temperature they consider to be unacceptably high, and what policies they plan to put in place to ensure this scenario does not eventuate.
Tim Flannery, by the way, is Australian of the Year. I hope he is Australian of the Year next year and the year after too.
Image source: news.com
History will judge John Howard as the Australian Prime Minister who fiddled while his country burned. With the exception of the very principled stance he took when he exerted his authority to change Australia’s gun laws following the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania (something no US President would have the balls to do despite the plethora of school shootings in recent times), Howard has shied away from hard decisions throughout his tenure, opting instead for short term electoral gain. This sunburnt country-continent has been contending with drought ever since white settlement, as farmers have attempted to transfer their European farming practices to an environment that simply isn’t suited to such activities in the long term. In the early days, it didn’t matter because water and land were in abundance, and when one source dried up, there was always another to tap into. With the onset of climate change, aided and abetted by recalcitrant governments like Howard’s, the situation has just got a whole lot worse. The tragedy is, that this government has been producing budget surplus after budget surplus, and rather than seize the opportunity to restructure the Australian economy away from its reliance on fossil fuels and an ecologically unsound farm sector, it has given tax cuts to its ‘fat cat’ mates instead. And John Howard’s solution to this imbroglio? We must all get down on our knees and pray for rain. Very strategic John … especially as the number of Christians in Australia is at an all-time low.
Image source: salon.com
In an interview last night on Australia’s ABC’s Lateline [RealPlayer required], Bono was his usual dapper self. Currently on tour in Australia, the aging Irish rock star (he is the same age as me) is ruffling a few feathers with the political establishment. However, … surprise, surprise … there is to be no meeting with John Howard. For once, the PM is not following in Dubya’s footsteps. Asked about his role in raising awareness about poverty in the less developed world, he employed the Sachs ‘weapons of mass salvation’ thesis rather than adopt the liberal do-gooder position. “It’s not a good cause” he said, “it’s an emergency”.
Image source: www.abc.net.au
ABC news reports today why John Howard will go down as the most famous of Australian Prime Ministers. Paradoxically, having avoided making difficult decisions with spectacular consistency during his tenure as Prime Minster, he will surely have his wish to be remembered as one of the most readily identifiable of Australian leaders. Unfortunately for Howard, it will be for all the wrong reasons: all appalling record on the rights of indigenous Australians, an obsequious relationship with the imperialist US Bush administration and–to cap it all–a blatant disregard for the welfare of future generations of Australians on account of his refusal to manage environmental issues.
It was quite predictable, I suppose, that both John Howard and Tony Blair would make some political capital from the unveiling of the new Australian war memorial in Hyde Park, London, yesterday.
Recent research suggests that global warming is likely to occur faster than first thought. Given the trend in US foreign policy (“You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists“) and the very explicit way in which members of the ‘coalition of the unwilling’ are being treated (e.g. Chile, Canada, France), the new ‘friendship’ between the US and Australia will be increasingly difficult to break, especially with AUSFTA to bind the relationship. What chance then of John Howard signing the Kyoto Protocol so long as the US doesn’t?
President Bush described the Australian PM as ‘a man of courage’ to the assembled media last week, as he publicly thanked John Howard for his support during the Iraq War.
‘God bless the Civil Service, The nation’s saving grace, While we expect democracy, They’re laughing in our face’
crooned Billy Bragg in reference to the British civil service going public on matters of conscience.
