It is just possible the magnitude, scale and complexity of the challenge might be dawning on some of some of our politicians. Whilst most continue to believe it can be addressed by simply bolting a greenhouse emission program dominated by technological fixes onto business as usual, some may appreciate this will require nothing short of transformational change and that Australians will be one of the most critically affected. Whether our politicians are up to it is another matter. Our current crop clearly are not. Most need to be replaced/voted out by people that treat the situation seriously, as a genuine emergency with a comprehensive plan.
This applies to all tiers of government, but it also requires institutional repair and reform within all government departments and other agencies that must provide expert advice without fear or favour – something which has been lost over recent decades but will become critically important in managing the transformational change required in coming years.
As noted in our latest forum, progress in responding to our environmental challenges (of which climate change is a major part) has been dogged for decades by vested interests intent on maintaining business as usual by downgrading the need for action, often attempting to discredit or call into question the science and making it a political issue, or using greenwash to rebadge business as usual. This situation continues today. The cost of poor governance has become obvious during the last year. The failure of Victoria’s hotel quarantine system and degraded capacity of government departments to respond which resulted in hundreds of deaths is an obvious example but is only one of many that demonstrate the urgent need for reform within all levels of government.
As noted in our last forum there are many things that can and must be done immediately to respond to our environmental challenge but the major barrier has always been the politics. That has to change but this will require sustained public pressure to make it happen.