Work in Progress - Not for Reproduction Without Permission

WORK IN PROGRESS - NOT FOR REPRODUCTION WITHOUT PERMISSION

Last updated 25/5/2005

PhD In ProgressDavid RisstromPage 1 of 56

last updated 25/5/2005

The Australian Greens’ Role In Our Planet’s Future

The Future of the Australian Greens And Our Planet

“Does anyone really know how to save the Earth? Despite the avalanche of agendas for sustainable development set off by the Earth Summit in Rio, the earth seems to be worse rather than better shape. No government, NGO, business or other major player has been able to implement all the recommendations in even one of the agendas set. Yet the very experience of setting the agenda may be their greatest legacy, indicating that although there is a common ground among groups, there are also real differences in belief systems that motivate people to work for sustainable development.”[1]

“Sustainability and sustainable development have been key concepts in the socio-political debate since the climate change conference in Rio de Janeiro. The central question is: how do we handle our natural and social resources? Undoubtedly this discussion – which went public for the first time with the publication of the report of the Club of Rome at the end of the 1960s – has led to the dramatic state of our natural environment reaching public awareness. Since then the subject ecology has moved from its exposed fringe position to the normal arena of social debate. Ecology is no longer a special subject but rather part and parcel of any debate about the future. However, whereas earlier discussions called for a change in policies in respect of world-wide resources without raising the question of the role of the individual, discussion began in Rio about support for the agenda process. The realisation in Rio that a rethinking of attitudes in society cannot be imposed top down, has become an even more explosive issue today: neither limit values, legal provisions nor state subsidies can guarantee the long-term safeguarding of natural resources if there are no social players.”[2]

The point is not only to understand the world, nor only to change it, but to improve to it.[3]

Thesis Index

PhD In Progress David Risstrom Page 1 of 56

last updated 25/5/2005

PRESSURE GROUPS

Initial Survey Results.

Chapter 1:

Introduction Overview of the thesis.

Literature review of most important books; Robyn Eckersley, John Dryzek. Murray Bookchin. Classical Marxism and the contradictions debate

Chapter 2:

Snapshot of the Earth’s Health

Predictions about the planet’s future

Chapter 3:

Role of human culture and action in the Earth’s history and health

Marx and ecology. Religion and dominion over the Earth.

The role of politics in human behaviour

eg. recycling, local govt intitatives.

Chapter 4

The Greens party as part of a worldwide movement

History of the Australian Greens.

Chapter 5

2001 federal election (and the year before) Other elections / events?

Chapter 6

2004 federal election

What inferences can be drawn from the 2004 federal election / history of the Greens?

Chapter 7

Are elections the only / most effective forums for social change?

The potential role of capital in limiting political options

The conservative magnet that limits change.

Chapter 8

Conclusion

Do The Australian Greens Have a Role in the Future of the Planet? : To Sulk, Flow, Follow or Fight?

1Introduction and Thesis Overview

There are valid questions as to whether the planet, its life support systems and us as inhabitants will survive the choices we make on their behalf.

This thesis examines the history of the Australian Greens and speculates about its potential trajectory and influence. This will provide background to an examination of the environmental, social and political challenges facing the planet and its inhabitants, in order to identify how individuals and societies might respond to them, particularly in the political decisions they make.

Why are these questions important and relevant?

Human capacity for creativity, culture, collective action and the ability to manipulate tools as diverse as pens and books to intercontinental ballistic missiles places Earth’s human inhabitants in a unique position.

As individuals and as societies, humans have the greatest chance to direct our influence: arguably more so than any other species on Earth. Insight, common purpose, and the good fortune to enjoy good fortune are likely necessary ingredients to wield.

Those having drunk half your glass already might remain pessimistic. Those with half a glass more to drink may see more light. Those, with whom share the experience of many millions on the globe, might understand through grindingly difficult habituation that a glass of any amount of water is a blessing.

The delivery round of the political practitioner seems to many a cynic to be far removed from ideas as lofty as the health of the planet and its constituents. Perhaps it is because most of the other six billion humans live outside their electorate? Perhaps it is also because the interests of the planet can only be expressed through that narrow vein of human voters imbued with a right to vote?

The Australian Greens is a young but significant political party whose platform includes the aim to look after the planet and its future. It is one of few Australian political parties who share identities with other political parties worldwide. This thesis concentrates on the political journey of the Australian Green party and the issues it encounters as a window into the how the human species is likely to interact with the planet that enables its existence.

This work is part of my attempt to grapple with practical ways to move the trajectory of the planet from the casualty ward to the intensive care ward to which it appears to be travelling. To consider what it is we are doing, what we can, can’t, could, couldn’t, should or shouldn’t do, and to try to extrude some answers to the inevitable questions of if, why and who of us might do these things.

Treating the Earth as if our survival depended on it.

The Green Party does not nave a monopoly on policy prescriptions professing goodwill for the planet. Indeed, that is part of the contest of politics. The ability to interpret, distort, deceive and to be wrong allows a range of political representations to be made and sold to the public. With care for the environment remaining a majority concern, political contestants are unlikely to be honest enough to say their policies are antagonistic to the environment. They will phrase their proposals with the degree of declaration or spin required to satisfy browsing voters that the issue is being dealt with.

The apparent strategy of the Liberal/National Party Coalition and its conservative supporters in the 2004 Australian Federal election was not to dismiss the environment as an electoral issue, as it had done in the past. With the Greens vote has risen to a point where its size could determine the colour of the government, the strategy was to paint the Green as ‘extreme’ so the Government could be seen as the ‘true environmentalists’. It was somewhat akin to the moderately successful delineation of ‘practical reconciliation; as it related to Australia’s indigenous community. The question is ‘How could you possibly be for anything but reconciliation that is practical?’ Particularly for the insufficiently informed or involved person that could characterise the level of engagement of the majority of voters, practical reconciliation, made a political desert devoid of compassion and decency sound like an oasis of concern.

is became obvious that was to port

The politics of energy are a good example.

, and how we will deal with the possibility that

The Earth’s capacity to sustain our human societies is unquestionably limited. Despite an ongoing debate as to whether there are limits to growth, the more

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2Why is the Environment Important?

The difficulty of defining ‘the environment’ is in itself a reflection of the tensions associated with introducing, establishing, delivering and assessing positive environmental measures.

OLD: The contestability of definitions of the environment mean it is difficult for programs to fit within traditional administrative classifications, with a consequence that objectively determining an environmental initiatives’ benefit is often more difficult. Particularly, given the predilection for governmental bureaucracies in advanced liberal democratic societies to require quantifiable benefits, the ability of environmental initiatives to ‘prove’ their efficacy presents a potential Achilles’ heel for their maintenance.

OLD: I further make the observation that quantifiability is a significant attractor for local authorities to adopt such programs: the program’s ability to comply with the administrative requirements of democratically elected local authorities permits a program that provides objective results to develop stronger foundation for its adoption and continuance.

Recognising the shortcomings of these administrative requirements, the impact of the emergence of triple bottom line accounting as an administrative mechanism of measuring activity is examined. Triple bottom line accounting aims to quantify and/or qualitatively analyse social, environmental and economic factors for the purposes of more thoroughly examining the implications of activities. In theory, the emphasis on economic criteria, arising from their ability to present a perception of certainty, may be diminished by a broader analysis of the non-economic implications of a decision that invariably impact on the real impact of an activity.

A further aspect of this thesis is the impact of the fiscal capacity of local authorities to implement environmental programs. While this is an obvious and significant impediment to financing programs, I hypothesise that the capacity for local authorities to innovate without drawing the attention of entrenched capital with whom the program’s objectives might collide, may allow local authorities to innovate in arenas that State and Federal government is constrained. The instance of reducing material flows through reducing, re-using and recycling commodities, rather than through one-use material flows, may well be apposite. If so, this may found a strong argument that local authorities provide the most fertile sphere of government for innovation in the environmental field.

The question of whether Federal and/or State government funds, private funds or resources drawn directly from the community are the most effective way of sustaining local environmental initiatives is also considered. I draw the conclusion that while most instances are specific to their circumstances, an identification of the free-rider benefits from environmental initiatives provide a strong moral justification for all of these spheres to support environmental initiatives.

Other issue considered in this thesis are:

• Should and are environmental issues be justified on humanist utilitarian grounds? If so, is it sufficient mechanism to insure the integrity of natural systems to an extent deep green ecologists say is needed for the biosphere to survive.
• Are electoral and governance systems that record eligible human preference sufficient to ‘manage’ non-human needs? If not, are there any alternatives?
• Is the increased understanding and action on environmental issues enough to ameliorate the pervasive interference of human activity on natural systems?
• The extent to which the ‘boiling frog principle’ means that modern societies and individuals are unlikely to perceive and respond to the degradation of their environment.
• The extent to which free-rider problems, as characterised as the ‘tragedy of the commons’ diminish the impetus for damage to the environmental, even where it is apparent, based on a rational self interest argument that the benefits are concentrated and the damage dispersed.
• The roles of elected representatives, government employees, business, community and individual interests in influencing environmental sustainability.
• Any parallels between the emergence of more traditional [left] issues such as occupational health and safety, emergence of green bans, anti-capitalist movements and the potential impact of the emerging movement against globalisation.

• The extent to which the Australian Greens provide a positive contribution to the health of the planet.

• The likelihood of the Australian Greens acquiring the power to implement their policies.

• The likelihood the policies of the Australian Greens will be implemented, whether by the Australian Greens being elected, by other political parties or movements, or in extra Parliamentary capacity.

The conclusions this thesis will evaluate include: [INCOMPLETE: DR]

• Local authorities, domestically and internationally, are increasing putting the environment on their agenda.
• The accessibility of local governments to their community suggests they are more likely to respond to community pressure for positive environmental initiatives than State or Federal Governments.
• The motivations for local authorities to put environment on the agenda are? … [real/informed/populist/ generated elsewhere/PR/as a consequence of other imperatives; i.e., waste reduction + cost.
• The degree of technical uncertainty, financial constraints and political immaturity of local government’s in dealing with environmental issues is resulting in a tendency for smaller scale representative initiatives being adopted at first instance, rather than more comprehensive programs. The propensity to adopt pilot projects, rather than systemic change appears to be insufficient to counter the increasing impact of human induced degradation of environmental systems.
• The extent of understanding of the environmental crisis is stimulating a stronger call for political action at a local level than appears to be putting into effect at a national level; i.e., climate change.
• The free-rider benefits of improving environmental sustainability provides a strong moral argument for Federal government’s to use their greater revenue raising capacity to fund environmental initiatives and to do so in the sphere of local government where those actions appear to be most effective.
• The potential for entrenched capital to resist political innovation at a national and supra-national level suggest that local authorities are better placed to initiate and deliver environmental initiatives.
• The resource constraints of local government to expand their activities to include environmental initiatives suggest they require a strong political mandate from their community to undertake innovation and in many instances, a capacity to demonstrate a tangible benefit to the human community they serve.
• We are increasing our impact on the planet while reducing the capacity of the biosphere to accommodate our actions.
• The current deleterious environmental impact of human activity exceeds the current capacity of the biosphere to accommodate the degree of manipulation of environmental systems. This may have multifarious consequences, including: a reduced capacity of the biosphere to accommodate that human activity; a reduction in the biosphere’s biodiversity; increased stress in human social systems as a consequences of disruptions in natural systems that sustain civilisations; an increase in inequality between communities as scarcity increases through a reduced capacity for the natural environment to support traditional production systems; an increased propensity for wealthier communities to insulate themselves from the deleterious consequences of environmental degradation at the expense of poorer communities who service them; i.e.., battery recycling in Philippines.

THE 2004 FEDERAL ELECTION

“This is an election that will be about trust.” Check words and date. [4]

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“That Johnny Howard … is like an unflushable turd – you know, the one that floats around the top of the toilet bowl. You keep pulling the chain and just when you think you’ve finally got him around the S-bend, the bastard bobs back up again” quoting Ian Fitchett.

Twenty years later the prescience is remarkable. The 2004 election then, is the story of yet another attempt to flush the unflushable.”[5]

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“…Howard, posing always as a modest conservative, has dealt destruction to the Australian tradition on an extraordinary scale, transforming the country in less than a decade from an open and generous nation, tolerant and optimistic in its role as a respected member of the world community, into a selfish and timid appendage of a crusading superpower caught up in the superstition of Armageddon and apparently quite happy to cooperate it brining it about. In the process the public service has been drained of its independence, the judiciary seriously undermined, the national parliament reduced to a farce and the office of prime minister, once regarded as no more than the first among equals, turned into an unaccountable commissariat ruling by absolute fiat.

In much of this devastation Howard has been aided by a cowed and incompetent political opposition and some smug and acquiescent media. But this does not excuse or explain the way the Australian public, notoriously disrespectful of politicians as a class and sceptical about their warnings and their promises, his continually returned him to power. The alternative may not have been madly attractive, but surely it has had more to offer than the dishonesty, the meanness , the divisiveness and the simple nastiness of the Howard regime.[6]

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Green critic Mike Nahan, of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Right-wing think tank, said the party was the most radical Australia had seen. "The Greens are loopier than any party I've seen, and will be much worse than the Australian Democrats ever were," he said. "It was OK while they were playing devil's advocate, with Bob Brown shouting from the sidelines, but now there is a real prospect of them winning the balance of power."

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday described the Greens' agenda as kooky.

"The Greens are not just about the environment," he said. "They have a whole lot of other very, very kooky policies in relation to things like drugs and all of that sort of stuff and new taxes and whatever, which people never talk about because they try and portray themselves as a one-issue party of just being warm and fuzzy about the environment."[7]

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The 16th century Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli frequently expressed the sentiment, If you want to change the world, prepare to feel the full force of the reaction against you from those that have the most to lose.

If the last federal election is anything to go by, the Greens need to dust off the tomes of serious political philosophy. The party needs to prodigiously arm itself against conservative forces waiting in the wings to pounce the moment the Greens rise begins to feel like a serious threat to those with their hands on power. The evidence couldn’t be clearer that time has come.[8]