With the coming election just 4 days away, it is time to seriously think about who you want to stand to make true progress. I have recently joined the Green's and I am extremely privileged in doing so.More than 1.6 million Australians voted for the Greens in 2010 and more support is growing!
The Greens provide a real alternative to the tired, cynical politics of Labor and the Liberal party. Unlike the two old parties, the Greens have a proud history of standing up for what is right, not just what is easy or what polls well.
Over the course of the last four decades, the Greens have become the third force in Australian politics. While promoting meaningful and smart solutions to ensure future generations of Australians have clean air, clean water and clean soil – the Greens are also working in many other areas to champion integrity, decency and fairness. More than 1.6 million Australians voted for the Greens in 2010 and more support is growing! The Greens provide a real alternative to the tired, cynical politics of Labor and the Liberal party. Unlike the two old parties, the Greens have a proud history of standing up for what is right, not just what is easy or what polls well. Over the course of the last four decades, the Greens have become the third force in Australian politics. While promoting meaningful and smart solutions to ensure future generations of Australians have clean air, clean water and clean soil – the Greens are also working in many other areas to champion integrity, decency and fairness.
In the 1970's and early 1980's the damming of Lake Pedder and the Gordon below Franklin were at the centre of Environmental politics in Australia. The management of Australia's native forests, and particular woodchipping, has been a site of struggle for over 35 years. In the late 1990's, Uranium mining in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory was a focus on environmental focus, and now we see this today with franking in the Kimberly's.
The issues of environmental politics encompass land use dilemmas, coastal management and development, land degradation (including salinity), degradation of river systems (including eutrophication and salinity), biodiversity, atmospheric issues (including green house gas emissions and ozone depletion). Involved in each of these issues is a number of interested groups, or constituencies.
The obvious global warming / climate change, two inter related issues has been at the forefront of recent politics as we will have seen and heard many times on the news and in media. Suggested 'solutions' to climate change have included the resurges of proposals for nuclear power as a principle source of energy for human societies; a prioritisation of renewable energy; and 'clean' coal (more accurately described as carbon capture and geo-sequenstration or CCG). These are all technical 'solutions' and see global warming/climate change as a problem to be 'solved'.
However, reality is more complex - there are issues of equality, issues of ethics, issues of national interest verses common good, issues around governments, markets, societies, and individuals in combating issues such as climate change and many others. Do environmental priorities trump social or ethical priorities - does national interest trump the common good of the planet and it's human and non-human citizens; can market mechanisms affect change at the rate necessary to prevent 'runaway' global warming or is a more regulatory approach necessary?
The challenge for politics at both international and national level is to negotiate policies/outcomes which balance these objectives, which do consider the differing priorities to be 'incommensurable'.
I urge you to take a look at the Greens Policies and which cover what was outlined above before you make your final decision on the 9th. Be the change you want and vote for the people who truly want the same.
http://greens.org.au/policies
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