Can Tanya Plibersek give us a sustainable future?

April 2, 2024

First Nations peoples nurtured their environment as it nurtured them. Colonists came to exploit a new resource, giving little thought to sustainability. Colonialism brought capitalism in its wake, depleting our resources of land and sea through whaling, mining and farming. This attitude may have moderated in recent times, but the capitalist compulsion still holds sway.

Our environment has been degraded to the point where many species risk extinction, and we emit far more carbon than our environment can absorb. Graeme Samuels report describes clearly the dangerous position this leaves us in. David Shearman highlights that we are living with our priorities entirely wrong, and emphasises the critical importance of the new EPBC bill. We need a healthy environment if we are to survive for the long term. The sustainability of that environment is now at serious risk. We need strong EPBC protection to restrict capitalisms destructive exploitation of our natural resources. We must evolve our society to once again nurture our environment as it nurtures us.

Is Tanya Plibersek sufficiently committed to her ministerial cause to push a strong, effective EPBC through the parliament to set us on the right course? She carries our hopes for a sustainable future.