The people and the common good

December 17, 2025

Today’s capitalism may have a more benign face than in past centuries, but there remain global corporations of great power and rapacious attitudes; major fossil fuel corporations exemplify this. For them ecocide – whether from environmental destruction, or from the poisonous prevalence of plastics – seems a necessary, if unfortunate, by-product if they are to continue powering the world with their gas, oil and coal.

These corporations must know that they will not survive at scale without radically changing their outputs to fit a world centred on sustainability but, rather than urgently redirecting their substantial reserves to embrace the necessary sustainable technologies, they are doubling down on planetary destruction. In doing so they are bringing about their own, inevitable demise.

Fossil fuel corporations have continued to thrive because too few governments have had the courage to challenge them: Australia’s economy depends on our fossil fuel exports. We must break this grip. The will for this must come from the people; where the people lead, the government will follow. We must embrace science-based reality, accept that we will ultimately be responsible for environmental disaster if we leave this rapacious capitalism unchecked. We must adopt the common good as a vital goal.