Tackle the root causes of climate policy blindness
David Spratt accuses the Government of ‘climate policy blindness’. This debilitating condition affects both Labor and the Coalition. They suffer because they each have too much to lose by opening their eyes to the stark climate future that we face. This blindness enables them to continue to give support to, and accept substantial donations from, the fossil fuel industry, and may ease concerns among some about their employability post-parliament.
We must attack this blindness by addressing its roots: for example strictly limit political donations, and establish a fair ‘cooling-off’ period for retiring politicians before they take up lucrative private-sector jobs. These steps are among those which have been proposed in this parliament by community-based independent MPs, who have, in their time in parliament, highlighted how politicians of integrity, not beholden to major donors, can and will face up to the real challenges.
The climate crisis is real, and near. We need governments with integrity and courage to tackle the root causes of the problems we face: first, urgently, to rid our politics of corruption through undue influence; and then, as quickly as we can, to move our economy and way of life to an environmentally sustainable footing.
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