People’s challenge on global warming
The Australian Parliament has dumbed itself down on the global warming challenge to the point that Australia is writing itself out of the real debate at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 7-18.
The Labor government is arguing with the Coalition about a possible cut in carbon emissions between 5 and 25 per cent on 2000 levels, and putting up a trading scheme which could not deliver it anyway. The UN process indicates that rich countries like Australia have to cut emissions by at least 30% by 2020 – compared to 1990 levels!
The prospects for an effective, binding global agreement to reduce carbon emissions at Copenhagen are fairly dismal, with US capitalism working hard to delay change by blaming poor countries China and India for blocking change.
However, China and India are not going to fall for this, and there is scope for a decisive step forward if popular pressure can come to bear on the event.
On October 24, people around the world mobilized to demand that greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere be reduced to 350 parts per million.
Scientists say that uncontrolled climate change will be triggered at 450 parts per million. Scientists today suggest that concentrations have already gone through the 450 ppm barrier.
During September and October, ‘climate camps’ around Australia engaged thousands of activists, mainly young people, and launched non-violent direct action protests against the highly polluting power stations at Hazelwood in the Latrobe Valley, Leigh Creek in South Australia, and against a coking coal mine at Helensburgh in southern Sydney and a coal export ship in Queensland.
Further direct action is likely as the Copenhagen summit gets closer. The nation-wide Walk Against Warming will be on December 12.
Meanwhile, apparently in another galaxy, the federal parliament will consider changes to the Labor policy – the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme – from the Opposition, which would turn Australia into a ‘sheltered workshop for carbon polluters’ according to one critic.
The policy conflict in Canberra is much more about the fate of the Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, and the chance of a double dissolution election in early 2010 over climate change, in which Labor would expect to significantly increase its majority.
The environment movement is divided, with the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Climte Institute, World Wide Fund for Nature and the Australian Council of Trade Unions giving the Labor government qualified support.
Greenpeace and the rest of the movement deeply oppose the government policy. Those supporting the government have threatened to withdraw support if even one concession is made to the Opposition.
The coal miners union – CFMEU Mining & Energy Division – called on the Australian Coal Association to stop its tv ads opposing any national measures to reduce emissions, and for the money to be spent on reducing emissions.
Recession over?
The Rudd Labor government has massive community support because its strong economic intervention has staved off a technical recession in Australia, and unemployment is much lower than anticipated a year ago.
However, the shock announcement that Bridgestone Tyres will close its northern Adelaide plant and sack 600 workers by April 2010 indicates that the global crisis will have major ongoing impacts and that unemployment will continue to rise.
The response of the Rann Labor government to the Bridgestone closure has been to retrain the workers and steer them into jobs either at the BHP Billiton uranium-copper mine at Roxby Downs, or into new defence shipbuilding projects at Port Adelaide.
After the closure of the Mitsubishi assembly plant at Tonsley Park last year, Adelaide – and the federal government – have to face the prospect that the General Motors plants may also go sometime soon.
The Reserve Bank is now in a phase of increasing interest rates, and the federal government’s new home owners grants will wind down by the end of the year. These two developments will send a shock through the housing construction industry, even though there is a housing shortage.
More broadly, the Reserve Bank is pursuing a decades old policy of economic deregulation and reliance on mineral, agricultural and education exports. This means an ever-shrinking manufacturing base for Australia, and a blind faith in an ever-expanding Chinese demand.
Telstra
A more immediate industry policy issue is the Rudd government’s decision to force Telstra to split its network infrastructure from its communications services, as part of the development of the National Broadband Network. This move will force another wave of sackings in the network sector, breaking up the skills and organisation which maintain the telecommunications system now, and driving down wages and job security in the sector.
Overall, these developments and policies demonstrate that the Rudd Labor government is pursuing ‘business-as-usual’ neo-liberal policies, with a pause for an emergency government intervention when the bottom fell out of the global economy.
Australian unemployment increased by 44 per cent in the 12 months to August 2009. US unemployment has now reached 10 per cent and will continue to rise. Housing mortgage foreclosures in the USA are continuing in the millions.
Both US and British major banks continue to be weighed down with bad loans, and Swedish, Swiss and German banks are badly exposed to housing mortgages in Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Romania.
The September G20 summit in Pittsburgh took no extra measures to deal with these challenges in the financial system. So more shocks must be expected in coming months. Australia is not insulated from these problems.
- Peter Murphy Search November 3, 2009.
right to strike on the environment
No comments yet.