THEA ORMEROD, president of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, calls for action to address the hold that she argues coal and gas industries have over politics in Australia…
Sydney, Australia
Ask the everyday person if they think big business has a hold on governments in this country and, yes, it’s widely acknowledged. Such conversations quickly lead to a shrug of fatalism and a rhetorical “What can you do?”
However, few people really understand the extent to which coal, oil and gas industry protagonists have inserted themselves into political processes. To our great detriment.
PICTURE: Mark R Higgins/iStockphoto.
The imperative to go beyond the shrug of fatalism lies in the much-anticipated IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, released on 28th February. The processes leading to the report’s conclusions were thorough and based on the most comprehensive data ever collected, but the message is clear.
Even at an average global temperature rise of 1.1 degrees Celsius, climate disruption is here and it is accelerating. It has been costing millions of lives and livelihoods. Efforts to move away from fossil fuels are far too meagre and this decade is the small window within which humanity decides our collective fate.
“The concerned citizen who wants to see action on climate change would do well to be proactive about the biggest block to action, that is, the hold that coal and gas industries have over our politics. The Australian Democracy Network has done the research on the mechanisms used. They call it ‘State Capture’.”
The message is timely as we prepare for another federal election. The tragic floods just receding at the time of writing are the latest reminder that we cannot afford another few years of privileging those very industries that are fuelling the climate crisis.
The concerned citizen who wants to see action on climate change would do well to be proactive about the biggest block to action, that is, the hold that coal and gas industries have over our politics. The Australian Democracy Network has done the research on the mechanisms used. They call it ‘State Capture’.
The report details how ‘State Capture’ is achieved through large, inadequately disclosed donations, through employing large numbers of experienced lobbyists, close collegial relationships between industry representatives and politicians, public influence campaigns and the famous revolving door between boardrooms and parliamentary offices.
We currently have an Australian Government which is not only uncritical of these developments in our democracy, but leans into them. Powerfully wrapped around it are the tentacles of the coal and gas industries.
We have a Federal Government that essentially spruiks coal, oil and gas, the very drivers of climate destabilisation. It also resists the push for greater government accountability and transparency. This combination is especially dangerous.
‘State Capture’ is what led to the shameless appointment of people connected to the gas industry to the influential National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Board. It meant there are few democratic constraints on the commission, which also has far-reaching powers.
Unsurprisingly, the advisory board recommended a ‘gas-led recovery’ to rebuild after the pandemic. Even the government’s supposedly ‘technology-agnostic’ Technology Investment Roadmap “puts the interests of the fossil fuel lobby ahead of the interests of Australians”, according to the Climate Council.
It was laughable had it not been so tragic, that a Minister with ‘Emissions Reduction’ in his job title publicly described Origin’s decision to close the coal-fired Eraring power station as “bitterly disappointing“.
Despite ever-lower renewable energy prices, advances in efficiency, investor preference and popular demand, the federal government plans to invest $US600 million in a gas-fired power station in the Hunter Valley.
All this has resulted in Australia being regarded as a climate laggard internationally. In the analysis of Carbon Tracker, our nation’s climate policies are ranked as “highly insufficient”. The United Nations ranked 193 countries on their progress towards goals relating to ‘climate action’ and the adoption of ‘affordable and clean energy’, putting Australia exactly last.
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Regrettably, federal Labor politicians are similarly influenced by coal and gas interests, but they at least have a stronger commitment to decarbonising the economy through their ‘Powering Australia Plan’. Labor plans to upgrade the national power grid so it can take more renewable energy, boost the up-take of electric vehicles and make public money available for community batteries.
Labor draws the line, however, at upsetting coal and gas interests. They supported public money to open up the Beetaloo Basin for gas exploration, and now also support public funding of the gas plant in the Hunter.
Increasingly, Australians are not tolerating it. We witness the rise of Independents contesting electorates across the country. The hope is that pro-climate action, pro-integrity politicians can free us from the grip of fossil fuel interests.
Civil society is beginning to organise to reclaim our democracy. The #OurDemocracy campaign has carefully created a Framework for a Fair Democracy which all are invited to endorse.
The push is for various forms of legislation, for a federal integrity commission, for greater transparency regarding political donations, to stop corporations from spending millions campaigning against regulations and to introduce honesty in election campaigning.
One more ingredient is needed: faith on the part of citizens that it is possible to reconstruct our democracy. No more fatalism about corruption in politics. Australia’s contribution to a liveable future depends on it.
Thea Ormerod is the president of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change.
