A constant flow of opposition politicians has used the phrase “doing our bit for the environment” when asked how they would approach net zero. This feels like Groundhog Day — it has been happening for 50 years in my experience as an academic in the environmental space.
In 1972, I was in Delft, The Netherlands, studying environmental science at one of the few places in the world offering such a course. Sir Garfield Barwick, then Australian Conservation Foundation president, was representing Australia at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
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We invited him to afternoon tea to discuss environmental matters, and surprisingly he came. He had, of course, been a Liberal politician but was happy to see environmental science growing.
In the 1980s, as a young academic at Murdoch University’s new Environmental Science degree, I produced a book called Case Studies in Environmental Hope, showing the many new projects happening in Western Australia to solve environmental problems. Fred Chaney, the federal minister for the environment, asked to talk to me as he liked the hopeful approach.
This began a long-term friendship with the Chaney family. I have appreciated how their journey took their interest and commitment to being serious about environmental issues to the extreme of withdrawing from the Liberal Party and supporting Kate Chaney as a teal instead.
Environmental science and Environmental Protection Authority based assessments now have a long history in Australia. Their value to the economy has been well established, as well as their role in preventing serious environmental impacts. There is always more to do, but being serious about the environment has certainly worked in environmental law.
The next phase of environmentalism was sustainable development. To be serious, structural changes integrating social and economic factors needed to become part of government, industry, and households.
State and federal sustainability strategies began in Australia as part of global processes from the 2000s.
A similar Groundhog Day experience emerged: Labor governments pushed sustainability forward, and coalition governments watered it down while claiming they were “doing their bit for the environment”.
I personally found myself removed from government sustainability roles and committees whenever governments changed, watching serious initiatives fade.
Now we are in the net zero era of environmentalism, as the world faces the obvious and dangerous realities of climate change.
Teals and Greens have taken the serious approach and, along with the ALP, won the opportunity to get serious about net zero.
It’s Groundhog Day – again…
Despite early involvement of Liberal and National politicians in net zero policies, the new Groundhog Day has struck again. The dramatic growth in solar energy, batteries, and EVs is now underway, and these changes are clearly better economically. The need to get serious remains — “doing a bit for the environment” will not work for the environment, the economy, or political success.
