Will only hitting the bottom stop the slide downwards?

The building, selling, fueling and repair of automobiles is a major contributor to the GNP. What has the car contributed to making life worthwhile? I do know what it has taken from us.

One loss is the adventure of travel. When I was aged 14 an old man told me of his journey by Cobb & Co. A dusty, bone-shaking journey at an average speed which was not much faster than the walking pace of horses - and when passengers had to get out and walk behind the coach up steep hills. But with stays overnight at lonely inns along the road, they were journeys to remember for a lifetime.

Returning to 1944. I don't think anybody in Sydney lived more than 15 minutes walk from a train station or a tram or bus stop. In other words, a 15-minute walk set the limits to the size of Sydney. The city's population today is only three times what it was then, but it has been transformed by massive roadbuilding which includes billions of dollars spent on tunnels and bridges. And yet the people cannot move around except with difficulty.

We cannot live without our cars because a government obsessed with GNP has built a trap for us and itself. We now have immeasurable time wasted in traffic jams, in parking and in travelling through suburban sprawl. We have pollution, the cost of vehicle maintenance and repair and hundreds of old streets designed for people turned into thoroughfares for motor vehicles. And, we have a precarious dependence on imported oil.

On a warm evening in 1944 we all went out to the front gate. As other families did the same, we soon were crossing the street and chatting. Children and adults mixed together. As most fuel went into the war effort, there were almost no cars. An occasional horse-drawn cart appeared during the day. There was the sense of a street of closely-knit people rather than a thoroughfare for vehicles. One's street was something one had affection for.

No matter what the social or environmental cost

Much of our economy is built on human weakness - tobacco, alcohol, junk food and gambling. We have a highly valued boost to GNP measured in billions of dollars based on human weakness! That has to be self-destructive for a nation. But no contribution to the GNP is as insane as the essential role that waste plays.

In 1944, the smallness of the house we rented was no problem as we had little to put in it. And, as we owned so little, there was little to worry about being damaged and little to maintain. There was no litter as there was no throw-away plastic or aluminium packaging and all milk, beer and softdrink glass bottles were recycled as they were too valuable to throw away. Furniture and garments which were damaged and appliances which had stopped functioning, were repaired and not dumped.

As children in 1944 our free-time was spent playing in imaginary worlds where we were cowboys, soldiers, pirates, knights or nurses and doctors. We had almost no manufactured toys. Instead we made toys out of anything we could make into a toy. The sale of toys (all made overseas) is a major contribute to the GNP. What effect has easily-broken throw-away toys on the young mind in development?

Conclusion

We are sliding down a slope as;

• the GNP includes much that is detrimental to fundamental human needs and to the natural environment which underwrites our very existence, and
• we will always elect a government which has a focus on the GNP because the great majority of us are uncritical of development and incurably addicted to buying stuff.

The GNP has the grip on us that it has because we don't have a clear concept on what we really need to live a fulfilling life.