Moving on from the age of confrontation

My personal experience in dealing with miners on behalf of the railways in which I am involved is that they want to be very environmentally responsible. Considerable evidence abounds to verify this. Can I suggest that you look at the website of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland? Its Chairman is Charlie Sartain, Chief Executive of Xstrata Copper, and it is doing excellent pioneering research in a wide range of projects related to mining.

The problem is that miners enjoy little leadership from governments in their efforts to be good citizens, and experience no real sense that the community wants to work in co-operation with them. Their predominant experience of trying to deal with the community about the environment is one of confrontation, and there is no clear evidence that they will be applauded if they involve themselves in environmental partnerships that tackle the issues in a responsible way.

Instead of blaming mines for environmental disasters, we should face the fact that the world’s environment is damaged, not by mining alone, but primarily by the undeniable fact that the planet is severely over-populated.

Hope

We should all proceed with our quest to enjoy the good life in a responsible manner, and engage confidently with the mining industry in helping to make it the most enlightened nation-building enterprise in the world.

We should do this in the hope that a more competent and enlightened management of national affairs will see this nation through to a sound and stable future.

We will achieve this goal if we elect talented people to our Parliaments, irrespective of what Party they belong to. Party hacks should never again be elected. The same must apply to those who seek a career in the bureaucracy.

Abraham Lincoln’s Cabinet was comprised of powerful leaders from all the political Parties of the day, many of whom aspired to get his job as President of the United States. It was this government of genuine talent, led by a man of extraordinary ability, that enabled the Civil War to be brought to an end and America go on to become the most powerful nation on earth.

We can aspire to do likewise, but the way in which the Australian political system operates today renders it inadequate to be the vehicle that can lead us successfully into the future of a rapidly changing and enormously challenging world.