Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

How our political system fails us

By Peter McMahon - posted Tuesday, 24 March 2009


Watching the cool, detached Penny Wong evade questions on climate change is a perfect example of what has gone wrong. Wong, trained in the dog-eat-dog world of industrial law, sees climate change in quintessentially political terms, as a zero sum game, being played with the Coalition. The choice of her as minister over a man who actually knew something about climate change, Peter Garrett, but who was not as slick a political operator, told us much about how the Rudd Government works.

Such people in such a political system cannot generate the comprehensive policies we need to get through the multi-dimensioned global crisis now underway. Our politicians lack the ability and resolve to formulate meaningful policies and our political system is too prone to manipulation by the mass media. The way the minimalist Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme that has been the Rudd Government’s meagre response to climate change has been undermined shows this clearly.

Our best hope is that some kind of critical mass of debate and concern coalesces online. There is an increasingly well-informed debate occurring on websites and in blogs and discussion boards that needs to be translated into a wider context. If the ideas in and proponents of this debate can be recognised and supported by the sort of fundraising that helped Obama get elected they may be able to generate a new kind of politics. This new politics may transform or take over existing political arrangements, and finally get on with the job of responding to the global crisis.

Advertisement

And the fact that everything online is inherently global in scope only helps. From now on all political issues will have a global dimension since all energy use and carbon pollution now influence climate change, and virtually everything we do involves these things.

Our political system originated in the 19th century and has changed remarkably little since that time. We now need politics and government that is globally oriented , information-rich and open to input by relevant expertise. We now have the incentive and the basic means to create such a system, and whether we do so or not will largely determine how well we deal with the emerging threats.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

37 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Dr Peter McMahon has worked in a number of jobs including in politics at local, state and federal level. He has also taught Australian studies, politics and political economy at university level, and until recently he taught sustainable development at Murdoch University. He has been published in various newspapers, journals and magazines in Australia and has written a short history of economic development and sustainability in Western Australia. His book Global Control: Information Technology and Globalisation was published in the UK in 2002. He is now an independent researcher and writer on issues related to global change.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Peter McMahon

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Photo of Peter McMahon
Article Tools
Comment 37 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy