1 August 2007

Isn't the science of climate change settled? Isn't it now a major issue with Labor, the Liberals, the Nationals. Aren't Howard and Rudd trying to out-do each other? Aren't the Greens on the case - along with the Democrats? And dozens of environmental groups? Hasn't big business signed up? Don't we all agree on what has to be done?

Do we really need a new political party - just concerned with climate change?

Yes.

What Australia needs - what the world needs - are alliances with the best and brightest in business and politics so that major changes can be fast-tracked.

To treat the corporate world as intractably evil is as unhelpful as it's absurd. Much can be done with business on side, next to nothing without it.

No, we don't all agree on what needs to be done. We don't all agree on the roles and relationships of existing technologies, let alone the new technologies and possibilities emerging in an explosion of scientific and engineering creativity.

Bold ideas in relation to water or power generation are being announced every day - and they must be evaluated, considered and the best of them implemented. This is vastly complex and challenging - and demands impartiality and objectivity. Not every proposal is practical or affordable. Some are plain wrong. We need more than noble intentions.

Now we're forming a new party. The Climate Change Coalition. Well, not entirely new. The Coalition was formed in 2006 to take part in the NSW election as a political group - to slow down the coal industry juggernaut and to propose sustainable alternatives. Free from political baggage, the CCC put a vast amount of objective information into public debate - but we had no time to formalise and legalise a party structure. Yet tens of thousands voted for our Upper House candidates.

The biggest crisis in human history deserves this special focus and attention. To borrow Don Chipp's immortal line for the Democrats - we come into being 'to keep the bastards honest'. But more than that - we will continue to negotiate between warring factions, to create coalitions to get things moving.

And here's a political promise than no other party will make. We will happily close down when the job is done. We're all busy people. We have lives - not just an obsession with political careers. The idea of a short-lived political party isn't new. There is a great deal of inspiring precedent. The anti-slavery movement is a prime example. Both in Britain and the US, purpose-built parties were created to fight the cause. And when it was won, they happily evaporated. Going out of business was a triumph.

I doubt, however, that the climate change battle will be easily or quickly won. This will be a marathon, not a sprint.

State and Federal governments will be at war over climate change. So will pressure groups, interest groups, competing lobbies, political factions, technological and environmental advocates, flat-earthers and ideologues. We want to help - as go-betweens, brokers, diplomats, marriage-guidance counsellors. There'll be great pressures leading to fractures and fissures. We'll be there building bridges, creating consensus. That's what makes us different. That's why we're needed.

If you'd like to help we'd like to hear from you.

Patrice Newell

 

Contact Climate Change Coalition via our website

by Tel: 02 4998 6286

or by mail at

PO Box 1008

CESSNOCK WEST NSW 2325