Mr Abbott and his mates want to de-list thousands of hectares of natural forest land in Tasmania, from the register of World Heritage assets. The local Liberal Government in Tasmania is right behind him (hiding behind him, in fact). They want to tear up conservation agreements that were reached between the environment movement and the Tasmanian forest industry. They want to cut the forests down and turn the trees into woodchips. The ongoing demand for the product is uncertain and the profitability is doubtful. The only certainties are the destruction of our environment and the permanent loss of still more of the worlds dwindling natural woodlands.
The Liberal Party in Australia seems to be intent on leading Australia down a path of environmental irresponsibility, that has the rest of the developed world aghast and shaking its head. In their frantic desire to appease their real masters (big business and foreign investment) they are hell bent of pursuing the ‘Dig it up, cut it down, fish it out and suck it dry’ agenda that lines the pockets of the wealthy and sees them carving up the irreplaceable resources that are the inheritance of every Australian. Mr Abbott, When will you learn that the only valid measure of business success is not its ‘profitability’, but how many lives are enriched by its activities. You are happy to destroy the environment (which belongs to the people) to enrich an ever decreasing number of privileged wealthy …. all the while pretending to be doing what is good for Australia. Australia is its people; all of them. The tiny proportion of our nation’s forests that your mates haven’t already converted to cash, need to be protected for every Australian. You’d do more good for more people, by investing in opening up these wonderful places, so that they are accessible and can be enjoyed by more Australians, as well as our growing tourism industry. But trying to get through to the likes of you, that you have a social responsibility, instead of just a financial one, is like trying to teach brain surgery to a monkey! Money is all that your kind know, isn’t it?
All the while, you repeat your little mantra, that business means jobs and that all Australians benefit when business prospers. You know very well, that the vast bulk of the country’s wealth and more and more of its means of production are falling under the control of a smaller and smaller number of obscenely wealthy interests. For years, business has been falling over itself to eliminate the need for human labour in the production process. Its not enough that one man with one machine can do the work that employed whole teams of people just a short while ago. Business has moved beyond just relying on machinery to maximise the output of labour and now seeks to eliminate human labour entirely. Robots are replacing workers every day and you know as well as I, that this process will continue and will have a profound effect on our society. A day is not far off where ordinary people won’t have a role in the ownership of the production process and their only saleable asset, their labour, won’t have a market at all. A recent study suggests that within just twenty years, 40% of human employment within the production process will disappear due to advancements in technology. Even in mining operations (the current employment sacred cow) it is anticipated that most jobs now being performed by humans will be done by robots. The mining industry will be able to generate far greater profits for its owners when it no longer needs employees.
What are your plans then, to ensure an equitable distribution of the wealth of our nation, when your little society of bosses own all of the resources, all of the capital and all of the means of production? Will you feed the rest of us cake? How do you plan on entertaining the unemployed masses? Will we have circuses and Gladiators? How long do you think that you and Mr Hockey can get away with bashing the dispossessed over the head with your ‘age of entitlement’ soft shoe shuffle, before society sees that the only entitlements you aren’t attacking, are the entitlements of your real masters.
Do you have a survival plan, for the day when the people you claim to represent, finally wake up that you’re really a liar, serving not the people who elected you, but the faceless mega-powerful who are really calling the tune? Do you really kid yourself that you are one of them? Do you really think its OK to hand over one of the planet’s few remaining natural forest areas to your big money mates, to be converted to wood chips? Do you really believe that the iconic Great Barrier Reef is acceptable collateral damage in bowing down to the needs of mining interests.
Finally, do you really imagine that Australians want to be regarded as environmental neanderthals, who share your blatant disregard for the health and well-being of all of the earth’s citizens. The world is watching you, and no doubt judging us. Seems to me, you are out of touch with the people who elected you and you are out of touch with the world’s expectations of a responsible developed nation. In fact, I suspect there’s only one thing that you ARE in touch with …. and it obviously DOES make you blind!
Andrew Caddle 2014-06-23
andrewcaddle.com
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/world_heritage_under_threat_ptn_aus/?fkMdFhb&pv=62
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