Environmental policies

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Question 4Some commentators argue that the major parties (Labour and Liberal-National Coalition) are now indistinguishable, with the only policy variety in Australian politics coming from the minor parties. Assess these claims (there are ) for the period since the election of the first Howard government in 16, focussing on one of the following areas ¡V (iii) Environmental PolicyEnvironmental policies are ones that occur in almost all of the major and minor party¡¦s policy outlines. This is not only because it is an issue of the present, but also because our actions now will affect the state of the environment in the future. However, although it may be stated in all party¡¦s policies, the specificity varies between both major and minor parties. The statement arguing ¡§that the major parties are now indistinguishable with the only policy variety in Australian politics coming from minor parties¡¨ is a perfect way of describing the current status of Australian party¡¦s environmental policies. In order to prove this, I will be focussing on the specific and current issue of global warming and the emission of greenhouse gasses, as although Australia is particularly vulnerable to global warming, neither Liberal nor Labor will commit to serious greenhouse gas emission abatement because of their antiquated views that this will hurt Australian industry. Therefore, responsibility now lies with smaller parties, mainly the Australian Democrats and The Australian Greens. As shown in the following arguments, it is the works of these parties that distinguish Australian politics.The current governing party, the Liberal ¡V National Coalition Party, headed by John Howard, is one that is rather vague in its explanation of its beliefs, policies and action plans regarding protection of the environment. Not only this, but their strategies seem to be similar to those of the Labor party. For example, their policy outline simply states that ¡§the Coalition¡¦s energy policy comprises four key principles Energy markets must be efficient and ensure energy costs are competitive, innovation must be encouraged, energy end-use efficiency must be promoted and we must remain responsive to environmental concerns.¡¨ And their environmental ¡¥one-liner¡¦ states ¡§We believe in preserving Australias natural beauty and the environment for future generations¡¨. Indeed, this seems to satisfy the needs of the environment, but does it explain exactly how the Liberal Party intends to contribute to the recuperation of the environment and its inhabitants? Indeed, it seems to be lacking in these areas, thus giving Australian voters little hope that their environment will recover. However, one issue which poses a rather large difference between the Labor and Liberal parties, as well as being a major area of concern is the signing and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, which ¡§is a pact agreed on by governments at a 17 United Nations conference in Kyoto, Japan, to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by developed countries by 5. percent of 10 levels during the five-year period 008-01.¡¨ The Howard government seems intent on following the United States, whereby George Bush¡¦s monetary focus has little to do with the environment and more to do with weapons and armament.

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The Labor Party, now ruled by Simon Crean, is a party whose current priorities lie with the sale of Telstra, although since Crean has become the new party leader, their attitudes towards the Kyoto Protocol have taken a genuine turnaround. However, looking at their Environmental policies in general, they are probably not far off from being as non-specific as those of the Liberal Party. For example, they state that their principle objectives identified in the world strategy are ¡§namely maintenance of essential ecological processes and life support systems, preservation of genetic diversity and sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystems.¡¨ Although these may sound very clear, in opposition to some of the smaller parties, these statements are very unspecific. Not only do they not explain how the problems occur in the first place, they do not show any signs of putting in place any forms of solutions, target dates or action plans for these problems. However, in conflict with the Liberal party, the Kyoto Protocol has become a key issue for this party. Earlier this year when Simon Crean was elected Leader of the Opposition, he released a statement that explained exactly how the Labor Party felt about the signing of this protocol and what the advantages would be. Although he did not say exactly how they intended to move towards this sanction, he has expressed more of an interest in its approval than Prime Minister, John Howard or former Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley. Both the Labor and Liberal-National Coalition Parties have acknowledged that there is a need to, what is commonly know to the public, as ¡¥reduce, reuse and recycle¡¦. However, we are not seeing any major changes or actions taking place, apart from the usual advertising slogans and jingles, which are more often than not, organised by the local government. Although both major parties¡¦ policy outlines do mention many aspects of environmental protection, including waste management, reduction in pollution levels and cleaner waterways, neither of them maintains the specificity of some smaller parties policies. However, the issue of the endorsement of the Kyoto Protocol seems to be slightly different between these two major parties. This has been shown recently with reference to Simon Crean¡¦s September 6th Media Statement, where he outlined some of the major benefits of Australia ratifying the protocol. He states, ¡§Australia will be locked out of new global markets if John Howard refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. We risk Australian companies moving offshore to enable them to take advantage of growing markets¡K[In] Australia ¡K well be locked out of any opportunities that we might have been able to have from here ¡K if you are one of the Kyoto countries ¡K why would you deal with a country which hasnt ratified?¡¨ The Liberal Party seems to support the idea of encouraging other countries to decrease emissions, but still continues to follow the United States, where George Bush shows very little interest in the release of Greenhouse gasses. Before the latest elections, The Liberal Party stated, ¡§The danger is that the election of a Beazley Government that has vowed to ratify the Kyoto protocol to the UN climate change convention would deter new investment in brown coal, despite the enormous resources available for development. It is clear that Mr. Beazley and the Labor Party did not give such considerations a moment¡¦s thought when they decided that there were votes in announcing they would ratify the Kyoto protocol.¡¨ However, they presented their case and despite the fact that the John Howard will not sign the Kyoto Protocol, he seemed to think that his approach was much more fulfilling, in that, ¡§[They] will encourage developing countries, which are major emitters, to accept binding targets, work with the USA - the world¡¦s largest emitter of greenhouse gases - to encourage acceptance of appropriate; and continue to develop and invest funding in domestic programs to meet the target Australia agreed to at Kyoto, whether or not the Kyoto Protocol comes into force.¡¨ Thus establishing on of the only differences between the major parties in regards to environmental policies.

A ¡¥minor¡¦ party in politics often refers to ¡§A political party which gains only limited electoral support or minor representation in the Parliament¡¨ The most obvious minor party, which causes a distinction in Australian Government regarding environmental issues, is that of The Australian Greens. As they are a smaller, more radical and specified party, they have the leeway to devote more of their time and efforts to individual issues, rather than making a ¡¥token policy¡¦ to show that they support environmental preservation. When the Greens set out their policies, they divided them into specific sub categories, including our environment, coastal management, water, energy, nuclear issues, waste, sustainable agriculture, genetic engineering, animal welfare, greening of industry and population management. Within these sub categories, the Greens have specified their principles, goals and short-term targets in order to identify exactly how they will deal with each environmental issue. For example, in regards to our water ways, the Greens state that one of their principle policies for water is ¡§based in adopting an integrated catchment approach to the management of both surface and ground water¡K. specifically including frameworks for the management of cumulative effects of incremental water infrastructure developments ¡K specifically incorporat(ing) biodiversity issues in ICM plans and strategies.¡¨ The goals relating to this include the Greens aiming to ¡§encourage all state governments to complete comprehensive state inventories of freshwater ecosystems and on this basis, develop comprehensive, adequate and representative freshwater ecosystem reserves,¡§ which specifically deals with the management of the surface and ground water, therefore complying with the short term target relating to this, being, ¡§extend national programmes to restore environmental flows to all river, wetland and groundwater-dependent systems and improve water quality.¡¨ The specificity of the Greens¡¦ policies is one feature that separates the minor parties form the major parties. They have the ability to be this specific regarding one certain topic (in this instance, the Environment) because they don¡¦t take full responsibility for other issues, such as immigration, education and social welfare policies as governing major parties do. It is a well-known fact that minor parties have the opportunity to become more radical than major parties, as they have less responsibility in nation wide decision-making. In regards to the Kyoto Protocol, this is one issue, which is at the top of the Agenda for the Australian Greens. A breakdown of the necessity to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and the Greens actions in order to ensure this, are stated in the ¡¥International Issues¡¦ section of their policy breakdown. It is stated that the Greens aim to ¡¥work for effective measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and use of ozone-depleting substances, and call for the Australian Government to sign and work for strengthening the Kyoto protocol¡¨ as much like the Howard Government, they support world encouragement, but the Greens are intending to assist the rest of the world, as they ¡§support the conservation of the Earth¡¦s environment and its biodiversity, both as a value in itself and as essential for human survival and happiness. [They] are working for sustainability based upon equitable access to nature and environmental goods among all the world¡¦s peoples.¡¨ This shows the Greens enthusiasm in involving the whole world in the fight for a safer environment, instead of taking the Howard approach and sitting back and leaving it in the control of others.

The Australian Democrats are another minor party who support the Greens hugely in the fight for cleaner air and a safer environment. Much like the Greens, the Democrats also have very specific Environmental policies. For example, they believe that ¡§the immediate and unconditional ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is an important first step towards the stabilisation of the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gas emissions.¡¨ Not only do they believe this, but the Democrats note the targets for these issues, such as ¡§immediately ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and planning for emissions to be cut by 0% by 00¡¨ and also plan to introduce ¡§legislation outlining a timetable of emissions reductions targets starting with the Kyoto commitment.¡¨ They also encourage the push for Liberal and Labor commitment to the Kyoto Protocol in order to achieve these goals. The Democrats have also planned to reduce greenhouse emissions in many areas, such as the electricity and transport sectors, as well as expanding the renewable energy sector, creating a sustainable economy and increasing energy efficiency. This precise outline is not shown in neither Labor nor Liberal policy outlines, in fact it shows that for a party who has other issues that must be dealt with, they still feel that the environment should not be taking a back seat to other issues such as education and social welfare. Finally, how are the major and minor parties separated? The two major parties, Labor and Liberal-National Coalition are both similar in that they are very unspecific in their goals for the environment and its future and their policies seem to be one liners such as ¡¥cleaner air¡¦ or ¡¥less greenhouse gas emissions.¡¦ They have no set goals or separate policies for each sector of the environment; they simply state what needs to be done about the environment, with no action plan or some form of commitment. The smaller parties on the other hand, have much more specific ideals as to how to manage the arising issues in the environment. Both the Australian Greens and the Democrats break down their platform, commitments and targets according to specific environmental issues, such as coastal management, water, energy, nuclear issues and so on. The only factor that separates the two major parties is their opinion on the Kyoto Protocol. The Liberal party seems to be following the trend of the United States, whereas now that there has been a change of leader in the Labor party, they seem to be more inclined to endorse the protocol and its notions and regain our unity with the rest of the world, thus agreeing with the methods of preservation and reduction of greenhouse emissions that the Greens and the Democrats have proposed. Therefore, it would be fair to say that in regards to general environmental policies, the Labor and Liberal-National Coalition parties are indeed indistinguishable, except for their points of view regarding the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. Whereas the present minor parties such as the Australian greens and the democrats have the only policy variety in Australian parliament due to specificity of guidelines and courses of action. Bibliography1. Author Unknown Parliament of Australia Website ¡V Glossary http//www.aph.gov.au/find/ glossary.htm# (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0). Author unknown, http//www.liberal.org.au/policy/environment.pdf (Last updated June, 00, accessed 17 August, 00). Author unknown, www.greens.org.au (Last updated, June 00, accessed 16 August, 00)4. Bibb, A. (00) Young Nationals Website - Policies http//www.youngnationals.org.au/page.html (Last updated 8th August, 00, accessed 6th September, 00)5. Boehmer-Christiansen, S. (000) ¡¥Energy & the Environment¡¦ Volume 11, Issue , Pages 4-546. Crean, S. (00) The Australian Labor Party ¡V Environmental Policies http//www.nswalp.com/alp/alpWeb_Content.nsf/policy?openagent&id=10-Environment (Last updated July, 00, accessed 17 August 00)7. Crean, S. Australian Labor Party ¡V 10 Environment, Principles and Goals http//www.nswalp.com/alp/alpWeb_Content.nsf/policy?openagent&id+10-Environment (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)8. Crosby, L. Liberal Party Website ¡V Liberal Policies http//www.liberal.org.au/media/ campaign/minchin/minchinpraustralian%0resourcesoct18.htm (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0). Dee, J. - Planet Ark Website ¡V Factbox What is the Kyoto Protocol? http//www.planetark. org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/15186/story.htm (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)10. Epaminondas, G. (0/06/00) The Age ¡§Eco a Go-Go¡¨ The Sun Herald11. Evans, J. (00) The Australian Democrats ¡V Change Politics Policies of the Australian Democrats http//www.democrats.org.au/policies/# (Last updated 5th September, 00, accessed 6th September, 00)1. Kellow, A. (1) ¡¥Greenhouse & the Environment¡¦ Volume 10, Issue , Pages 75-11. Liberal Party Website ¡V Liberal Booklet http//www.liberal.org.au/policy/ Liberalbooklet.pdf (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)14. Papadakis, E. (17) ¡§Politics and the Environment The Australian Experience¡¨ Sydney, Allen & Unwin15. Sekhon, G. - The Australian Greens Online ¡V International Issues . Short Term Targets (d) http//www.greens.org.au/ (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)16. Sekhon, G. The Australian Democrats ¡V Greenhouse and Energy Principles Platforms and Commitments http//www.democrats.org.au/policies/# (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)17. Sekhon, G. The Australian Greens Online - International Environment Sustainability Principles .1 http//www.greens.org.au (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)18. Sekhon, G. The Australian Greens Online Care for the Earth .1 Principles http//www.greens.org.au/ g1careforearthfull.htm (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)1. Sekhon, G. The Australian Greens Online Care for the Earth . Goals http//www.greens.org.au/ g1careforearthfull.htm (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)0. Sekhon, G. The Australian greens Online Care for the Earth . Short Term Targets http//www.greens.org.au/ g1careforearthfull.htm (Last updated 7th September, 0, Accessed, th September, 0)1. Simon Crean ¡V Leader of the Opposition, Media Statement, 6th September, 00 ¡§Australian Business Recognises Benefits Of Kyoto Protocol ¡V Why Won¡¦t John Howard?¡¨. Singleton, G. (Editor) (000) The Howard Government Chapter 10, ¡§The Howard Government and Federalism ¡V The End of an Era?¡¨

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