Dear Australians

[thebitterguy]

Hi. I understand you've undergone a bit of a political shift recently.

Anyone wanna give me a quick note on what's happened, and how you're reacting? I saw a couple posts already (artbroken most recently) but would like to hear how things are going for our Commonwealth brothers.

Plus, I hear the guy who got turfed was Harper's political forefather, so that's just awesome news.

Comments

[-auntiesocial-.livejournal.com]

I did read that Peter Garrett,formally of Midnight Oil, one of my favorite bands, will most likely be given a cabinet position.

[thebitterguy]

That would be totally awesome.

[umario.livejournal.com]

He got it... kind of - he's one of two Ministers with environmental portfolios (http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/garrett-stripped-of-climate-change-role/2007/11/29/1196037074839.html). Interesting spin on this one - Kevin Rudd's been saying that environment is too big for one person, and climate change needs to be highlighted separately. I'd agree with him.

[thebitterguy]

Do you think he's sold out, or are those the kinds of sacrifices someone needs to make to get change happening in the real world, and boy howdy who'd know that better than you?

[umario.livejournal.com]

Is it selling out if an environmentalist gains the perspective of the industrialist and realises that the world is a lot more complex and requires some work and some compromise and some costs borne by our countries and our industries to move towards lower greenhouse gas emissions?

If the answer is yes, then Peter and I have both sold out. But I believe that these sacrifices are necessary to get into positions of power, especially in the colonies (and even more so in that more rebellious ex-colony to the south of us). The question is if he is corrupted or just more realistic. I think it'll be the latter with him.

There are some things one has to accept as necessary and ugly compromises. Like - I've had to accept that it's gonna cost Canada a lot to reduce emissions, probably a lot more than the Germans, because we produce oil, and they don't (they only have brown coal), and about 7% of our economy is based on that industry (if I recall correctly). That doesn't mean we shouldn't do anything, but we have to accept that meeting long-term targets requires some changes to the way we do things, and accept higher costs for energy.

Check out what I wrote on the Beige today.