The latest idea of Julia Gillard in the run-up to the election is a 'populist stunt'. She is proposing a committee of 100 citizens to decide the structure of any climate change measures. The problem with this suggestion is that votes - not reason - will be the standard of value. Ought this be a problem? Yes, because it does not resolve anything, and creates new risks. Consider the following:
1. MPs are popularly elected citizens, so how more representative can a collection of people be which she chooses. Of course the means by which these people are to be selected will be 'worked out after the election'. Nevermind that the exercise will be sabotaged from the start. It is all 'smoke and mirrors', and rest assured the 'committee' will achieve even less than the Human Rights Committee that Kevin Rudd established after the last election.
2. Is this a repudiation of the 'representativeness' of the parliament, or their incapacity to develop a climate change solution. Interesting idea. We will not know more until we see some detail as to how she intends to structure this organisation. Regardless, it strikes me as simply a populist policy intended to throw the issue of climate change back at the public. i.e. Telling the public what they want to here. Who could oppose 'direct democracy'...well I will, because I know it will do nothing for sound judgement.
3. Technical capability is surely one aspect of any judgement which will fail to get a sound board. Consider that we already have a lot of novices in parliament with inadequate life experience or technical knowledge. They are after all lawyers with no life experience, most of whom went straight into parliament. Do they learn anything on committees? Well, I say they would scarcely learn anything about 'industry problems', and anyway, they don't write the reports anyone, some idiot backbencher does.
At the end of the day, I think Labor knows there is no climate dilemma. There is only the dilemma in pretending that they support climate change until science can offer more resolute or definitive answers to the cause of climate change, which I suggest is solar flares and the Earth's orbit around the sun. In the meantime Labor are killing time with delays and committees which decide nothing. A committee will make findings and then the government will simply walk away from its findings, arguing that its just another opinion. Interesting, but of no definitive value. No reasons given, no accountability. And you people think you have an answer for political discourse in democracy. Think again. Put Gillard on trial - fight for a meritocracy!
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Author
Andrew Sheldon
