November 26, 2007
David Burchell in an op-ed in The Australian strikes a cautionary note. He says:
Over 2007 Rudd has been very effective in distancing Labor from the politics of noisy minority interest groups. But in government Australians will expect positive policy directions as well, and Rudd has been hazy about these so far. Broadband internet access is not a substitute for schooling or innovation policies. Rescuing the lives of Australians in remote Aboriginal communities will require policy boldness, not the timidity Rudd evinced during the final days of the campaign. Labor has laid the ghosts of the recent past. It now faces the much bigger task of moving beyond the slogan of "New Leadership" to actual policy leadership. It's not yet clear whether it has Now sufficient political resources to do so.
By 'noisy minority interest' Burchell is referring to those inner city professionals who identify with a set of social and moral values that they take Labor to have embodied since the '70s; as opposed to the mainstream suburban battlers where people still own Hills hoists, and where they still mow their lawns on Saturday mornings, much as their parents did. The latter vote to protect the futures of themselves and their families.

Geoff Pryor
Burchell does say that at Labor has returned to the mainstream---western Sydney working families--- and that it's even more important that the party moves on. Though ordinary Australian families are concerned about their mortgages and their working conditions, they also expect the new government to take the lead on issues of national significance. He says that these issues are schooling, innovation policies and improving the lives of Australians in remote Aboriginal communities.
However, it is unclear that Burchell is now acknowledging the importance of shifting to a more sustainable economic life in the warmed up world of climate change? If he is now indicating that he understands that the market is about meaning, values and culture, as much as it is about utilitarian interests, then changing the way we understand the economy is crucially important. We live in a market society as well as a market economy.
Moreover, the urban and rural economy depends upon ecological life support systems (rivers and waters) and on energy efficiency. What we don't need are more coal-fired power stations being build to provide the power to run the McMansions in Sydney. If climate change has moved towards the top of the international political agenda, then in Australia the gap between evidence and policy still remains wide. Will the Rudd Government’s approach to climate change be too heavily influenced by the Garnaut report, expected in the middle of 2008?
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Gary,
We should see the end of the self-styled "greenhouse mafia" [the fossil fuel lobbyists] who had become so accustomed to pulling the strings on energy policy in Australia, and even being consulted on every contentious point at international negotiations on climate change.