It’s inevitable. Even the Nationals’ installation of Barnaby Joyce cannot stop the progress of change. You see the signs everywhere you turn. Some objects are just too big to halt once they have started moving. While ads for utes continue to depict Australians enjoying the great outdoors, the press of ads on Facebook for solar panel installers drips like a raw wound. It’s even questionable whether the Coalition’s pledge to build a gas-fired power station in the Hunter Valley is tenable.
On Twitter, where there’s a lively commentary held every day mostly among people who sit on the Left side of the political spectrum, a feeling of unreality persists. When Joe Biden, the US’ game president, pledged to reduce carbon emissions – a call echoed by European leaders – there was universal condemnation on Twitter for the government here in Australia. The gas plant announcement had just been made and people were unhappy.
But the writing is on the wall. Even Mathias Cormann, who once sat in Canberra as part of the ruling Coalition of Nationals and Liberals, is now firmly ensconced at the head of the OECD, the developed world’s most prestigious club. OECD moves to curb carbon emissions are deeply entrenched in Europe’s progressive politics and will not be unsettled by Joyce’s return to power in the Nationals’ party room. Financial markets are starting to pay attention to the doomsayers as well – people who’ve been, like their friends on Twitter, consistent over the years – and have begun to change how they operate.
All the kings horses ….
If Joyce wants to insert a spine into the backbones of conservative types in Australia he’s done the right thing, but the outcome of the game won’t change. There have been too many knocks on the skull of public opinion and wisdom says that retirement is the only way to avoid debilitating sickness. Like a rugby league halfback who’s had too many harsh tackles over a career on the front lines, Australians are gently pulling back.
No matter how entertaining people like Joyce and Canavan make the contest seem they will drop out of the game, the real drama being in the washed out living rooms of the Nepean Valley, the scorched dry sclerophyll forest of the Blue Mountains, and the upward movement of insurance premiums that catch the householder’s eye every year when the time comes to pay.
Money talks, and Joyce and Canavan are virtually bankrupt. The coming election will be their swansong.
Comments