Page 2403 - Week 06 - Thursday, 10 May 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
… high population growth rates and high employment and income rates being strongly and positively correlated with large ecological footprints.
With all the Green-cred initiatives that Canberrans have to pay for in this city—the carbon tax, the solar feed-in tariff and now the energy efficiency improvement scheme—I was hoping that this committee would have something positive to say to Canberra residents. Unfortunately, as I was reviewing this report, it was clear that what they received was a litany of tag lines accusing Canberrans of eating too much, buying too much, driving too much, using too much electricity and maybe even procreating too much.
Simply put, Madam Assistant Speaker, I do not agree with how this report has framed the issue. Many of the conclusions that it draws are mainly intuitive inferences driven by an ideological position. As to the ideological position—I remind members that I am speaking for Mr Seselja—I have served in this Assembly for a long time and this is probably the first instance where a committee report begins with an openly stated philosophically driven position. For this report the committee drew on University of British Columbia Professor William E Rees, who defined “carrying capacity” as:
… the maximum rate of resource consumption and waste discharge that can be sustained indefinitely in a given region without progressively impairing the functional integrity and productivity of relevant ecosystems.
A quick glance of his biography on this university website has this to say:
Modern techno-industrial society is a product of the ‘enlightenment project’ and is deeply rooted in what philosophers refer to as the ‘Cartesian dualism.’ … Dualism, and its companion expansionary-materialistic worldview, are arguably the major source of many of the so-called ‘environmental problems’ confronting humankind today.
This is the underlying philosophical position that this report assumes. It is neo-Malthusian and has undertones of asserting notions of unsustainable populations and a plundered earth. This report also furthers the discussion on population, taking its cue from Professor Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University. Although this report cites his 1971 article co-written with John Holdren entitled “Impact of population growth”, he received recognition for his 1968 book The Population Bomb published by the Sierra Club. Here is a little bit of what he had to say:
At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world’s death rate … In the 1970s the world will undergo famines. Hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death.
He goes on to say:
We must take action to reverse the deterioration of our environment before population pressure permanently ruins our planet. The birth rate must be brought into balance with the death rate or mankind will breed itself into oblivion.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video