Excerpt from Impakter:
While the nation struggles to deal with the sheer size of the fires and the extent of the damage they have inflicted, politicians and the media are engaged in a war of words over who is to blame for the largest bushfire in Australian history. As pundits point towards the Rural Fire Services’ massive budget cuts as well as the Australian government’s refusal to take the threat of climate change seriously, a major talking point has been left out of the debate: years of public complacency.
Scientific facts have often been dismissed by Australia’s right-wing Liberal party, yet they have rarely been held accountable for it by voters. In power since 2013 after the progressive Labor government was narrowly ousted at the polls, the Australian Liberal Party has continuously downplayed the impacts of climate change. Voters have stood by them despite the government censoring international reports, holding back environmental data, redirecting renewable energy funds towards building coal power plants and pushing for the opening of the world’s largest open-air coal mine.
Thanks to the help of the conservative-friendly Murdoch media empire and increasingly authoritarian actions taken against protesters and journalists alike, the Liberal Party has retained control of the Australian parliament through two elections. However, these bushfires may have proved to be a catalyst for change — they certainly need to be.
Коментари