‘Independents’ want to override our democracy
Despite claims that so-called independent candidates want you to find your voice at the ballot box, the real agenda is to shut it down.
More than a decade ago, left-wing academic Clive Hamilton spoke about the frustration of climate activists who could not get their way at the ballot box.
Hamilton said that following speeches on climate change, “invariably, during the question and answer session, someone would express frustration at the political process and ask whether the only answer is to suspend democracy”.
Dismissing this idea, Hamilton rightly asked: “What would it mean? How could it happen? A military takeover? A government handing power to a panel of experts? It does not make sense.”
The party of candidates claiming to be independent has answered Hamilton’s questions.
This was demonstrated most clearly in 2020 when chief independent and member for Warringah Zali Steggall proposed a bill to establish a climate commission.
The commission had many objectives, including developing economic and social plans for Australia informed by decisions of the UN, not Australians or their elected members of parliament.
But the worst part of the bill was it gave these unelected commissioners the power to veto the decision-making of elected members of parliament.
The bill required emissions reduction targets to be set by the commissioners and outlined that any emissions reduction target could not be adjusted by the elected minister unless “the commission(ers) recommends the proposed variation”.
To remove any doubt about the intent, in a speech last year the chief independent said in parliament that “Australian climate policy needs to be taken out of the hands” of democratically elected representatives with whom she disagreed.
As extraordinary as that demand is, it pales in comparison to the demands of the independent candidate in Goldstein. In her climate policy she says voters shouldn’t be able to change climate targets at the ballot box and she seeks to “legislate a binding emission reduction target that is not tied to elections”.
Doing so would amount to subversion of our democratic system. The problem is that the party of so-called independents wants a technocracy, not a democracy.
It’s also utterly incoherent – the teal independents want an independent commission to set targets and policy, yet they want to get elected with targets set in their policy. Like Labor, they want to legislate targets that will prevent policy debate in the parliament and shift it into the courts instead.
Around the world, 180-odd governments have chosen to set targets but not legislate them. The reason for this is how blatantly legislated targets have been weaponised in Britain and the EU.
Once targets have been legislated, climate activists have used courts to take legal action against governments for the crime of trying to build new roads and airport runways. The practical consequence has been to lead to the delaying of new infrastructure or blocking it entirely, heaping even further costs on to taxpayers.
There’s no faster way to corrode community trust on reducing greenhouse gas emissions than by empowering unelected climate tsars to overrule voters and elected representatives.
At this election a party of so-called independents is coming together to target Liberal MPs in communities where Labor and the Greens flounder.
Despite some of these candidates formerly being Labor Party members, they claim they’re cleanskins and politically unaligned. None will rule out supporting a Labor government.
Their rallying cry is they want to use democracy to drive more action on climate change, but the detail of their policy shows they’d rather shut down democracy to achieve their aims.
The teal independents’ assault on our democracy is the exact opposite of the approach taken by the Coalition government, which is focused on building public confidence behind its targets and plan to get there. While other countries have talked big in international forums about their commitment to climate action, they are backsliding on implementation because of domestic resistance from businesses and households over higher costs.
The Coalition’s plan is focused on creating the enabling environment for technology that is sustainable and competitive to build Australia’s clean industrial future and deliver the jobs of the 21st century. We’ve set a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, with a comprehensive, economy-wide plan to achieve it. We have been able to meet and beat our interim targets while continuing to grow the economy and create jobs.
The party of so-called independents wants to override democracy to achieve its objectives. The Coalition wants to empower Australians to be part of the solution in building our clean industrial future together.
Tim Wilson, the member for Goldstein, is Assistant Minister to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction.
Read related topics:Climate Change