Democracy in turmoil as a celebrity choir sings as one

Unelected and uncredentialled, Prince William shares the soap box with a preaching Jacinda Ardern. Welcome to the pretend world of Davos.

Britain's Prince William, Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and Dixon Chibanda, Director of the African Mental Health Research Initiative, in Davos.

The annual migration of the world’s political and economic elite to Davos has become an increasingly grotesque demonstration of the real chasm in Western liberal democracies.

Here, in the rarefied atmosphere of the Swiss Alps, the 1 per cent discuss the sharing of our global bounty without offering up any of their own and preach of the sacrifices required for climate action without surrendering their own comforts.

Hypocrisy decorates the gathering the same way snow dominates the scenery as the so-called elites arrive on first-class fares and in private jets to spruik carbon constraints and economic sustainability. At this altitude the gilets jaunes of the Parisian streets trouble no one; they are safely quarantined in the lowlands until they can rustle up some airline tickets and perhaps some yellow ski jackets.

This is a pretend world where a gathering dominated by the business and political leaders of Europe and North America is lectured on the need to tame the “wild beast” instincts of capitalism by millionaire rock star Bono.

The U2 frontman conceded capitalism had lifted more people out of poverty than any other “ism” but suggested unfettered capitalism had driven a global drift to populism — when the reality in Europe, the US and even Australia is that ever-increasing encroachment by the state and the surrendering of sovereign priorities to supranational agreements are what have fuelled populist revolts.

So superficial is this gathering that, while it suggests climate change is the greatest challenge facing the world, its discussion of the issue was headlined by celebrity drawcards.

Prince William — unelected and uncredentialled on the topic — took to the stage to interview legendary documentary-maker David Attenborough about the environmental challenge.

Another event had New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern take questions from former US presidential candidate Al Gore, who parlayed his narrow defeat at the hands of George W. Bush into a stellar career as a climate evangelist, picking up a Nobel Peace Prize for alarmist activism along the way.

This might have been Gore’s first venture back into antipodean politics since 2014, when he stood with mining magnate, Paris Agreement opponent and nickel refinery owner Clive Palmer at Parliament House, Canberra.

In an illuminating exchange Gore made an oblique reference to Donald Trump’s abandonment of the Paris Agreement and sought Ardern’s view about a leader resistant to action.

“You don’t have to cede power by acting on climate change,” preached Ardern.

“There’s nothing to fear about your individual political status — actually this is about being on the right side of history.”

Note the lack of reference to the climate or the economy, the competing interests in this debate. Also missing were voters, consumers or citizens. For Ardern this was about personal status.

“Do you want to be a leader that you look back in time and say that you were on the wrong side of the argument when the world was crying out for a solution?” she posed. “It’s as simple as that.”

I fear, for the Davos crowd, it might seem that simple. Pick the zeitgeist and get on the right side of it — never mind detailed analysis of the extent of the problem; never mind comparative prioritisation against other global challenges; never mind the myriad alternative responses; and never mind any sort of cost-benefit analysis. Just go with the crowd.

It is little wonder satire is dead. Because, while global emissions continue to rise substantially, it is Trump’s US where a technological shift to domestic gas has driven a reduction in emissions from fixed power generation.

Apparently it is not carbon emission reductions that drive the allocation of white hats and black hats at places such as Davos; it is the symbolism. The pronounced thought is what counts — the virtue signalling — not the actions or the reality.

On the World Economic Forum website for Davos it gives itself a pat on the back for reducing its use of private jets. In a detailed post it examines the number of air movements and claims they are falling year on year.

“This year’s drop in private air traffic is a sign participants are taking the environmental impact of their travel more seriously,” it says. “It’s something we have been encouraging. We have been offering incentives to participants to use public transport for some years. We also ask that they share planes if they have to use them; something that has been gaining popularity in recent years.”

It goes on to say that all the flights are covered by a Davos carbon offset plan. Talk about climate action; some people walk the walk, Davos flies the flights.

But this mountain pulpit is not focused entirely on climate; it covers globalisation, health, automation, women’s rights and much more. Former British prime minister Tony Blair used this alpine eerie to pontificate on Brexit and push for a second referendum.

“People sometimes say if you have another referendum isn’t that a damage to democracy. But look, we’re going back to the people, we’re not asking anyone else, we’re asking them. We’ve had 30 months of negotiation, there’s a much clearer knowledge now of what Brexit really means, there’s a much greater understanding of all the issues around it, and I think it’s not unreasonable in these circumstances to ask people whether they want to think again,” he said.

This is a terrible state of affairs — while voters in Britain who voted for Brexit are dismayed at how the political class has refused to deliver it, and while voters in Paris protest in the streets about the price of climate action, their leaders look down from Davos and tell them what’s good for them. The critical question is where the wisdom resides — is it with Prince William and Bono in Davos or is it with the yellow vests and Brexiteers in Paris and London?

The same dynamic is playing out in the Australian election campaign. We will soon hear more about energy options as the government weighs up Trevor St Baker’s $6 billion bid for high efficiency, low emissions, coal-fired power generation against other proposals for dispatchable electricity. The battle between renewable posturing and providing reliable and affordable power will continue, although the clash between these competing aims will be somewhat muted by two realities: we have created such an energy crisis that either approach will be costly; and the Coalition will not demonstrate its priorities by rejecting Paris.

Davos Man would not trouble himself with the cost of our power but endorse Bill Shorten’s doubling of renewable and emissions reduction targets.

Davos Man also might endorse Labor’s tax agenda as a gesture towards redistribution. Davos Man would support a weakening of our border protection regime as a nod to UN sensibilities.

No matter what happens in our election, Brexit, the US or the streets of Paris, this divide and how it is bridged will be the central challenge for policymakers and politicians for years, if not decades, to come.

In this sense the defection of Warren Mundine, the former ALP national president cum Liberal candidate, speaks eloquently about the tectonics. He says his fundamental philosophy and objectives have not changed but that the political environment has shifted around him. That assessment is not implausible.

He seeks not only indigenous advancement but also working-class progress. Mundine’s mantra of workaday self-reliance and enterprise is the antithesis of Davos Man posturing — it reflects the Hawke-Keating aspirational project and, while he was opposed to the Coalition at the time, could quite easily settle under the Howard battler banner.

It seems evident voters of this ilk are struggling to find a natural home. The real opportunity for Scott Morrison is to provide it.