Stop the pork

IN a world under the influence of the Almighty Dollar, it is a pity alternative methods aren’t used to analyse the economic and social outcomes of government policies to focus on their impact on the wellbeing of the people. There seems to be an attitude that, if certain matters are dealt with at the top, a trickle down benefit will occur through society. When the weaknesses of such an approach are challenged, the usual response is couched in terms of victim-blaming and scaremongering.

Who remembers the report: “Triple Bottom Line Reporting in Australia”? The Commonwealth issued this comprehensive report in 2003. As then environment and heritage minister David Kemp said in its introduction: “For the last five years the Howard Government, through Environment Australia, has been at the forefront of promoting public environmental and triple bottom line reporting in Australia. With the provision of key publications, such as A Framework for Public Environmental Reporting – An Australian Approach, and working co-operatively with industry, we have seen a steady increase in the number of organisations publishing environmental reports, from just one in 1993 to approximately 100 in 2003.”

What is the Government’s perspective in 2020? What would Tasmania/Australia/the world be like if such an approach was used to set policy objectives?

Many are frustrated with the political pork-barrelling as many of those in power lurch to the next election. Paddy Byers South Hobart