Voters — Making your vote count for the environment

WHY SHOULD WE CONSIDER THE ENVIRONMENT WHEN WE VOTE?

This article is not yet complete. We hope to have it on the website by June, 2007.

As a basic comment, the environment is our most precious resource, and our governments are responsible for taking care of it. From an economic perspective, our natural resources are the most important asset of our economy and if we allow this asset to be damaged unnecessarily, we are hurting our economy. Protection of our environment is the most important investment decision a government can, and should, make.

Contents:

Introduction
The Electoral System
Why has the Environment Become a Major Issue?
What Difference can Voting Make?

The environment, its protection and care, has become a central issue in Australian politics and elections for at least thirty years. The world’s first environmental party was established in Tasmania in 1972. It was called the United Tasmania Group. It was soon followed by other parties, such as the Values Party in New Zealand and Greens parties in Europe. Clean air and water, conservation of natural areas and threats to biodiversity had become important issues by the 1970s, leading governments around the world to implement laws for environmental protection. International treaties and conventions have also been established to protect and manage the environment. In liberal democracies, such as Australia, voting at elections is a key way in which citizens influence governments and public decision-making. The actions of government, including law-making and public spending, have a profound effect on the fate of the environment. Therefore, the importance of voting lies in its influence on the political process and on government decisions that may benefit or damage the environment.

The Electoral System

The Australian political system is divided between three separate layers of government: federal (national), state, and local. At each of these levels of government decisions are made that have an effect on the environment, whether it is natural bushland or the highly modified urban environment.

Our system of government is a representative democracy: at elections we choose candidates to represent us in Parliaments (or in the case of local government, in local Councils). These representatives then form the government (or Executive). The Australian political system is dominated by parties, who select candidates and compete for political power at elections. The parties effectively control the parliamentary system, and the government is made up of the party (or group of parties) who have the most members elected to Parliament.

Since the beginning of the 20^th century, Australian elections have been dominated by two party groups: Labor and conservative. The principal conservative parties are the Liberal and the National Parties. Smaller parties have played an increasingly important role in the electoral system. In terms of votes, the largest ‘minor’ parties over the last 20 years have been the Australian Democrats and the Greens. Both of these parties have a strong environmental focus to their policies and electoral appeal.

Federal elections are held for two Houses of Parliament: the House of Representatives, or Lower House, and the Senate, or Upper House. The electoral systems in each are different, resulting in the election of slightly different party representation in each House. The House of Representatives – which is the House from which the government is always formed – is elected by preferential voting. The result is that it is nearly always dominated by the two major parties (Labor and Liberal/National). The Senate voting system is called proportional representation, which is more complicated, but tends to allow the election of smaller parties and independent (non-party) members of Parliament. The different voting systems have an impact on how people vote and how public decision-making occurs. For example, voters are more inclined to vote for minor parties and independents in Senate elections because it is easier for them to get elected to the Senate. Where no party controls both Houses of Parliament, more negotiation and compromise and a greater diversity of opinion tends to be reflected in legislation and government actions.

The way people vote, as well as the nature of the voting system, will affect whether there is more or less diversity of opinion and representation in Parliament.

Why has the Environment Become a Major Issue?

We are all dependent on the natural world for our survival, wealth, identity and well-being. For thousands of years societies have lived in close, intimate connection with their natural environment. This was the case whether they were ‘hunter-gather’ societies or agrarian (farming) societies. The growth of industrial society, and cities, has meant that most of us are not living immediately within natural environments, or, if so, they are highly modified. Also, the relationship between our societies and the natural world must now be considered on a global scale. Industrial society, its systems of production, consumption and government, now operates on a scale that affects the whole planet.

Industrialisation can have a substantial, adverse (negative) impact on the environment. In the 19^th century governments found it necessary to regulate pollution from factories and build sewers and drainage in cities because of the damage that would otherwise occur to the environment and to public health. Since the 1950s governments have introduced a wide range of environmental measures, such as laws to reduce pollution, protect ecosystems and better plan the development of cities. As a result of the growth of environmental movements and growing public awareness of environmental issues, voters are more conscious of such ‘green’ issues when they vote.

One issue that has come to dominate public debate over the environment, and the impact of industrial activity on the natural world, is climate change, or global warming as a result of human activity. We are now discovering that use of fossil-fuels, including the burning of coal and oil, in industrial processes, as well as widespread clearing of native vegetation for farming and cities, has led to an enormous imbalance in the Earth’s atmosphere. It has led to the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other ‘greenhouse’ gases in the atmosphere. The result is the Earth is heating up dramatically. This will have dangerous effects on the world’s natural systems. Among the environmental problems we face are the rise of sea levels, the extinction of species, and the drying out of more parts of the world, including parts of Australia in which many of us live.

What Difference can Voting Make?

Voting affects the way in which politicians, parties and governments make decisions. The growth of environmental movements and consciousness since the 1970s meant that people thought about the environment when they voted. Politicians and governments were forced to respond to this sentiment and take action. It may be that some (or a large part) of this action has been criticised from various quarters, including that it was inadequate.

Voting has the drawback of only occurring when elections are called. For Federal elections that is normally only every three years. Many environmental issues need urgent action, or action all the time. In many instances, it will be necessary to put pressure on politicians or other decision-makers at other times, or all the time, and through other means. Voting has the effect of being able to change the government if they do not represent the general opinion, or pressure the government to take up issues that the voters consider important.

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