On Saturday 13th June 2009, Byron Ballina Greens presented a conference in
Mullumbimby entitled "A Green Alternative". Speakers were John kaye Greens
MP, Giovanni Ebono, and Tom Tabart Byron Shire Councillor.
John described a green economy as one where we move away from burning coal
to producing green energy from renewable sources, high levels of energy
efficiency, and lots of jobs. At present New South Wales releases 57
million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually.
John Kaye emphasised the importance of supporting green jobs and green energy projects in New South Wales and Australia. About 73,000 green jobs could be created by transforming to a green economy, compared to the existing 6000 jobs in the NSW coal industry and about 1500 jobs in the Australian Aluminium industry.
The proposed free carbon credits to be paid to these industries under the Rudd governments Carbon pollution scheme amount to a cost of 200,000 per job. This would easily pay for retraining these workers for green energy jobs.
When asked what the vested interest are which protect the existing economy, John said "Australia has three levels of government, the banks, the mining industry and the real estate industry. We need to break free of these in a way which serves the people of NSW, and the workers." These are powerful enemies, and the way to break free of them is to have a public conversation. That means every Australian getting involved in the debate on how we make the transition.
Giovanni Ebono: Is a Non-Growth Economy Possible?
To maintain a sustainable economy, we need two things. One is zero Growth and the other is zero waste. These two things sound fairly simple; a sustainable economy can continue indefinitely. On the other hand we cannot continue to grow forever, unless we have infinite resources, which we do'nt because the planet is finite. Zero waste is a little more complicated, we cannot continue to take resources from one area and then throw them away, because we will eventually run out of the resources.
Australia has just come very close to two quarters of negative economic growth aka a recession or non growth. This causes politicians to panic, the business sector to panic and of course, the financial sector to panic, and newspapers don't really question why this is such a terrible thing. We must then ask why is growth such a fundamental part of our economy? The reason is that the financial sector absolutely depends on growth. There is no point in lending you money to buy a house if the value of that house is not going to increase. That is because you would have no interest in paying the interest on the loan that the bank needs to make a profit if the value of the house is not going to increase above the total cost of the loan plus interest. So without growth we have no financial sector and thus no economy.
The financial Meltdown and Council Finances
Tom Tabart spoke on the intricate subject of local councils and the financial crisis. Basically, many councils in NSW have potentially lost millions in CDO's or Collateralised Debt Obligations. These so called products are basically bundled up IOU's for house mortgages in the USA, passed on and repackaged as items to invest in. They were mostly morgages which were unsound. However the ratings agencies gave them AAA ratings which meant they looked like a good investment.
In NSW, the State Treasury, sets strict standards for financial products that councils can invest in. The main thing is that they have a AAA rating. These CDOs looked good at the time, but turned out to be mostly worthless.
Many councils invested in them and may loose millions. It is not clear at this stage how much Byron Shire Council may loose.
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The following is from John kay's website
The Greens believe that the market economy should serve the people and the planet, not the other way around. This might sound like a straightforward principle, but the reality is that the current 'neoliberal orthodoxy' reduces people and the environment to mere commodities in service of the market.
The financial crisis unleashed in September 2008 has demonstrated the failure of neoliberalism. Unfortunately the last people to understand this are politicians from the Labor and Liberal Parties.
As it turns out, the solution to the environmental crisis is also a solution to the financial crisis: a Green New Deal. From US President-Elect Barack Obama to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and around the world, political leaders are starting to grasp this opportunity.
The NSW government is doing the opposite. It is cutting funding to essential infrastructure such as the North-West and South-West Rail Links. The credit ratings agencies that have been exposed for their role in creating the current global financial crisis are running Treasury policy in NSW.
