Green Issue: Editorial October 2018

2018-11-09

By the Green Issue Editors

In this Green Issue we take a closer look at the functioning of democracy in Australia. We examine the questions of whether democracy is in crisis and, if so, what are the reasons and possible remedies. One of the remedies is of course getting Greens into parliament and we report on a recent visit of Greens Leader Dr Richard di Natale to Perth to drum up support for the re-election of Senator Jordon Steele-John. And there is an article suggesting how effective election campaigns are run. We include an article suggesting our ambivalence to human rights and pointing out that they are not as embedded in Australian law to the extent that we would imagine. Neighbours to our near north, in West Papua, are facing human rights violations and the Australian Greens are supporting efforts to redress this.

The 11th November marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War 1 and we search for some meaning behind that massive human sacrifice, reminding that it was not after all ‘the war to end all wars’. One problem, much influenced by World Wars 1 and 2, is still very much with us today, and that is the ongoing tragedy of Palestine. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians reminds us of our very own ethnic cleansing of indigenous Australians, with which we are yet to reconcile. And we have commentary on the latest IPCC Report highlighting that a 1.5°C warming above pre-industrial levels will be rather uncomfortable for life on this planet but 2°C or more will be disastrous.

We include updates from our Greens (WA) MPs, for the September-October period. There are reports from Senators Rachel Siewert and Jordon Steele-John and our Members of the WA Legislative Council Robin Chapple (Mining and Pastoral), Alison Xamon (North Metropolitan), Tim Clifford (East Metropolitan) and Diane Evers (South West).

Header photo: Margo Beilby speaking to the press about The Greens approach to end of life legislation, backed by Greens MPs Robin Chapple, Diane Evers and Tim Clifford. Liam Carter