2026-01-15
This year saw the election of four Greens into the WA Legislative Council, consequently with the Government reliant on the Greens to pass legislation should the Opposition and other members oppose it. This has enabled Greens MLCs to hold the Government to account across a range of issues, some of which are discussed in this Green Issue.
We include an article drawing an analogy between the complexities of the functioning of human society and the functioning of a rainforest. Both are characterized by symbioses and parasitism. Just as it undesirable for parasitism to dominate in a rainforest it is posed that the Greens have a role as ‘gardeners’ in suppressing the parasitism in society.
With rainforests on fire, particularly in Victoria, at this time of year one article points to the increasing dangers of bushfires in the drying climate of the south-west of WA, and the precautions we should be taking.
With growing levels of social inequality in Australia and most ‘western democracies’, it is widely considered that this problem is divorced from the need for urgent climate action. Indeed it is argued that focussing funds and resources on reducing inequality will divert them from climate action. However, we include an article arguing that reducing inequality is central to solving the climate crisis.
The Government has at last got around to reforming the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, established in 1999. The Greens, naturally with ‘environment’ high on its policy agenda, were major players in this process. Although many of their recommendations, such as a climate trigger, were ruled out by Labor the Greens were faced with the dilemma of either supporting Labor to pass a weak EPBC reform bill or having Labor join with the Coalition in passing a much weaker bill.
And, we include another ‘Volunteer Spotlight’, shining a light on our generous and inspiring volunteers.
One successful aspect of climate action is that electric vehicles (EVs) are taking over, although Australia is a laggard in this regard. However, in this transition there are many teething problems and we include an article on how to address these so as to most efficiently transition to EVs.
Although busier than ever at year’s end, including extended parliamentary sessions, we have end-of-year reports from our MLCs Brad Pettitt, Sophie McNeill, Tim Clifford and Jess Beckerling.
Header photo: Our MLCs Sophie, Jess, Tim and Brad giving a press conference outside Parliament after Tim had moved his housing motion in November