Beyond Zero Emissions<\/a> have done a fantastic report that shows we could have 100% renewables in 10 years at marginally more expense than the current system. But what are all the changes we need? Switch transport to renewable energy, emphasise energy efficiency across the board, change consumption patterns: there\u2019s 50 to 100 substantial campaigns in all that. The community can\u2019t cope with all these campaigns at once. So we\u2019re suggesting something different. The Save the Planet Party campaign demand is that government just do the package, the whole damn lot. Of course that\u2019s a big ask. But everywhere you look, in different parts of the world, the current extreme weather events have been hitting people really severely. The effect of climate change on Earth systems are actually here and now issues – like the Arctic melt with its big implications for melting permafrost, making temperatures much worse.<\/p>\nFavell:<\/b> How could this Emergency Plan be put into effect quickly?<\/p>\n
Sutton:<\/b> In the very first year there would be an intensive community engagement program where we go to people and ask them why not<\/i> act on climate change? We would respectfully work through the issues with people around the impacts they will experience from uncontrolled climate change. In John Howard\u2019s time he spent a billion dollars on PR to sell his policies. I think we should do the same \u2013 spend a billion dollars on deliberative democracy so everyone can have access to it – which is very labor intensive. Employers could be paid by government to give citizens time off, and people can be part of this deliberation exercise. We would do this early and intensely.<\/p>\n
Secondly, in order to avoid more emissions, instead of trading schemes – although I\u2019m not against trading schemes – you say to industry, as of date X, all future investments have to be zero emissions. Boom. Done. There is enough technology around, they just plan for it and do it. We would have, say, a 10-year period to decommission the things that cause the existing emissions, including working out a socially fair compensation. People will ask in the deliberative phase, could we afford to do that? A bit like in wartime, we would ask, are you prepared to tighten your belt slightly to help solve this climate emergency, if afterwards we would have a prosperous but sustainable society?<\/p>\n
Favell:<\/b>\u00a0Are you optimistic that your plan is achievable?<\/p>\n
Sutton:<\/b> We are trying not to live in a fantasy-land where we assume everyone will wake up in the morning and decide it\u2019s a good thing. We have to work out how to connect with people. We\u2019ve got our high order policies which we strongly stand for: emergency response to restoring a safe climate and sustainability. But because of the urgency, we want to take the issue across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n
So if we produce different sets of implementation policies, one of them middle of the road, one left and one right, we can say to people \u2013 there is no excuse. Regardless of how you see yourself on the political spectrum, this issue is so important it should be something you take notice of and something you can respond to – and this is how you could do it from these different perspectives.<\/p>\n
If we start in communities like Batman where there is a higher commitment to climate action, even the right-wingers would be more onside than in some other electorates. The speed of change is such that we need to have local councils, state governments and the national government getting behind it and enough support from community business as well so that governments have a mandate to act strongly.<\/p>\n
Favell:<\/b> What differentiates you from the Greens?<\/p>\n
Sutton:<\/b> Well, Christine Milne and Adam Bandt since 2009 have said we are facing an emergency climate situation, but they don\u2019t present an emergency response. The Greens are concerned about maintaining the soft Green vote, so they are trying to be not too over the top. What we are saying to the Greens is – we can do it for them. We can go out there and say let\u2019s go for an emergency response. Initially a lot of people will see it as extreme or confronting. But after we have done it for a while, it will cease to be strange. Then if the Greens want to pick it up, so much the better. So our success factor is the social and political take up of the emergency response or plan.<\/p>\n
Favell:<\/b> So this is a lateral way of coming at politics, where you\u2019re admitting it\u2019s not about getting elected.<\/p>\n
Sutton:<\/b> Yes. A lot of people will see us as a single-issue party – sustainability, climate change – which is completely true. So we won\u2019t try to take positions on the full spectrum of issues. And if by some amazing miracle anybody from the party ever got elected, then on the issues that are not core to the party they would act as independents.<\/p>\n
Favell:<\/b> So the climate emergency is what binds you together, and individuals have their own opinion on say, equal marriage or refugees?<\/p>\n
Sutton:<\/b> That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n
Favell:<\/b> So what do you think about refugees, Philip?<\/p>\n
Sutton:<\/b> I think people need to be treated humanely. One of the things that\u2019s worrying me about the plan to settle all refugees in PNG is the social implications of what that means in PNG itself. It\u2019s been taken for a purely pragmatic reason for Australians to dig themselves out of a hole, which I think is reprehensible. I think multicultural society is the way to go, but I think people should be able to choose to go that way rather than have it forced on them.<\/p>\n
Favell:<\/b> I suppose they are hoping no one will turn up\u2026<\/p>\n
Sutton:<\/b> Well, they will keep coming.<\/p>\n
Favell:<\/b>\u00a0And in the next few weeks, what will you be doing?<\/p>\n
Sutton:<\/b> My way of campaigning will be different from all of the other candidates. A lot of my work will continue to be in the strategy development area. So my next job is to write up the very very first draft or outline of the emergency plan and I\u2019ll be trying to get press around the plan. When the election is over we will continue to work doing community connection around the emergency plan. And we\u2019re hoping more volunteers will be involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philip Sutton \u2013 Save the Planet Party Candidate for Batman, Victoria By Bumpy Favell 5 August 2013 When Save the Planet Party\u2019s Batman candidate, Philip Sutton, was little he wanted to work in a zoo, so he studied veterinary science. In 1974 he decided the world needed to be saved. He never practiced as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3434,927,926,3546,66,585],"tags":[2610,91,2638,766,2578,946,2649],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/1Philip-Sutton-Save-the-Planet-Party-Batman.jpg?fit=362%2C274&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3t0mw-1Y4","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56468,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7568\/revisions\/56468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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