Unleashed – ABC.net.au – Kellie Tranter
In London this week a panel at Clifford Chance will be discussing the question, Corruption and Climate Change: an opportunity for improved global governance, or the next resource curse? They will debate whether or not corruption is being neglected in the push to combat global climate change.
A similar debate is long overdue in this country, and it’s needed now…
In 2002 Dr Svetlana Winbourne of Management Systems International wrote:
‘…For those countries that are rich in environmental resources and whose economies are primarily based on them, resource distribution, extraction and management become fertile ground for corruption…’
Does this help to explain Australia’s abysmal 2008 Environmental Performance Index ranking? Surely questions need to be asked…
This year the Global Corruption Report, Corruption and the Private Sector (GCR), examined the scale of global corruption resulting from bribery, price-fixing cartels and undue influence on public policy which is costing billions and obstructing the path towards sustainable economic growth. Unfortunately for us, Australia was not included in the final report…
Corruption is the main factor influencing the issue of the climate change in Australia. A number of campaigns promote faux-solutions to climate change such as so-called clean-coal and nuclear power, while an open and honest debate about what a sustainable energy system would be like is deliberately ignored and sidelined.
The corruption in Australia seems to be systemic and is sustainable because it is an economy that is dominated by companies that have only a few other large companies to compete against in their respective markets. That extends to the media and the narrow nature of public debate here.
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