I shouldn't watch Q&A - it gets me so worked up. In the first two minutes I was screaming obscenities about what it means to live in a democracy and my couch partner duly took leave and retired to bed. I am so grumpy with Australia at the moment and this whole 'debate' about what to do to create a sustainable future for people, land and society. What to do indeed. It's a big question. Yet the whole nation seems to be up in arms about Cate Blanchett making an ad. Who gives a shit? (Although I must say that the ad was directed my very good buddy - woop woop to him and it has certainly got people talking). But people are talking crap. People like Jackie goddamned Kelly. Who wheeled her out from the Penrith Plaza foodcourt? The woman has no credibility and I would have thought that following her shameful and completely lame pamphlet-gate affair, she would be content making lunches at the school canteen for her post-political life. Desperate times for Q&A panel-balancers this week!
And then there is Tony Abbott. Tones - don't you realise that as a potential leader, you should be advocating that we all live in 'eco-mansions', as you so amusingly called them? Living such a life is not a negative - it's what we aspire to. There's a little part of all of us that wants to be rich and famous, it was a little bit silly to trivialise it as a lifestyle choice.
And to the devastating impacts of a carbon tax - COST JOBS, RAISE THE COST OF LIVING etc etc. What exactly will the impacts be if we leave this to the private sector to sort out over the next 50 or so years? Are they considering the plight of Australian "working families"? I doubt it. The outcome will be a drastic reduction in resources, unregulated price increases on the depleting stocks and no investment in alternative technologies. The poor will lose, lose, lose.
And anyway - this is about everyone because we all use this stuff, we are all dependent on it and we all live in the world and want a nice life. We are all connected by this and we need to do something. We are all going to be impacted in some way by the next phase in history; Cate will have to pioneer less cutting edge theatre and make more ads, I will have to force my family to catch Action buses (sorry in advance), Jackie will have to sell one of the Falcons and switch to recycled paper for the lunches, Tony will have to buy private shares in one of the last remaining coal mines and Australian "working families" will just have to work harder to keep their not-insignificant wealth.
And one final point - what about everyone who is not a "working family"? Do they live in a parallel utopia that requires no meaningful engagement in political debate?
And another final point - people need to stop thinking about 'what this means for me' and they need to start realising that making history now is a collective process that is so much bigger than all of us. I just hope we don't balls it up.
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