THE WENTWORTH GROUP OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS

Abstract

Australia’s Federation was designed to manage the world of the 19th Century – to manage the upsides and downsides of the industrial revolution and secure the new nation in a world of political turmoil. By any measure it has been an extraordinary story – we have become one of, if not the most, successful and stable democracies in human history1. But with the new century comes new challenges – challenges that our founding fathers could not have dreamed of when they built our Federation. Our political systems were built to manage the industrial revolution where the great contest of the age was between capital and labour. Our Westminster system reflects this contest – two major parties fighting for political ascendancy – one from the right defending capital – the other from the left fighting a social revolution. Both won. The industrial revolution was built on the harnessing of fossil fuels – the energy embedded in the vast oil, gas and coal reserves that were laid down millions of years ago, when the earth