Environment Charter

Policy background

At it's May 2004 National Conference, the Socialist Alliance decided, in addition to its Gender Agenda, to produce Policy Charters in other key areas of Alliance campaigning: workers' rights, health, education, social justice, refugee and asylum seeker rights, environment, and indigenous rights. Each CHARTER will be based on policy positions and statements adopted by the Socialist Alliance.

Below is the adopted policy that will be the basis of the Environment Charter the Alliance will soon produce.

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Capitalist globalisation is destroying the earth

We live under the reign of a class willing to jeopardise our lives and those of future generations for quick cash.

Capitalism destroys habitat and renders species extinct, yet the survival of animal and plant life is essential for human progress and should not be counterposed to so-called "development". We are bombarded with chemicals in our food, water and air. We are assailed by poisons at work, at home and in our communities. In our hands, technology will be used for human progress; in the hands of capitalists, it is used to plunder our world. The destruction of the once-mighty Murray-Darling river system, the mobilisation of megatonnes of salt which threatens not only agriculture but many rural towns (and, in time, cities); the lunacy of open-cut and acid leaching uranium mines; the huge volume of asbestos released from decaying cement sheeting and insulation - these are disasters which may take centuries to rectify, even in a socialist Australia.

"Capitalism" and "sustainability" are mutually exclusive concepts. Only socialism is sustainable. But it is necessary to stop the destruction of our world now, as a matter of urgency. Socialist Alliance demands the commencement of a comprehensive environmental restoration and employment program, fully funded by a tax on corporate bank transactions; including full training and award wages for all workers; preference to be given to displaced timber and agriculture workers, rural unemployed, Indigenous communities and displaced small farmers. Where possible and appropriate, such restoration programs should be established in consultation with traditional owners and/or local Indigenous communities.

Policy

This restoration and employment program should include the following:

Forests

• End logging in old growth forests. End clearfelling in all other native forests.
• Ban the export of woodchips from native forests.
• For a publicly owned timber industry based on sustainable plantations with access to specialty timbers ensured for crafts people (subject to ecological considerations).
• Replant forests in dry-land and other salt-affected regions.

Land Management

• Phase out agribusiness farming in the Murray-Darling basin; stop all new farming and commercial development in salt-affected regions.
• No Genetically Engineered Organisms - ban all importation of GEs and their production in Australia. Compulsory labelling of all genetically engineered products.
• Strict controls on land clearing.
• No mining or mineral exploration in national parks and other areas of high conservation value.
• Reconstruction of salt-damaged infrastructure.
• Mandated humane treatment of animals and full protection of endangered species and habitats.

Water

• Replace of open irrigation channels with pipes.
• Removal of exotic species such as willow and carp from river systems.
• Reduce water use by steeply increasing prices to big companies; Mandate the use of recycled water for all industrial purposes.
• End the confiscation of Indigenous land for mining and agribusiness;

Energy

• No new coal-fired power stations. Construct renewable energy infrastructure instead.
• Subsidise solar heating and solar electricity in domestic swellings.
• Stop and reverse privatisation of energy/electricity industries.

Climate Change

• Ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
• Establish an industry-funded 10% renewable energy target by 2010.
• Fund public transport not the spiral of more-roads-more-cars-more-roads. Establish limits on emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants for all new vehicles. Abolish the tax subsidies which encourage production and use of petrol-guzzling large vehicles.

Nuclear Issues

• No new nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights (or anywhere) and shut down the HIFAR reactor currently operating; invest in cleaner, safer technologies such as cyclotrons.
• No dumping of radioactive waste; waste producers to manage their own waste in secure, monitored facilities at their own expense.
• No nuclear waste dump for international commercial use in Australia;
• Close the operating uranium mines (Ranger, Roxby Downs, Beverley) and no new mines to be approved.
• No Australian support for the US government's missile 'defence' program and renewed, active support for non-proliferation agreements in place.
• No nuclear power plants.

Waste

• Force manufacturers of electronic equipment, whitegoods and various other products to initiate recycling programs.
• Prohibit the export to Third World countries of electronic and whitegood wastes under the guise of 'recycling'.
• Establish comprehensive recycling systems for all wastes.
• Mandated container deposits.
• Remediate contaminated industrial sites.