[Peakoil] Majority Opinion (78% favour renewables)

[leigh.kite at medicareaustralia.gov.au]

The only way to solve the problem is to educate all election candidates, so
every seat ends up with someone sitting in it who understands the full
magnitude of the problem and is somewhat inspired by the fact that they can
use their power to make a real difference.

Cheers,

Leigh



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|         |           David Jorm <david.jorm at gmail.com>         |
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|         |           18/01/2006 10:39 PM                       |
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  |       Subject:  Re: [Peakoil] Majority Opinion (78% favour renewables)               |
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Agreed; good example is the majority of Australians never supported the war
in Iraq. A federal election occured not long after this highly unpopular
event - what happened? Imcumbent won, by focusing on the swinging voters
and what would sway them, namely tax cuts, baby bonuses, interest rates,
etc. People with strong party alliances aren't going to switch teams
because of policy changes, so it becomes those who will who must be
targeted.

On 1/18/06, Adrian Whitehead <ccserac.project1 at ecoaction.net.au > wrote:
Majority Opinion is not really that important.

An astute political player what is important is the opinion of the swinger
voters in marginal seats these are the people that need to be won over.

Sadly rusted on voters don't matter, and safe seats don't matter.

Howard has been a master at this game, and governments who do it well can
keep them selves in power or win elections, i.e. Richardson with the
Franklin.

Poor players will often confuse their goal and make a mess of their own
politics, such as Biesly in 2001 election on refugees.

Adrian

From: peakoil-bounces+adrian=ecoaction.net.au at act-peakoil.org [mailto:
peakoil-bounces+adrian=ecoaction.net.au at act-peakoil.org] On Behalf Of
Antony Barry
Sent: Wednesday, 18 January 2006 11:10 AM
To: Keith Thomas
Cc: ACT Peak Oil discussion
Subject: Re: [Peakoil] 78% favour renewables (in UK)


On 17 Jan 2006, at 9:27 PM, Keith Thomas wrote:

      It would be nice to think that democracy in mass society would come
      up with the best solution. That works OK for traditional politics,
      but not for peak oil and climate change. It matters not a whit what
      the majority - or even ALL - the people say or favour.




Politically it DOES matter what a large majority thinks. A government which
ignores strong public opinion risks being kicked out and it's actions
negated. Governments can lead but it's risky. The present Commonwealth
Government has taken a risk with Iraq, Telstra and industrial relations
presumably because it thought the majority opinion was wrong and people
would come round to their way of thinking.

We want the government to take action to steer us away from the disaster
which peak oil will bring. To do so we need to bring more people to the
view that this is a problem which must be faced urgently.

Decisions such as the Gungahlin Drive Extension might not have been made if
the likely future of fuel supplies was considered.

At least Canberra planning now looks to be trying to keep development
closer and cutting back on continual sprawl.

Tony

phone : 02 6241 7659 | mailto:me at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au
mobile: 04 1242 0397 | http://tony-barry.emu.id.au





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