This week on Policy Forum Pod we head out of the studio for our first ever live pod, as a stellar cast of experts tackle a burning question – Should Australia declare a climate emergency. Our panel – John Hewson, Imran Ahmad, Liz Hanna, and Shane Rattenbury – share their views on what it would mean, how it might help, and what the barriers to making it work might be.
This event was recorded at The Australian National University on Thursday 17 October. It was the annual Great Green Debate organised by ANU Learning Communities – a student-led organisation dedicated to bringing people together in areas of common interest. The panel was co-hosted by Policy Forum Pod’s Professor Sharon Bessell and Martyn Pearce.
Imran Ahmad is Founding Director of Future Earth Australia, former Director of East-Asia and Pacific at the Global Green Growth Institute, and an Honorary Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society.
Shane Rattenbury is the ACT government's Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability.
John Hewson is an economic and financial expert with experience in academia, business, government, media, and the financial system. In 2014, Dr Hewson joined ANU as Professor at the Crawford School, and Chair of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute.
Liz Hanna is a Fellow in the ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment and Chair of the Environmental Health Working Group, World Federation of Public Health Associations.
Sharon Bessell is a Professor at Crawford School of Public Policy, where she is co-leader of the ANU Individual Deprivation Measure (IDM) team. The IDM is a new, gender-sensitive and multidimensional measure of poverty.
Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum.
Show notes | The following were referred to in this episode:
Sir Nicholas Stern on climate change being a market failure
Labor announcement to declare a climate emergency
Canberra transitions to 100% renewable electricity
The Guardian changes language changes concerning the environment
Theresa May announces Climate Change Act
UK Parliament declares climate emergency
Adani (Carmichael) coal mine in Australia
Health Care Without Harm (Green and Healthy Hospitals)
Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet (book by Tim Jackson; ‘decoupling’)