August  6, 1992 – Australian environmentalists and businesses united… in disgust at Federal bureaucrats  #auspol #climate

On this day, 6th August 1992, at what turned out to be the death of the “Ecologically Sustainable Development” process, there was… a mass walk out.

The ESD policy process had been set up after the March 1990 federal election, by the returned ALP government as a kind of payment for support to the ‘green movement’. There were working groups, meetings, bold policy proposals (including – gasp a carbon tax) that – inevitably – got watered down. The process really died when Bob Hawke was replaced as Prime Minister by Paul Keating in late 1991, but the momentum carried it on for a few more months. And so

“Finally the National Greenhouse Steering Committee, comprising officials from all levels of government, produced a draft Greenhouse Response Strategy. It was largely oriented towards investigations, exhortations, negotiation and a pious faith in market forces. The report was released for public comment in 1992, but it received little support. 

“A two-day forum to discuss the report became a fiasco. First, even the environmental groups which had co-operated totally in the ESD process – the World-wide Fund for Nature and the Australian Conservation Foundation – denounced the forum and refused to participate. Then those who did attend, from industry, farming, the union movement and community groups, attacked the report. They said that they had worked hard in the ESD groups to negotiate workable agreements, combining environmental responsibility with conditions to promote economic development, only to have the agreements altered by faceless bureaucrats. The officials had planned to divide the forum into small working groups, but the participants refused to go until their concerns were discussed. There was no basis for moving into small groups to discuss details, as the whole approach was unacceptable. 

“At five o’clock, after a day of battering, the shell-shocked officials announced that the planned second day was cancelled. The level of discontent is illustrated by the fact that the conservative Institution of Engineers, Australia (IEA) issued a press release condemning the report. The IEA were concerned that the bureaucrats had altered the conclusions of the ESD groups, giving the impression that the small groups of officials had decided that they knew better than the rest of the community.”

Lowe, I. (1994) The greenhouse effect and the politics of long-term issues. In (eds) Stephen Bell and Brian Head,  State, Economy and Public Policy in Australia. Oxford:  Oxford University Press., p321-2.

Hutton and Connors, in their  1999 History of the Australian Environmental Movement tell a similar story – 

“… submissions went to committees of state and federal public servants; these committees weakened or even omitted many of the original recommendations and no action plans or timelines were determined. By this stage, conservation groups were so outraged at the gutting of the working groups’ recommendations that they boycotted the process. Even non- conservation groups were angered by the public servants’ actions. These bureaucrats were so attacked by industry, farmers, engineers and unions at a two-day conference in late 1992 that the second day was called off. Several of the conservation representatives on the working groups later related that they often found industry representatives, despite their vested interests, easier to work with than the bureaucrats. In a phenomenon seen many times in environmental disputes, bureaucrats in industry facilitation departments were even more committed to cutting corners on the environment to ensure short-term industry profitability than were the industries themselves.”

See also

Chamberlin, P. 1992. Greens boycott strategy talks. Sydney Morning Herald, 7 August, p. 3.

On this day the atmospheric carbon dioxide level was 354.99 ppm. Now it is 421ish- but see here for the latest.

Why this matters. 

It is good to remember that the state is an actor in this, or rather, state administrators have a role…Environmentalist trying to protect rainforests and other kinds of forest had grokked this some time previously of course!

What happened next?

The “National Greenhouse Response Strategy” was launched in December 1992. And instantly forgotten.