During this interminable Australian Federal election campaign the Coalition has shortened their notorious three-word slogan format previously practised by erstwhile Tony Abbott. Maybe due to the short attention span of voting punters, Coalition candidates have been parroting a two word catchphrase (exclude the joining word): Jobs and Growth.
Its mechanical repetition by all their candidates has given rise to the idea that a messianic figure is coming to save our greedy asses, in the person of Jobson Grothe. Apart from the moronic and insulting nature of this tactic, my problem is that both those key words are so yesterday.
In reality the government has little control over jobs, apart from the public service, which it is busy down-sizing. Okay, it wants to reduce company taxes to encourage investment, trickle down effect, blah, blah, but critical economists have debunked that impoverished idea. In this post-industrial society, where are jobs meant to come from? Oh yeah, the services sector of call centres, hospitality, digital thingamajig, health, etc. Hmm!
As for Growth, another impoverished concept past its use by date, it has taken us on a merry ride of exponential destruction of our natural environment, and free ride for business profits. Folks, we’ve gotta get into some existential thinking: where will endless growth and despoliation of our planet and atmosphere get us?
In this marathon election campaign, both major parties have ignored, to use econo-speak, the huge ‘externality’ of economic growth known as climate change, which is a euphemism for endangering our own life support systems. Ditto any mention of our renewable energy future. So without further ado and explanation, I’m launching a new campaign counter slogan identity: Colleen N. Green. Go girl!
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