Holden bailout leaves me 'weeping'

by Robert McLean

Announcements last week that you and I, through our Governments, were to spend nearly $300 million supporting a dying industry left me weeping, metaphorically.

My children, my grandchildren and their children, particularly the latter generations, will have forced upon them a difficult world of scarce hope because of such populist and short-term decisions.

Decisions to support a way of life, and an industry, that has socially ravaged the world and seriously depleted finite and so irreplaceable resources; illustrate a gross misunderstanding of how, and why, our world is unfolding.

Rather than stake our future on what is little more than an aging dinosaur, we should be looking for a “Black Caviar–like” winner that will enable us to gallop into the future with confidence.

Easier said than done of course as the motor industry is an intricate part of society, both physically and psychologically and to wean ourselves off it will be even more difficult than erasing the fondness we have for alcohol.

That shift away from our partiality for the motor car is for the good of our grandchildren, society generally, the earth in a broad sense and, in particular, our atmosphere.

Advocates of the $275 million bailout for Holden, defend the decision through argument that it brings massive economic and social benefits that are not just relevant to the company, but percolate through our society to benefit all.

That is a questionable position and one if examined closely and considered with reference to contemporary history is simply false.

The promise to sustain the industry for another decade is little more than digging a deeper hole to fill with ever more taxpayer cash and so rather than spend to prop up a failing, and already irrelevant, industry we should be spending to abate the convergence of climate difficulties, resource depletion and a worsening world economy.

The motor car is a significant contributor to the world’s climate difficulties, it success depends on a resource that is in terminal decline, the individuality it promotes erodes the strength of society and the cash it consumes would be better spent on building resilience, co-operation and consensus in communities.

The natural world can no longer sustain our insistence on endless growth and its reaction to that human resolve to grow is in evidence around the globe, including right here in the Goulburn Valley.

Our responsibility to those who follow is not about guaranteeing they will have a Holden to drive, rather they will have a habitable world; a world in which the seasons are predictable, rainfall is equally predictable; a world in which all species, from the largest to smallest are valued; a world in which the welfare of people is put ahead of profit.