Normal is now a fiction
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Seems that most Australians have forgotten the bushfires last Christmas and the dead fish in Menindee Lakes. Ecocide on a grand scale lost in time as we've moved on to the COVID world, living at a distance.
Anxiety pervades our communities. What is normal these days? Will the global economy crash? What will that idiot President say next? Why is the Prime Minister preparing us for war? Will the end of government support for job seekers and business come too soon?
We need to hold on to our memory of events and face the fact that "normal" is now a fiction.
Last week we heard that koalas may be extinct in NSW by 2050. Their home is disappearing. Visit the worst affected bush fire zones and you find an eerie silence. No birdsong at dawn, no rustle of bats or possums at night. Fires like these will continue year on year if we ignore the influence of climate change.
The pandemic has shown us the protective role of experts. Ours are world class in every field ready to help Australia redesign a new economy to set us on our feet. By 2050 Australia could export clean energy, clean steel and clean jobs without wildlife, forests, oceans and young people paying the price.
If we don't do this, then like the Tasmanian Tiger on that state's Coat of Arms, other extinct animals will adorn emblems across our nation, symbols of a national tragedy that could have been averted if we'd only faced what is happening.
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