« Australia-Chile FTA passes parliament | Home | Do tariffs matter any more? »
Alcoa argues for interests of “future generations” to take precedence over exports
By Michael Cebon | November 30, 2008
What is the world coming to? It was reported today that Alan Cransberg, chairman of the Australian arm of the mutlinational aluminium producer Alcoa, said that
“For too long we have been focused on expanding and maximising energy exports, without proper protection for our own future generations.”
What? Read that again - not only is he arguing for “protection” of particular interests against the blind short-termism of maximising Australian exports for short term gain, but he is doing it with his vision set of the rights and needs of “future generations”!
For decades environmentalists have argued that the rights of future generations need to be taken into account when decisions about resource extraction and pollution are being made. And for years “fair traders” have argued that the needs of people and then environment should take perference over the simple maximisation of exports for short term gain. It’s incredibly exciting to realise that these concepts are now well and truly mainstream.
Topics: Australian Trade Policy, Globalisation & Energy, Globalisation & the Environment |