21 February 2008 

Past the Time to give Precedence to the Environment: 

Garnaut Report   

‘One can only hope that the ignorance shown by Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland is 

not shared by our Prime Minister’ remarked Dr Coulter, this afternoon when he saw the 

Premier’s comments on the Garnaut Report. 

‘The Queensland Premier seems not to realise that if we don’t have an environment we 

don’t have an economy and we don’t have a future for our children’ commented Dr 

Coulter. Ms Bligh has said, ‘There must be a balance between the environment and the 

economy’. 

‘It is this naive nibbling away at the environment through misguided bleats about balance 

that has brought humanity to the edge of a cataclysmic collapse. Fifty percent of fifty 

percent of fifty percent leaves only twelve and a half percent for the environment yet 

Premier Bligh wants to halve that again. It is well past the time when the environment 

must take precedence. 

‘Continual economic and population growth are not consistent with an environmentally 

sustainable future. Anna Bligh, like every other Australian Premier wants more growth. 

She has just seen in devastated Mackay one small result of climate change yet she would 

pack another half million into the Gold Coast Region with its multitude of canal estates. 

These may well be under the sea within the lifetime of our children. 

‘At present rates of economic growth the black coal deposits of Queensland will all be gone 

before 2040, the carbon will be CO2 in the atmosphere making Queensland’s climate even 

more inimical to future generations. 

Wake up Premiers! Sustainable economic growth is an oxymoron. You can have one but 

not both! For the sake of the future of our children and the world, recognise that the only 

economic model which is consistent with a sustainable future is one that is dynamic but 

steady-state, in which the size of the economy is bounded by Nature’s ability to sustain it, 

concluded the president of Sustainable Population Australia. 

Further information: Dr John Coulter, National President, Sustainable Population Australia 

08 83882153 president@population.org.au