Rudd, sweat & shiting me to tears [Environment protection]

From Paul Kelly in the Weekend Australian:

"In Rudd's view, social democrats must use a ressurected State Power to regulate markets, strike a better balance between public & private interests, embrace Keynesian economics, correct for a market failure from the financial system to climate change and invest more in education, health, unemployment insurance and retirement incomes - while supporting open markets and withstanding attacks from the extreme Left and nationalist Right."

In Rowan's view, for too long the previous regime and the current social democrats are under-valuing the intrinsic worth of ecosystems, the environment and human rights. The public sector appears to be entrenched in policies and personnel from the Howard era. The private sector is under-regulated and there are inadequate incentives or penalties (carrot or stick) to drive a more sustainable and humanitarian society. It is obscene that Executive salaries are 100s times those of production staff. It is a travesty that water and non-renewable (fossil) fuels are rammed through a linear economic system as quickly as possible.

"He (Rudd) shuns any embrace of old-fashioned socialism. For Rudd, Labor's task is to hold the middle ground - between state socialism and free-market fundamentalism. He argues thet the failure of neo-liberalism (Thatcherism) has made the state the primary actor; it must save the financial system, stimulate the economy and impose a new global regulatory regime."

I would argue, that if the Australian Government is going to push for re-regulation of the financial sector, there has to be an accompanying push for Environment Protection. Fair trade can only be fair if there is a mechanism for Environmental Protection and fair wages.