PG #20: Looking for solutions on energy policy

If politicians adopted a systems-thinking approach, would Australia's energy policy still be a mess?

What would effective leadership on energy look like? It might look like politicians talking less, and observing and listening to people more. They'd hear Australians asking for large-scale energy transitions, and see us taking our own forms of action as we install rooftop solar at record rates. They'd tap into the depth of knowledge that subject matter experts, Australian scientists, offer.

If our politicians took a systems-thinking approach, they might stop obsessing over today's opinion poll, and start growing tomorrow's gardens. They might begin by studying the interconnectedness of social, ecological and economic systems, and appreciate that an energy policy cannot be extracted from their policies of education, immigration, employment, housing, or health. They might start taking a long-term view, just as big business are doing, because they realise that working towards low-carbon economies is a long-term investment strategy.

Effective leaders would take a strong interest in clean-energy innovations and technologies. They would support this R&D activity without demanding 'return on investment' guarantees, just to see how systems-change emerges.

The leaders we envision would bring interest groups together – citizens, scientists, businesses, startups, economists – in order to co-design compelling visions of net-positive energy lifestyles for 2035 that would give us all something to work towards. Then, at least we'd have a common goal and different ideas for how to get there.