Paper Topic:

‘How can sustainability address long-standing issues in Australian life?’ (‘Policies of Sustainability’, Peter Newman, # 80)

Synopsis

The essay concludes that the adoption of sustainable policies is critical for finding effective solutions to the numerous challenges that confront humanity in social , political , environmental and economic areas . Examining the issue of sustainability with regard to the social issues that confront Australian society , the essay focuses , among other concerns , on the problems faced by indigenous Australians and the evolution of Australia from a Whites Only country to that of a multicultural , multiethnic , and vibrant society

The essay traces the short history of the country and its gradual evolution

from a British outpost in the Pacific to its present status as a liberal world leader . By doing so it stresses that the ability to build a sustainable society lies in the Australian people

Australia , despite being one of the richest societies in the Asia Pacific area is also amongst its youngest , the process of its settlement having begun (in 1788 ) just about 200 years ago . The British Empire had by then already won its first battles in India , and was about to begin the process of colonising Asia , bringing the Pax Britannica to millions of unwilling and resentful people . Busy eyeing the precious stones encrusting the Taj Mahal and the vast riches of the Indian plains the British had very little time for the land find in the distant Pacific Not being people to lose opportunities , they did however send war ships to appropriate the vast land from the people living there for thousands of years This nonchalant acquisition was followed by settling the land with convicts serving penal terms , felons and criminals who had little place in society in England . The land , larger in area than the continental United States , was progressively occupied by the British over the nineteenth century and became a formal commonwealth of states in 1901 . Australia 's distance from England , coupled with the British origin of its settlers , enabled it to become self governing right from the beginning and led to the emergence of a unique and vibrant society a community that grew in isolation and built a new world for themselves .Whilst Australian society as it exists now is two hundred years old much of its radical changes and developments took place only after the 1940s . The spread of the Second World War , first in mainland Europe and then in the Pacific , led to sharply increased contact of the Australian people with other western societies , the interaction of various cultures with the local ethos , traditions , and way of life , and the forging of a distinct and unique identity

The post war era has been one of change . Societal change has been continual , rapid and global , creating challenges that have arisen out of developments in science and technology , national economies , political governance , international power alignments , human rights , and globalisation , as well as out of the demise of colonialism and the freedom of millions of enslaved peoples . Reckless environmental depredation and the spread of global terrorism now threaten the established way of human life , challenging...

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