12 - Overcoming institutional inertia

Summary

The previous chapters bore out the growing interest by political parties in environmental issues. The aim of this chapter is to concentrate on three issues: when an issue first appeared on the agenda of a political party; which of the established parties was first to recognise its importance; and how patterns of continuity and change in party policies and platforms over a period of five decades lead one to be both pessimistic and optimistic about the likelihood of overcoming institutional inertia and introducing effective reforms.

In trying to explain the efforts by established political organisations to change institutional practices, an important consideration is the emergence of new ideas and of new political actors willing to place these issues on the political agenda. In the context of the analysis in this part of the book, the most significant new political actors have been the Australian Democrats. However, when considering the contribution by the Democrats, it is worth remembering that they were formed only in 1977 and that they represent only a portion of the contribution by new social and political movements to securing environmental issues on the political agenda.

The Democrats provided a significant impetus for change.