In the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake, our parliamentary representatives seemed – how should we say? – a little too relaxed and casual around the issue of our representative democracy and suspending its traditional systems associated with degrees of oversight, accountability and redress.
Sure, there was some hand wringing before every single politician in the house voted…with no obvious appreciation of irony… to let our democracy go. And that was it. It was gone. Just like that.
But the actions of our MPs beg some uncomfortable questions for us to reflect on. For if we find it okay at any level that our representatives deem it fine to suspend our systems of democracy in the face of this event, then what type of society and what levels of control might we expect and accept as energy crises heighten and the effects of climate collapse close in?
Because lets face it, the Christchurch earthquake is going to be as a pricked finger is to digits amputated from above the elbows and knees when these things hit.
And if it is the case that we will accept our democracy being locked down by the jangling keys of emergency measures because of what we might reasonably categorise as a pricked finger event and can accept the army continuing to be on our streets performing law enforcement duties alongside the regular police force even when that state of emergency has been lifted; if we can put up with curfews and fail to be actively outraged by the apparent primary focus of protecting CBDs over helping people; if we happily and silently allow local political incumbents to cement their hold on power by cynically foisting campaign free elections on a population still suffering from collective shock, fear and uncertainty; then I guess we can begin to perceive the outlines of any reality that might flow from future realisations that intractable crises associated with energy depletion and climate collapse have arrived.
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