Australian pol reveals void at capitalism’s heart: Human survival is just “annoying”

Rising sea levels threaten to swamp Pacific island nations like Tuvalu, but for Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack that might be a good thing. It’ll provide Australian business with cheap labour. 

Even if their homelands disappear they won’t die off “because many of their workers come here to pick our fruit”.

Head of the National Party, McCormack is a noted climate change denier as well as a humanitarian. He is champion of Australia’s coal mining industry, and proud of it.

“But the fact is we’re not going to be hijacked into doing something that will shut down an industry that provides tens of thousands of jobs, that provides two-thirds of our energy needs ... and I’m only talking coal, let alone all of our other resources.”

It seems that people desperately struggling to exist can be bullies to decent people who just want to make money.

“I also get a little bit annoyed when we have people in those sorts of countries pointing the finger at Australia and say we should be shutting down all our resources sector so that, you know, they will continue to survive,” he said.