Newcastle-based economist Professor Bill Mitchell will speak on the Green New Deal and Modern Monetary Theory at a special event to be held by Climate Action Newcastle.
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Prof Mitchell heads up the University of Newcastle's Centre of Full Employment and Equity, and is also the chair of economics.
He is the co-author of the book Macroeconomics. A text book published this year which encourages students to take a more critical approach to assumptions relating to macroeconomics.
"The Green New Deal is a proposal to radically transform our economy to ensure that we can meet the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation in the future without compromising material well-being and access to employment and income earning opportunities for all," Prof Mitchell said.
It has been lauded BY Member of the US House of Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and US Senator Ed Markey.
Green New Deal draws on Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1933 New Deal, which was a set of economic drivers, social reforms and public works programs undertaken in response to the Great Depression.
"It is recognised that a blind faith in the efficiency of the private 'market' will not provide the conditions to reduce our carbon footprint, restore health to our rivers, and improve our agricultural lands, which have been degraded through poor farming methods for decades," Prof Mitchell said.
The Green New Deal draws on the experience during the Great Depression in the US where the federal government introduced a major policy intervention designed to create work and provide material security to citizens affected by the economic collapse.
"The approach requires governments to take a major role in the provision of new public infrastructure designed to address the environmental challenges, ensure first-class health services are available to all, introduce a job guarantee to eliminate the devastating consequences of unemployment, and restructure spending and tax systems to reduce income and wealth inequalities that have risen sharply in the neo-liberal era," Prof Mitchell said.
"It is recognised that in making such a transformation there will be people and communities who will lose their traditional sources of employment and income. For example, coal mining and logging communities.
"The Green New Deal thus advocates the introduction of a 'just transition' framework to minimise the losses that arise as a consequence of shifting production away from carbon intensive and environmentally damaging activities."
The Green New Deal has been developed in light of predictions being made by climate change scientists, and the likely consequences of not taking action to reduce the carbon footprint.
The talk will be held at the Croatian Wickham Sports Club, May 1, at 6.30pm.
Entry by donation at the door.
