#004 Building the New Economy
A conversation with national convenor Dr Michelle Maloney
Dr Michelle Maloney is the national convenor and co-founder of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance, and the developing New Economy Network Australia. Both are strongly connected with fast-growing global movements, and a burgeoning mix of initiatives on the ground.
Dr Michelle Maloney. Pic: supplied.
“At its nub, what we are talking about is shifting all of the underpinning structures that support industrial society away from destruction, and towards sustaining, nurturing and restoring life.”
All this has inspired a rapidly growing convergence on the 2nd New Economy conference coming up in Brisbane in September, to formalise the network and its strategies for regenerating the systems and stories we live by. Hear Michelle talk about who's involved, what it's aiming to achieve, how you can get involved, and why it matters.
It’s no secret that there is mass disenchantment with our economic and governance systems. And there is an extraordinary range and number of people and organisations around the world working to harness this towards positive change. Michelle explains that Australia is no exception. “At its nub, what [we’re] talking about is shifting the underpinning structures that support industrial society away from destruction, and towards sustaining, nurturing and restoring life.”
Thousands of people and groups are working at the new economy in one form or another in Australia. But unlike a lot of other places around the world, there has been no over-arching means of connecting and developing the movement. There have been pockets of work on the new economy everywhere, but nothing to stitch them together. “We’ve got all the pockets, we’ve got pockets galore. And we want to grow that, and amplify that …. But at the macro level, the systems change … perhaps [that’s where] this network will have an opportunity to really break some new ground…. [To shift] not just pockets of activity in a local area but the systems that connect them.”
Michelle emphasises that this isn’t just for people working in this space already. This is for anyone who wants to be part of the network’s important work. And the music she chooses for us to end this podcast will leave you in no doubt that when she describes the upcoming conference as a ‘grass roots economics fiesta’, she means it!
Michelle joins Anthony online from her home in Brisbane.
Production by Ben Moore & Anthony James.
Get more:
The website of the New Economy Network Australia.
The Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA).
For more on Dr Michelle Maloney.
Music:
Let Them Know, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.
43, by Owls of the Swamp.
Due to licencing restrictions, our guest’s nominated music can only be played on radio or similarly licenced broadcasts of this episode.