On the climate crisis, housing and more, politicians avoid clarity because it demands action

‘It seems pretty clear that offsetting increased emissions will not actually reduce emissions. And yet that is the policy the government is committed to.’ Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

After spending any time analysing policy you quickly realise that politicians expend a supreme level of effort to avoid doing the obvious, and instead they do complex things that neither solve a problem nor appease their opponents.

For politicians, the problem with clarity is that it demands action. Complexity provides safety because action can more easily be avoided. And so the obvious and clear are painted as “extreme”, while the complex is regarded as “mature”.