Legislative Failings

'Legislative Failings,' by Megan Herbert, is a digital illustration in the style of watercolour and ink, published in Nine Papers on the 5th of August 2024.  

The background shows distant tall blue, brown and grey mountains under a blue sky. On the right side of the image, a brunette woman in a hoodie and trackpants pulls herself up to the peak of a mountain, where a bald monk with dark skin wearing orange robes sits cross-legged and looks down at her.   

In a big white speech bubble, the woman says, 'Oh wise one, should I give my last dollars to the tax-benefitted landlord who raises my rent without fixing my draughty windows, or the government-subsidised fossil-fuel company that offers expensive warmth today in exchange for climate chaos tomorrow?'  

The monk says to her, 'Sorry lady, I do moral contemplation. You need decent legislation.'  

At the bottom left is the artist's signature, 'Megan Herbert'.  

The label text for this cartoon reads: In keeping with a theme addressed by other cartoonists this year, Herbert's 'everywoman' character is facing a dilemma that will be familiar to many Australians: how can I afford to live, but also make sure I'm doing the right thing to safeguard the future of the planet? The guru in the cartoon suggests that the problem transcends individual moral choices and can only be fixed with good policy embodied in some 'decent legislation'.