Climate Policy Paralysis in Australia: Energy Security, Energy Poverty and Jobs

Saleem H. Ali, Kamila Svobodova, Jo-Anne Everingham and Mehmet Altingoz
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Saleem H. Ali: Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
Kamila Svobodova: Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
Jo-Anne Everingham: Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072, Australia
Mehmet Altingoz: Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-16

Abstract: According to the 2020 Climate Change Performance Index, Australia was ranked as the worst-performing country on climate change policy. The country has an ambivalent record of climate policy development as well as implementation, and has been criticized for its inaction. This paper considers why the country has been locked in climate policy “paralysis” through analyzing defining attributes of such a paralysis, and the tentative connections between domestic energy policies and international trade and development. We conducted a media content analysis of 222 articles and identified media narratives in three cases of energy projects in the country involving thermal coal exports, domestic renewable energy storage, and closure of a domestic coal power station. The analysis reveals that policy paralysis in Australian climate change policy can be traced back to the countervailing arguments that have been pervasive around domestic energy security, rural employment and international energy poverty. The political establishment has struggled to develop a sustainable consensus on climate change and the citizenry remains polarized. We also discuss how a “focusing event,” such as a major natural disaster can break the impasse but this is only possible if energy security at home, energy poverty abroad and employment imperatives across the board are clearly delineated, measured and prioritized.

Keywords: Australia; energy policy; energy transition; media discourse; policy failure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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