National climate policy after the 2022 Australian national election: What might we expect?
Australia has long been a climate policy laggard among developed countries. The Morrison Coalition Government has done nothing to improve this record, as highlighted by its performance at the Glasgow COP in 2021. Indeed during the period from 2014 through to the present – under successive Coalition governments (Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison) – national climate policy has been marked first by climate policy reversals and then inaction both in terms of proclaimed ambition and policy. Meanwhile, since its loss in 2019, Labor has remained quiet on this contentious issue. And yet, paradoxically, during this period, Australia’s greenhouse emissions have continued to drop.
Australians will go to the polls in May this year. This seminar will speculate about the possible role of climate policy in the 2022 national election campaign, and will consider possible climate policy scenarios – in the context of the ‘performance paradox’ – for the period which follows.
This event has been organised with the financial support of the European Union’s Partnership Instrument. The opinions expressed are the sole responsibility of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
Robyn Eckersley is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor in Political Science at the University of Melbourne and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. She has published widely in the fields of environmental political theory, politics and the state; ecology and democracy; international relations; and global environmental governance, with a special focus on the ethics, politics and governance of climate change. Her recent books include Special Responsibilities: Global Problems and American Power (2012, co-author); Globalization and the Environment (2013) (co-authored with P. Christoff) and The Oxford Handbook of International Political Theory (2018) (co-edited with C. Brown.
Peter Christoff is a Senior Research Fellow with the Melbourne Climate Futures Initiative, and an honorary Associate Professor in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, at the University of Melbourne. His research and publications focus on Australian and international environmental and climate politics and policy. In addition he has served on various climate-related policy bodies, including the Victorian Premier's Climate Change Reference Group the Victorian Ministerial Reference Council on Climate Change Adaptation, and was also the Assistant Commissioner for the Environment in Victoria.