Up and down with climate politics 2013–2016: the repeal of carbon pricing in Australia

Abstract

The 2013 election of Australia's conservative Abbott Coalition (Liberal and National parties) government saw the repeal of carbon pricing, (which had previously been implemented by the Labor government in 2012), assume the first order of business. This Focus article reviews expert and political commentary and analysis of the repeal, and provides an overview of the Abbott government's dismantling and attempted dismantling of other climate initiatives. It reviews commentary and critiques of the government's substitute Direct Action (DA) policy and its capacity to reduce emissions. The views of the international community on the Abbott government's repositioning of Australia's climate policy are considered, as are the prospects of achieving effective emissions reduction policy under Abbott's successor, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The paper notes the role of the Senate in both assisting and frustrating government reforms, as well as aspects of policy continuity that could see a form of carbon pricing revived in future. It explores the correlation between the political ascension of Tony Abbott and his rejection of carbon pricing, whether his substitute DA mechanism will effectively reduce emissions, and the adequacy of Australia's current global climate policy aspirations.

The significance of political culture, economic context and instrument type for climate policy support: a cross-national study

“…In the latter, despite a certain degree of cross-partisan agreement on the need for climate policies, this polarization is manifested in political indecisiveness surrounding attempts to implement a New Zealand emission trading scheme (Bullock, 2012;Harker, Taylor, & Knight-Lenihan, 2017). In Australia, climate politics have become both more politicized and more polarized over time (Fielding, Head, Laffan, Western, & Hoegh-Guldberg, 2012;McDonald, 2016;Pearse, 2016;Tranter, 2013), causing a considerable degree of volatility in climate change politics and failed attempts to implement a carbon pricing policy (Crowley, 2017;McDonald, 2016) (Figure 3).…”

The impact of compensatory measures on public support for carbon taxation: an experimental study in Sweden

“…Harrison (2010Harrison ( , 2012 demonstrates how the ups and downs in Canadian climate opinion has affected federal policy choice. Crowley (2017) suggests that the Australian repeal of its carbon tax in 2014 was at least partly due to public opposition, and several studies show how governmental attempts to implement sustainability transitions are slowed down due to a lack in public support (cf. Drews & van den Bergh, 2016).…”

A Tale of Two Taxes: Clean Energy Act 2011 (Cth) V Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (Cth)

“…Therefore Australia retains a tax on carbon emissions. This is despite the general belief that the CE Act was the only Australian carbon tax, and that that tax was repealed in 2014 (Crowley, 2017).…”

“…In 2014, the CE Act was repealed as a carbon tax by the Abbott Liberal government when the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Act 2014 (Cth) was passed in the Australian Parliament. Therefore since the repeal of the CE Act it is understandably considered that Australia no longer has a carbon tax (Crowley, 2017).…”