Why is climate change the burning issue in Australia’s elections? Updated on 30/04/22
In December 2019, Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, was on a Hawaiian beach in full holiday mode: boardshorts on, hand signalling “hang loose”, he posed for a sunset picture. Across the ocean, the sky was lit by fires and Australians were fuming about his absence, more than they had ever been about the absence of any climate action from his government. Morrison’s first mandate opened and ended with climate related disasters of biblical proportions. To the bushfires, followed the recent floods, a painful reminder of the country’s vulnerability to a warming climate, as Australians prepare to vote in the May 21st federal elections. Australian politicians who supported ambitious carbon reduction targets have been penalised at the ballot box. In 2019, Scott Morrison declared he had always believed in miracles as he claimed the right’s unexpected victory, while political commentators blamed Labor’s defeat in the elections on their promise to cut emissions by 45%. Reeling from climate-induced disasters has united Australians, or at least 80% of them, including 70% of conservative voters, in recognising global warming as a burning issue. Sadly, finding a bipartisan approach to tackling this crisis seems harder than operating miracles. Shifting climate policies to bolder targets is hindered by reliance on fossil fuel. Australia is the world biggest exporter of coal, which accounts for 11% of its GDP and powers 70% of the national electricity grid. Hence, the fear of climate apocalypse competes with the fear of economic collapse, exploited and magnified for political gain. Less than 1% of Australians work in coal mining, but the industry has great lobbying power and is a major employer in those marginal seats that could swing election results. Weaponizing the climate issue has proven to be a successful strategy to bag the votes of regional electors to whom plans to reduce emissions have been presented as a left-wing conspiracy to reduce their living standard. Brandishing a polished lump of coal in the House of Representatives in 2017, Morrison credited those who mined it with the country’s prosperity and competitiveness. Thundering against the “ideological, pathological” fear of coal of the Labor party and their “dark age policies”, he kindled Australians’ fear of renewables. Murdoch owned media have echoed, in banner headlines, the implication that any policy imposing emissions restrictions would slow the economy, rather than stimulate investments. The Australian right has programmatically instilled doubt over climate science, with former PM Tony Abbot going as far as defining it a “cult”. In the Coalition, the Nationals have also skilfully managed to tie coal mining to the farming industry, positioning it at the core of regional identity. On the other end of the political spectrum, in inner city suburbs, the anger over climate inaction has politicised young Australians and exploded in protests, promptly curbed by strict new laws. In this toxic political climate, promoting, refusing, or delaying a ‘carbon tax’ has led to the demise of five Australian prime ministers, leaving the country with short term governments and without long term solutions. Both major parties have now committed to net zero by 2050, but with diverging approaches that reflect their electorate’s opposite convictions, and shared worries. The Labor party, led by Anthony Albanese, wants to show progressive voters that it takes climate change seriously, while reassuring conservatives that it is treating their concerns about the economy equally seriously. According to Albanese, Australia will remain an energy powerhouse, with a $683 billion investment in solar batteries and electricity grid upgrade. Morrison promises to deliver net zero the ‘Australian way’, with technology not taxes. The coalition conveniently keeps quiet the fact that effective carbon storage technology does not yet exist, but loudly
denounces Labor’s intentions to raise taxes. As this misinformation campaign rages, Nationals senator Matt Canavan announced that decarbonisation is ‘all over bar the shouting’, starting fires in the Coalition that Morrison is busy putting out with formidable competence for a man who declared himself incapable of holding a hose to justify his absence during the bushfires. Making climate change about ideology, rather than technology, has poisoned the political debate. In Australia, global warming is a hot topic, but action is taken at a glacial pace.