Fighting the future: the politics of climate policy failure in Australia (2015–2020)

This Focus review provides an overview of climate politics and policy under the Turnbull (2015–2018) and Morrison (2018) conservative Coalition governments following the dismantling of carbon pricing in 2014. Without effective policies to reduce emissions in place, Australia will fail to meet its 2030 Paris emissions reduction target. Climate policy failure is framed in these terms. The paper outlines Australia's climate policy challenge and the macroconstraints upon action, before detailing commentary and analysis of climate politics and policies post 2015. In reviewing accounts of the Turnbull and Morrison government's climate policy efforts, the paper draws attention to the handbrake of conservative politics upon decisive action. It finds that Australia's climate policy is not only structurally constrained by its reliance upon fossil fuels, but has been politically constrained by conservatives within the Coalition government since 2015. This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > National Climate Change Policy