Last year, the world watched in utter shock as Australia burned. In Australia, bushfires are a natural phenomenon that affects numerous parts of the country yearly. However, the fires of the “Black Summer period” of 2019/2020 were unprecedented in nature and scope. By March 2020, the fires had engulfed over 19 million hectares of Australian land, destroyed over 3000 houses, killed 33 people and over 1 billion animals. [1] One would think that the extensive economic and social heartache that resulted from these fires would create a political and cultural shift in recognising climate change as a priority at a national level. However, in the aftermath of this crisis, a political and cultural persistence of climate change denial trickles down from the national level to the Australian population who are thus more likely to believe that climate change is not at all a serious issue. Australian news readers are more likely to believe that climate change is not at all a serious issue compared to their global counterparts. [2]
This should come as no surprise, considering Australia’s climate policies inherently lack urgency, and remain stagnant in their effectiveness of meeting the Paris Agreements proposed net-zero emission goals by 2050. In fact, it has been projected that if these policies remain as they are, Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions are projected to increase by 8.6% above 2005 levels by 2030. [3] This projection combined with the recent fires should come as a clear warning call to Australian officials to recognise climate change as a threat to Australia’s national security and as something worth prioritising. This article sets out to explain why there seems to be a sense of climate denial inherent throughout Australian politics and society, which ultimately stagnates Australia’s progress towards net-zero emissions and subjects Australia to global criticism in the race against climate change.
By Christie Hawking
Climate Change in Australian Politics
Over the course of the last decades Australian politics have been tumultuous in nature. With a continuous stream of coalition governments overthrowing each other, it is no surprise that maintaining an adequate climate change strategy has proven to be challenging. The issue of climate change in Australian politics had its first turning point in 1997, with the signing of the Kyoto Protocol under the first Howard government. [4] What was interesting about this deal was that Australia was one of only three countries permitted to increase its emissions, but only by 8% above 1990 level onwards to 2010.[1] In order to manage this goal amidst a projected rapid population growth, John Howard announced an 180 million dollar greenhouse package outlining reforms and ongoing commitment to the Greenhouse Challenge Program. [5] This momentum was short-lived as Howard’s cabinet resolved not to ratify the Kyoto treaty in 2001.
Going into the 2007 elections, public support grew for climate abatement strategies as Australia was blanketed by punishing droughts. Labor won the election, who campaigned to introduce a more comprehensive emissions trading scheme. As both coalitions agreed on some level that a new emissions scheme was needed, a combined effort by Labor's environmental minister and then Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull closed a deal to legislate the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in 2009. Due to internal disagreement within the opposition party, the iberal Leader was voted out by his own party, and replaced by a minister who was a renowned climate change sceptic, in turn, blocking support of the CPRS. This was met with an influx of news media reporting the commitment reversal, producing an immediate crash in public support for the Labor Leader, prompting a resignation and instatement of a new Labor Leader. Labor remained in power after the 2010 election and introduced a “temporary” carbon tax, which was not welcomed by the opposition. Liberal returned to power via an early election, and in a surprising turn of events, the then Liberal Leader who had opposed all previous climate policy, committed Australia to the Paris agreement in reducing emissions by 26% from 2005 levels by 2030. [6] In 2015, Liberal won the scheduled election, but the leader was ousted in 2018 because of his plan to implement modest emission targets on the energy sector. [7] He was replaced by Liberal Conservative Scott Morrison, the current Prime Minister, who has proven to be a loyalist to Australia’s huge coal industry. [8] Simultaneously, the previous Prime minister who signed the Paris Agreement in 2014, has been campaigning for Australia to withdraw from the Paris agreement, based on the premise that Australia would have not joined the treaty without the United States, that had recently withdrawn from the agreement in 2017 under the Trump Administration. [9]
Climate Denial and Media Power
With three Prime Ministers ousted with progressive climate policy ideas and the shifting viewpoints between major actors, it is no wonder many Australians are sceptical of the causes of climate change. However, this is not the only major influence fostering a sense of climate denial. Since the 1970s, political science researchers have suggested that the Australian political system resembles an elite top down system of governance, allowing for the media and politicians together to set the daily agenda of what is newsworthy, and what should be accepted as the dominant narrative and the truth. [10] When analysing the power dynamics between media and politics in Australia, it has been argued that NewsCorp, run by Rupert Murdoch, who controls 70% of local newspapers in Australia is “the most powerful political force in Australia”. [11] The notion that a media conglomerate is possibly the driving factor behind political discourse is not unique to Australia. Rupert Murdoch has been subject to multiple inquiries in the UK and the USA, and was criticised by politicians and editors of his newspapers that he would interfere with the content, and had a “determination to impose his will”. [12] This involved shifting blame to the left, protecting conservative leaders and diverting attention from climate change. [13]
NewsCorp was criticised over a new stream of misinformation reporting throughout the bushfire crisis that aimed at protecting the fossil fuel industry, as over 100 million tonnes of new coal extraction was approved by state and federal governments. [14] Furthermore, it was found that 75% of all NewsCorp articles denied the influence of climate change on the wild fires, which, in turn, ignited a rapid circulation of bush fire disinformation on social media. [15] Adding more controversy, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has recently launched a petition for a royal commission inquiry into the tight ownership of Australian media by Murdoch. [16] As Newscorp owns 70% of newspaper media in Australia and all newspapers in Queensland, it is claimed that this lack of diversity in news reporting has sowed doubt, and obscured fact rather than introduce fact to disperse doubt. [17] A study on climate change was included in the Australian version of the Digital News Report, and results found that news consumers who get their news from “left-wing” sources were more concerned about climate change than those who get their news from “right-wing” sources. [18]This study also found Australia had three times more climate change deniers than the global average, ranking it third in climate change denial, only behind the USA and Sweden.
Is a change of course imminent?
As it stands, Australia has not made any new commitments in relation to carbon neutrality. However, with the new Biden Administration taking effect in January in the USA, this makes Australia an outlier on climate inaction and will revert the spotlight back on them once Biden officially re-joins the Paris Agreement as set out in his election campaign. This combined with the mounting pressure put on Australian institutions to diversify media ownership away from the Murdoch empire, as well as increasing global criticisms over Australia’s stagnant stance in the race against climate change will hopefully see a positive shift away from climate denial.
Sources
[1]Filkov, Alexander I., et al. "Impact of Australia's catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire season on communities and environment. Retrospective analysis and current trends." Journal of Safety Science and Resilience 1.1 (2020): 44-56.
[2] Fischer, Caroline & Park, Sora (2020). The number of climate deniers in Australia is more than double the global average, new survey finds. Retrieved from: https://theconversation.com/the-number-of-climate-deniers-in-australia-is-more-than-double-the-global-average-new-survey-finds-140450
[3] Climate Analytics (2020). Evaluating Australia's climate policy action
https://climateanalytics.org/briefings/evaluating-australias-climate-policy-action/
[4] Crabb, Annabel, (2018). Australia's recent climate change policy: A brief history of seven killings. ABC News. Retrieved from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-23/climate-change-policy-a-brief-history-of-seven-killings/10152616
[5] Kay, Paul (1998) Terms and Impacts of the Kyoto Protocol
[6] Crabb, Annabel, (2018). Australia's recent climate change policy: A brief history of seven killings. ABC News. Retrieved from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-23/climate-change-policy-a-brief-history-of-seven-killings/10152616
[7] Pach, James (2013). Australian PM Julia Gillard Ousted, Kevin Rudd Back. THE DIPLOMAT. https://thediplomat.com/2013/06/australian-pm-julia-gillard-ousted-kevin-rudd-back/
[8]Chow, Lorraine (2018). Australian Prime Minister Ousted Over Climate Policy. Eco Watch. Retrieved from: https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-prime-minister-climate-policy-2598685521.html
[9] France 24 (2020). Australian parliament to probe Murdoch media dominance. Retrieved from:https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20201111-australian-parliament-to-probe-murdoch-media-dominance
[10] Shearman, David (2020). Denial is at the heart of PM Scott Morrison’s delusional refusal to treat the cancer of climate change. The News Daily.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/science/environment/2020/01/09/denial-climate-change-scott-morrison/
[11] Garden, Rose (2017). Statement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord. Government publication:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord/
[12] Taylor, Maria (2014) Global Warming and Climate Change: What Australia Knew and Buried. Australian National University. Retrieved from: https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p303951/html/Chapt07.xhtml?referer=&page=12
[13] Beecher, Eric (2020). Murdoch’s power: how it works and how it debases Australia. Retrieved from: https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/10/23/rupert-murdoch-power/
[14]Jones, Ed (2019). Five reasons why we don’t have a free and independent press in the UK and what we can do about it. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/five-reasons-why-we-don-t-have-free-and-independent-press-in-uk-and-what-we-can-do-about/
[15] Covering Climate Now (2020). Robert Murdoch Climate Fires. Retrieved from: https://www.coveringclimatenow.org/climate-beat/climate-coverage-improved-in-2019-but-2020-is-the-real-test
[16] Brailsford, Louis (2020) Burnt Country. Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Retrieved from.
https://www.greenpeace.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Dirty-Power-Burnt-Country_Report_FINAL.pdf
[17] SBS NEWS (2020). 'Cancer on our democracy': Kevin Rudd calls for inquiry into Murdoch media dominance. Retrieved from: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/cancer-on-our-democracy-kevin-rudd-calls-for-inquiry-into-murdoch-media-dominance
[18]Park, Sora et al. (2020). Digital News Report: Australia 2020. University of Canberra. Retrieved from: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2020-06/apo-nid305057.pdf