TY - JOUR
T1 - Narratives and counter-narratives of political strategy
T2 - revisiting Australia's carbon pollution reduction scheme
AU - Newman, Joshua
N1 - Funding Information:
An earlier draft of this article was presented at a workshop, funded by the Australian Political Studies Association, at the University of Queensland in November 2021. Many thanks to Brian Head and Cassandra Star for co-organising, and to Matt McDonald for very useful comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Australian Political Studies Association.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - In 2009, the Australian Senate rejected the government's ambitious Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. In the prevailing narrative surrounding these events, the Labor government, under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, made a series of strategic errors that led to the scheme's–and ultimately, Rudd's and the Labor Party's–downfall. However, by taking a closer look at of some aspects of Australia's parliamentary system, including the norms of partisan voting and the numbers game in parliament, a different story is apparent. A counter-narrative is that the Rudd Labor government's approach was reasonable at the time, but that institutional factors and election outcomes presented significant obstacles to passing climate legislation of any kind. Correcting this narrative will enable a better understanding of the political circumstances in which environmental policies are enacted in Australia, a country with the potential for regional policy leadership on climate change.
AB - In 2009, the Australian Senate rejected the government's ambitious Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. In the prevailing narrative surrounding these events, the Labor government, under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, made a series of strategic errors that led to the scheme's–and ultimately, Rudd's and the Labor Party's–downfall. However, by taking a closer look at of some aspects of Australia's parliamentary system, including the norms of partisan voting and the numbers game in parliament, a different story is apparent. A counter-narrative is that the Rudd Labor government's approach was reasonable at the time, but that institutional factors and election outcomes presented significant obstacles to passing climate legislation of any kind. Correcting this narrative will enable a better understanding of the political circumstances in which environmental policies are enacted in Australia, a country with the potential for regional policy leadership on climate change.
KW - Australia
KW - carbon emissions trading
KW - carbon pollution reduction scheme
KW - climate change
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142283366&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10361146.2022.2133679
DO - 10.1080/10361146.2022.2133679
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85142283366
VL - 58
SP - 88
EP - 104
JO - Australian Journal of Political Science
JF - Australian Journal of Political Science
SN - 1036-1146
IS - 1
ER -