University Essay: Turmoil Over Climate Change Policy in Australia

This essay delves into the contentious climate change policy in Australia, examining the internal political and economic factors that hinder effective action. It highlights the increasing temperatures, the impact of droughts, and the lack of unified governmental response. The essay explores the influence of public opinion, the role of political parties, and the impact of global events such as the Paris Agreement and the withdrawal of the US. It discusses the challenges of balancing environmental concerns with economic interests, particularly Australia's reliance on fossil fuels and the differing views between generations and political supporters. The essay concludes that overcoming these internal issues is crucial for Australia to implement successful climate change regulations.

Running head: Turmoil over climate change policy in Australia
Turmoil over climate change policy in Australia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Turmoil over climate change policy in Australia
Introduction
Climate change in Australia has been an alarming matter since the starting of 21st century.
Its temperature is increasing by 0.9 degree centigrade since 1950 and this speed has fastened
since 1950 (Kiem et al. 2016). However, it has suffered its worst drought last year in 2018 when
it became difficult to believe it was late winter then and summer was yet to come .
Discussion:
Australia is in high danger due to drastic climate change but complicated and complex
internal politics and rules have checked the country to address this problem. Australia suffers a
lot because of the sudden climate change resulting into high temperature like summer (Barnett et
al. 2015). However, no political party or Government is taking any effective measures to combat
it. The factors forbidding the Government to take any strong steps to fight with global warming
and climate change are very serious complicated and they have to be discussed very critically
(Hughes et al. 2018 ).
Firstly, total population of Australia is not in the favor of taking action to fight with
climate change. Although majority of the population supports stringent actions and interference
of Government, a powerful, influential minority opposes this. A survey showed that only 16% of
the Liberal party supporters believed climate change as a concern, compared with 59% of Labor
and 79% of Green party supporters. A minority of people do not support because it will be
against their benefit. They support tree-cutting for obtaining and exporting wood, creating barren
lands for cattle grazing and others. Moreover, there are a lot of differences in opinion between
the younger and older people. A 2018 poll revealed that around 70% of Australians between 18

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Turmoil over climate change policy in Australia
and 44 ages believed global warming to be a pressing problem, when compared to 49% of those
who are above 44 years.
Secondly, another issue which is disallowing the political parties to take strict actions to
control this problem is that it had ousted previous prime ministers over climate strategy in the
last decade. History of Australian politics has shown that climate policy was so disputing that it
had resulted prime ministers losing their jobs. Though Australia is regarded as one of the wealthy
and developed nation, still it has struggled to enforce a climate change plan effectively. Turnbull
was the previous and fourth prime minister who was removed from his seat over climate
controversy. Hence, no political parties had taken any measures to control climate change.
Thirdly, announcement made by Donald Trump withdrawing from the agreement of Paris
Convention had encouraged Australia to reject the agreement as well. Moreover, the agreement
in Paris Convention was also creating holes in the pocket of Australia (Morgan, 2017). Australia
is the largest coal exporter and it highly depends on the fossil fuel for its own energy need.
Hence, it was not profitable for the country too to implement any such rule that would be against
its economy.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion it is very clear that it is not an easy task for Australia to
implement any laws or rules to control the climate change as it had to fight with so many internal
issues. Unless, the common people become conscious and serious, it will not be possible for the
Government to enforce any rules and regulations to control this menace.

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Turmoil over climate change policy in Australia
References:
Barnett, J., Evans, L.S., Gross, C., Kiem, A.S., Kingsford, R.T., Palutikof, J.P., Pickering, C.M.
and Smithers, S.G., 2015. From barriers to limits to climate change adaptation: path dependency
and the speed of change.
Hughes, T.P., Kerry, J.T., Baird, A.H., Connolly, S.R., Dietzel, A., Eakin, C.M., Heron, S.F.,
Hoey, A.S., Hoogenboom, M.O., Liu, G. and McWilliam, M.J., 2018. Global warming
transforms coral reef assemblages. Nature, 556(7702), p.492.
Kiem, A.S., Johnson, F., Westra, S., van Dijk, A., Evans, J.P., O’Donnell, A., Rouillard, A.,
Barr, C., Tyler, J., Thyer, M. and Jakob, D., 2016. Natural hazards in Australia:
droughts. Climatic Change, 139(1), pp.37-54.
Morgan, W., 2017. Coal comfort: Pacific islands on collision course with Australia over
emissions. Pacific Journalism Review, 23(1), p.25.