In the fall of 2007, Australians threw out the government that had been dragging its feet on action on climate change for years. The first thing that Kevin Rudd, the new Prime Minister, did was to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Australians had been experiencing the crush of drought and heat and were more than ready to confront the problem. In something of a reverse image from the politics in the US, Rudd’s Labor Government suffered from its subsequent inability to push through a carbon trading law. Australians wanted more action.
Kevin Rudd fell from power to be replaced by Julia Gillard, and the Labor Party has just narrowly survived in national elections. One of the consequences of the recent election is Labor’s need to rely on Independents and Greens. The price of their support for Gillard’s government is a stronger approach on climate and energy.
“Voters punished Labor in part because of the government’s decision in April to shelve emissions trading laws, a step that angered a large number of Australians who wanted stronger action on climate change and industries demanding policy certainty,” explains Reuters in this article, Analysis: Nod For Australia’s Labor Likely Boost For CO2 Law. The industries demanding policy certainty include utilities. “‘At the core of Australia’s policy framework must be a price on carbon,’ Carl McCamish, executive general manager of sustainability for major power generator and retailer Origin Energy.” The chief executive of the Investor Group on Climate Change Australia/New Zealand (IGCC) also is quoted: “Investors have been looking for some clear political direction on climate change and it appears we may get it.”
For more on the new, improved climate politics in Australia, and beyond, see this from SolveClimate. Adam Bandt, a leader of the Greens and a new MP, said: “I think climate was the key issue. It is very significant that a couple of unions swung behind me and against Labor.”
If Australia gets a robust carbon trading program underway, as its antipodean neighbor New Zealand is doing now, then the shape of the world’s carbon markets may start to change even more, as this article from Bloomberg points out.
In any event, Australians want their government to get a handle on climate and energy and it looks as if that’s how it’ll go.
