Robert Glasser on Australia’s Flip to Local weather Motion – The Diplomat

Journal

Commercial

In the previous couple of years, the prices and impacts of local weather change have change into unavoidably clear to Australians. In the summertime of 2019-2020, the nation noticed considered one of its worst bushfire seasons and in 2021-2022 devastating flooding stuffed headlines. In an editorial endorsing the Labor Get together’s bid for presidency earlier this 12 months, The Age wrote that “a change of presidency is required to start restoring integrity to federal politics and … resist the problem of local weather change.”

Positive sufficient, Australia’s federal election in Could 2022 noticed the incumbent Liberal/Nationwide Coalition – then led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison – fail to safe a fourth consecutive time period. As an alternative, for the primary time since 2007 the Labor Get together, led by Anthony Albanese, achieved a majority authorities. Throughout Australia, voters swung away from the Liberal Get together’s coalition, switching their votes to Labor or “teal independents” for whom local weather change is a important problem. 

Months later, the Labor authorities has maneuvered Australia towards changing into a extra accountable world energy in relation to local weather change. The highway forward isn’t simple, notably given Australia’s important coal business. However, as Dr. Robert Glasser explains within the interview beneath, Labor has positioned itself nicely politically to pursue an formidable local weather agenda. 

Glasser, head of the  Local weather and Safety Coverage Centre on the Australian Strategic Coverage Institute, spoke to The Diplomat’s Cathrine Putz in regards to the position of local weather change in Australia’s fashionable politics.

Diplomat Temporary

Weekly Publication

N

What affect did the difficulty of local weather change have within the Australian Federal election in Could?

Local weather change had an unlimited affect within the Australian Federal election. Certainly, it was referred to as the “local weather election” by many. Labor campaigned on a platform of extra formidable local weather motion, and it was a significant factor within the swing in opposition to Scott Morrison’s conservative coalition.

The modifications in rhetoric and motion on local weather change since Labor’s election victory have been hanging. The federal government has enshrined a extra formidable local weather goal – decreasing greenhouse gases by 43 % by 2030 – in laws. It has produced the nation’s first local weather and safety threat evaluation and initiated a course of throughout authorities to develop a serious technique to strengthen nationwide resilience to local weather impacts.