Australian Government's Climate Change Campaign - Case Study Example

Analyzing Australian Government's Climate Change Campaign Success or Failure- Effectiveness of the campaign The international framework for a climate change agreement is up for review as the initial Kyoto period to 2012 comes to an end. Though there has been much enthusiasm from political and environmental groups, the underlying economics and politics remain highly controversial (Helm and Hepburn, 2008). The debate on climate change has gotten centre stage attention in the past year or so especially after Barrack Obama has taken over as President of United States in the early part of the year. The reason for this simple. Obama has publicly displayed an unprecedented willingness and enthusiasm for action to be taken so that the effects of climate change could be reversed. The fact of the debate that faces the contemporary world on climate change is quite simple. Rich countries have become rich by burning fossil fuels in abundance. The list of fossil fuel would include coal, oil, and more recently natural gas that have served as sources of energy in most industrialized countries. The majority of fossil fuels are used for two basic purposes: electricity generation and transportation. The point of concern is the fact that importance of fossil fuels have been well documented in the past three decades (Steffen, 2009). This has also meant that big suppliers or heavy users have been able to develop unrivalled political influence. Around the world, the political dynamics of the greenhouse debate has been defined by the battles between warnings from climate scientists on the one hand and the attempts by fossil fuel companies to protect their commercial interests on the other. There is therefore the need for far reaching industrial restructuring so that there is a reduction and an ultimate restructuring of the greenhouse gas emissions. Dessler and Parson (2006) explain the impasse in the terms that the point of concern however is that as new countries start the process of industrialization in a bid to bring their levels of development to those achieved by the already developed countries, there would be greater levels of emission. The idea therefore is that while the developed world is trying to get concessions from the developing world for environment safety and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the developing countries contend that it is the developed world that is responsible for the environmental bind in which the world finds itself (Dessler and Parson (2006). They further contend that now they should have the same rights to development through industrialization as was given to the developed countries and that the developed countries should be the ones making bigger and more contrite efforts for the reversal of the climate change process. There is a second big part of the debate that complicates it further given the fact that environment care and making efforts for reversal of effects of climate change would require most governments to choose between development, industrialization and the environment. The choice needless to say is a difficult one. The problem would also have three variables. The environment lobby, the industrial lobby and the politics of it all. The work of the government is make priority decisions based on the demands of all of these groups and concerns. The following essay keeping this basic background in mind will attempt to classify the Rudd government’s climate change campaign in accordance with the five steps of the alternative model it must be remembered here that the process is fluid and demarcating the phases in five clear areas would be difficult as most are overlapping and many occur in a simultaneous manner. The essay will also analyze the problems with the campaign and the resolutions as a whole that led to its failure and a dependence on the part of the Rudd government on the pending Copenhagen meet. Finally, the essay will analyze the responses and faith of local and international media in such a campaign while understanding the three cycle process and the efforts made by some of the other countries vis-à-vis the ETS initiative in Australia. The inner workings of how climate change policy is actually decided in Canberra under the Howard Government were exposed by the ABC’s Four Corners program in February 2006. Sydney Morning Herald, (2004) stated that for almost a decade the government’s policies have been determined by a cable of powerful fossil-fuel lobbyists that were representative of the very corporations whose commercial interests were most affected by any move to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. In most democratic societies, governments are supposed to represent the interests of the people. Hamilton, (2007) accepts that the Howard government however was more than happy to forego the privilege to a group of corporations that had some power despite their small size. The members of the greenhouse mafia claim to be more familiar with greenhouse policy than the government because they claim it is they who wrote it. Giddens (2008) explains the process further by stating that there are those that claim that they know more about the energy policy than the government. Although no hard facts are available it is widely accepted that several members of the mafia have rotated from one industry lobby group to another within the greenhouse network. Due to the closeness of the personal connections within the network, the greenhouse mafia is the most potent lobbying alliance in Australia. Most of its members have been operating in Canberra for over two decades and have thus been able to make their way up the bureaucratic ladder under the Labor and the Coalition governments. A certain Mr. Barry Jones, for example was a senior official in the industry department before jumping ship first to head the Pulp and Paper Manufacturers Federation and then the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, also known as the APPEA. It was however not just the environmental groups that felt the power of the greenhouse mafia. Other industrial groups that have a stake in measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions- like the gas industry, the tourism industry and the insurance companies-were intimidated and went missing in action for years altogether. In fact an academician concluded that the intimidation or scarecrow effect of the greenhouse mafia have been central to the ‘missing in action’ phenomena. Green groups have never really been a match for the potent power of the mafia given the fact that the group has the power and the interests of big money behind it. Given this is the background of the scenario of climate change policies in Australia, and the nature of notoriety achieved by the green mafia, it would come as no surprise that the 2007 federal elections saw an unprecedented surge in the importance of the climate change issue as one of the primary topics of contention for elections. The climate change debate in Australia was framed in the first instance with the growth of the corruption in the Howard ministry with respect to the issues of climate change and the exposure of the power of the green mafia and the authority they wielded over decisions regarding the same. Warren, (2008) is of the opinion that it was around this time that the campaign on climate change was framed by Kevin Rudd and his supporters. The idea was to bring back the surge of morality and its power in the decision making process. It was infact believed that “Labor didn't hold back with the green symbolism to maximize its political leverage over the Howard government”. This was in fact the representative of the first step to the alternative or the Stanton model of a campaign formulation and implementation process. The demand was met given the fact that speeches in the epic election focused primarily on the climate change issue. The slogan of “Think Climate Think Change” was farmed and was used in many of the election speeches and rhetoric like the Inaugural CitiGroup Climate Change Conference speech delivered by MP Gartnett (2007). Not only did the issue feature in a strong manner, in the November 2007 Australian election in which John Howard was replaced by Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister the aftermath of election saw a radical step in the direction toward a strong initiative in terms of dealing with the issue when the as the first official act of the new Australian Government Rudd decided to ratify the Kyoto Protocol (The Age, 2007). After Rudd was elected on 3rd of December 2007, Australia took the challenges imposed by climatic change very seriously. The Department of Climate Change was established on the same day as an integral element of the Cabinet portfolio. The government formulated a short and long term strategy to reduce greenhouse pollution in Australia. The country’s greenhouse gas emissions have been targeted to be reduced by 60% until the year 2050 as compared to 2000 levels. A comprehensive emissions scheme would be implemented by 2010 in order to achieve these targets (Vieru, 2008). Also a target had been set to encourage renewable energy resources such as wind and solar energy and to expand the use of this energy by 20% by the year 2020 (Vieru, 2008). Kevin Rudd also appointed Penny Wong as Minister of Climate Change and Water of Australia. Penny Wong was slated to play a vital role in negotiating the vision of Prime Minister Rudd and in making the country a major player in matters relating to global policy issues of climate change (Banham, 2007). On the same day, the new Australian government under Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol committing the country to reduce the greenhouse emissions between 2008 and 2012 and making sure that such emissions do not exceed more than eight percent over the 1990 levels (“Australia Ratifies”, 2007). Rudd commented that by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, Australia had entered the main global arena on international discussions and was serious about future global programs in efforts to bring emission levels under control (Franklin, M & Ryan, S, 2007) Moreover, Australia had been a major party in reaching agreements during the negotiation at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali on December 2007, whereby global actions on climate change had been framed for the post year 2012 (Jean, 2007). As a result of this negotiation, Australia had been making efforts to find global solutions that would be efficient and would involve all major emitting countries (“Climate Change”, 2007). The Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was very keen in taking personal initiatives for positive developments in regard to climate change and had remarked at the Bali Conference that "My government will do everything in its power to help Australia meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations. This will include setting a target to reduce emissions by 60 percent on 2000 levels by 2050 and establishing a national emissions trading scheme by 2010," (“Australia Electrifies”, 2007). The Australian government published a Green Paper on 16th of July 2008 to outline the design of a national emission trading scheme. While releasing the Green Paper, Penny Wong said that the paper “Sets out options and identifies the Government’s disposition and preferred positions on emissions trading and the support proposed to help households and businesses adjust to this economic transformation,” (“Wong Releases”, 2008). Wong said that the government had introduced the lowest cost and most economical and efficient means to lessen carbon pollution and declared that an emission trading scheme would be introduced by the year 2010 (Rodgers, 2008). The Green Paper would enable Australia to keep up with economic prosperity even as emission levels were reduced. In this context the government had done well in introducing a trading scheme in order to maintain the competitive advantages. These were all tactics that were employed in the education of the media about the positives of the climate change campaign that the Rudd administration had in mind. For the purpose of popularizing the steps there was an entire blitzkrieg advertising campaign was planned that focused on the more popular marketing mix, The campaign focused extensively on radio and TV campaigning and a call center was set as well that cost the government a total of about A$19 million (Maiden, 2009). There was a pamphlet campaign is place as well through which a token effort was made to arouse participation and acceptance from the younger and more environmentally aware section of the society in the shape of the school and college going kids (Hunt, 2009). There have also been instances where the Prime Minister has gone on record (ABC, 2008) and stated that his campaign has done more for climate change in a few months than the Liberals did in twelve years of their rule. The attack stage of the campaign has witnessed aggressive action by the Rudd administration both in the national and the international arena. Gordon, (2008) elaborates by stating that the Government spent $8.1 million buying advertising, $476,000 on creative agency fees and advertising production costs, $149,000 on market research, $13,000 on website development, and $83,000 on the call centre Fundraising techniques during the election phase included having the PM in waiting call or meet with large donors, sending direct mail pleas to small donors, and courting interest groups like Greenpeace who could ended up spending millions on the race. After following the campaign with a lot of effort, the Rudd administration realized the fact that the Copenhagen meeting that is to come in December 2009, might not yield the results that they had initially hoped that it would given the reluctance of the key players like India and the US to accept some of the stiffer terms of the agreement. Franklin and Norrington (2009) point out that having realized this, the Prime Minister warned Australia that the international agreement was "not nearly a done deal" and shifted his climate change pitch to domestic politics, attacking opposition disunity on the issue (Yeoh, 2008). The solution that the government provided was a market based solution to climate change and not a process backed by the philanthropic notions on the part of the executive. Despite the efforts on the part of the government to sell the scheme as one that would be perfect for the both the energy lobby and the environmentalists the skeptics soon began to emerge given the fact that cracks in the scheme were apparent to anyone who cared to take a closer look. A number o concerns were put forward about the proposed ETS plan. There were problems of feasibility and of support from the opposition which incidentally, Rudd made the bone of his contention. The efforts after having outlined a plan of action therefore fell back on taking some contingency measures so that the public and the opposition could be convinced about the feasibility of the plan. Department of Climate Change bureaucrats therefore went into contact with the Climate Institute and the Australian Conservation Foundation so that concerns about the current ETS model could be addressed (Crickey, 2008). There were reports from the opposition that the ETS scheme was an eye wash and not a well thought out plan of action at all. Turnball the leader of the opposition became completely antagonistic to the scheme and promised publicly that he would oppose it every turn. He had categorically commented to the Sydney Morning Herald that "If the scheme is presented in its current form on August 13, it will be voted down by the Coalition in the Senate” (Coorey, 2009). He further added in the same interview to the SMH that "We designed an emissions trading scheme, much better designed than the one Mr. Rudd has come up with" (Coorey, 2009). There were also issues that the government had infact waited until it had finished its extensive consultations with polluters and consequent softening of its model before bothering to check with NGOs suggests a certain political tone deafness. On August 13, 2009 the bill was defeated on the Senate and Rudd’s government plan to reintroduce it again on November (Fenner, 2009). Penny Wong told the Senate that “This bill may be going down today, but this is not the end," (Taylor, 2009). Kevin Rudd later said that it was a ''disappointing day indeed for Australia'…Australia had an opportunity to embrace the future on climate change and instead we find ourselves…dangerously anchored in the past,'' (Arup, T & Grattan, M, 2009). After having faced defeat in the parliament, the Rudd administration is focused on achieving the goals of the Copenhagen meet. Optimism is not the strong point of the agenda at the moment as the hopes of achieving the set goals in the light of reluctance on the part of the key players is a big problem. One could however state that the campaign fits nicely into the Alternate Model of campaigning given the fact that the campaign saw an agenda setting stage, the education and publicizing of the campaign, the actual action and ultimate reworking of the plan. The final phase or the delivery phase was not really achieved in full by the administration but given the fact that the Copenhagen meet is approaching the one could state that the last part of it is still a work in progress. The campaign interestingly enough could be studies vis-à-vis the campaigns and initiatives that have been undertaken by the more developed world including the US. The Kyoto Protocol was initiated and implemented by the US-an international treaty that seeked the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2020. Kyoto Protocol though not as much of a success as was initially perceived could nevertheless be the precursor for Rudd’s initiative. Instead of focusing on the initiatives by Clinton it would be interesting to study the initiatives by Bush as it would be more relavent to the scope of our present discussion. The Bush Plan on Climate Change was announced on February 14, 2004 with the policy aim of reducing GHG intensity of the US economy by 18% by 2012. The plan called for expanded programs for voluntary reductions and would establish new funding for clean technologies and scientific research (Martineau and Novello, 2004). Now with Barrack Obama having come to power many believe that the environment policies of the US will see a new re birth given the fact that he has outlined tackling effects of climate change as a major priority of his policy initiatives (Vidal, 2008). Other than this developing countries like India have taken initiatives wherein the idea to focus on environmentally friendly fuel not just for the reduction of pollution but also for the reduction of export dependence. Harris, (2007) states that as far as Europe is concerned, there is no comprehensive acceptance of the word ‘climate change’ within the EU agenda. Measures taken can be enacted only within the purview of energy decisions. The lack of a genral EU competence for energy policy has meant that climate change issues were politically treated as particular environment protection issues (Peeters and Deketelaere, 2006). Nevertheless, initiatives such as the Sixt Environmental Action programs were held. As far as the international media is concerned there is a support of the climate change initiative of the Rudd administration. The focus of the international media like BBC however has been on highlighting the protests and the demands of the green lobby rather than in the intricacies of the ETS Scheme. A BBC Report (2009) for example writes extensively on the protests for a revision of the ETS plan but does not go into details of the plan overall. The same is the case with a Thai News Report (2009).  There is otherwise no reeal mention of the Rudd’s campaign. An example is the fact that there was a report on a blogging column from The New York Times website called City Room stating that the city's Argosy bookstore kept its doors open past closing time for the Prime Minister. Norrington, 2009 stated that, this was the newspaper's only mention of Rudd's five-day New York visit before the G20 meet. Rudd has received no coverage from the Times or other respected newspapers that would indicate he is an influential player in climate change negotiations or the push for a new world order. None appear interested. Almost all the focus during climate change summit talks in New York has been on the big players -- Barack Obama and China President Hu Jintao. The Australian Government has a comprehensive response to the threat of climate change that is built on three pillars (Department of Climate Change, 2008): 1. Reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emission 2. Adapting to climate change that is already happening 3. Helping shape a global solution On the basis of these three broad outlines one could answer not just whether or not the campaign was in keeping with the three pillars but examine the merits of its character as well. Given the fact that the ETS system was aimed in the long run to control the emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However there are problems in as much as under the ETS regime, industries that were not able to meet greenhouse gas reduction target would be forced to buy carbon permits. The costs of the permit would in all likelihood pass on to consumers in the form of higher bills for services such as petrol and electricity. Shanahan, (2008) states that for every industry that is made exempt - or is given free carbon credits to continue polluting - the burden for cutting emissions is likely to fall more heavily on other industries. The deal as Milne (2009) has stated has become a problem and in fact accepts that no deal would be better than such a weak deal. This would in the longer run not help with emission but aid a deterioration of the condition. Further after revision, the 5% decrease that was asked for has been described as a pitiful attempt at pleasing the environmental lobby. There is still no global solution in sight given the fact that most of the more developed countries of the world have prioritized their positions as of now as tiding over the economic crisis rather than demonstrate an avid concern for the environment. The international media though sympathetic has never really been fully appreciative of the efforts that Rudd seems to think were radical. Having said this, one can conclude by stating that the ETS campaign as launched by Rudd and Wong are probably one of the most outright environmentally friendly initiative that have been displayed by any government of the developed world. There were problems with the proposal in terms of feasibility and timeline of implementation but one could state that with the climate change initiative Rudd and the Labor government have taken the climate change debate out from the echelons of the green mafia and placed it in the very centre of public eye-a laudable task in itself. All that is needed now is more serious work on the venues opened by the new government. Reference: The Age, 2007, Rudd ratifies Kyoto, pub, December 7, 2007, accessed October 13, 2009, < http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/rudd-ratifies-kyoto/2007/12/03/1196530553722.html> Warren M, 2008, The sun sets on Rudd's climate change credibility, pub, The Australian, May 19, 2008, accessed October 13, 2009, < http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23718653-30538,00.html> Garnett P, (2007), Inaugural Citi Group Climate Change Conference, pub, Peter Garnett Home Page, accessed October 13, 2009, < http://www.petergarrett.com.au/397.aspx> Vieru, T. 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