Conservative populism and the carbon price debate in Australia

How do we explain the repeal of the emissions trading scheme (ETS) in Australia? This paper outlines a neo-Polanyian account of the role conservative counter movement figures have played in unravelling the case for carbon pricing. It draws out connections between the underlying contradictions of market-based regulation with the character of political conflict. Through decades of advocacy from experts and some business groups and environmentalists, emissions trading has emerged as a state strategy to manage tensions between marketisation and environmental protection. However, the hope for a political settlement through marketised climate policy has not been realised. Conservatives in Australia sought to de-legitimise carbon pricing with a discourse of social protection for low- and middle-income households, and by expressing allegiance with the resource sector. This resistance was somewhat successful in reducing the legitimacy of carbon pricing as a political ‘solution’ to climate change. By unpacking the rhetorical strategies used by the political Right, we can appreciate the ways in which conservatives leveraged the contradictions of carbon pricing to undermine public support for the Gillard government’s ETS. At the same time, the Liberal/National coalition government’s alternative ‘Direct Action Plan’ was also brought quickly into disrepute. There is now an interregnum in the climate policy debate. Reflecting on the ETS repeal is crucial in light of the Federal climate and energy policy reviews underway and the global rise of conservative populism.