'Continuity and change': Environmental policy in the 2016 Australian Federal election and the coming energy transition

Environmental policy debate barely featured in the election of 2016. This absence is best understood with regard to the recent political history of partisan conflict in federal parliament over climate change and energy issues. Carbon pricing has been a central object of debate since Kevin Rudd won the 2007 election. What followed was a deeply divisive contest between the Australian Labor Party�s (ALP) and the Australian Greens� high-minded resolve to �price carbon� versus the Coalition�s populist push against Rudd and Julia Gillard�s emissions trading schemes. Neither of the major parties, nor the Greens, have emerged from this conflict with clear-cut victories on climate policy.In the wake of climate policy failure, new arenas of political conflict over mining and energy market reform have opened up. Drawn out local battles over the federal government�s role in approving major new coal and gas mines were a backdrop to the 2016 election. Threats to the Great Barrier Reef from mine-related development, agriculture and climate change were the most salient environmental issues that featured in the election. Both the Coalition and ALP promised more money for environmental management programs and research, but neither party shifted policy positions supporting major fossil fuel developments in North Queensland and elsewhere.