Australia's flirtation with climate policy: Role of industry groups, environmental NGOs, think tanks, and public opinion

This thesis examines the policymaking process and heated public debate surrounding climate change policy in Australia from 2007-2013. It focuses specifically on the debate surrounding the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme and the carbon tax, analyzing the key factors that led to carbon tax's brief adoption and those that contributed to the policies' ultimate repeal. This project examines Australia's political system from a foreign policy analysis and domestic politics perspective and concludes that hyperpluralism theory and the concept of advocacy coalition help to explain the complex policymaking process that ensued. The project explains the impact that various stakeholders, such as government officials, the energy and mining sector, environmental NGOs, think tanks, and members of academia had on the climate policy process. This thesis also analyzes how and why other domestic and international factors such as public opinion and the lack of international consensus on greenhouse gas emissions reduction influenced the politics of climate change in Australia. It concludes that a combination of domestic factors worked together and contributed to the climate policy's demise, these included Australia's economic reliance on exports of natural resources, the close relationship between a powerful political party (the Liberal-National Coalition) and industry groups, and inept leadership within the government.