Energy and the Environment: The Limits of Australian Public Policy Open Access

An analysis of recent policy developments that seek to address the ecological impact of energy reveals a major short-fall in Australian public policy. Notwithstanding some important recent initiatives Australia's general environmental policy performance continues to lag significantly behind that of the international community. This short-fall is explained, in large part due to the dominance of neo-liberalism over much of Australia's policy regime. This policy approach acts to constrain effective governance of private industry, promotes cost minimisation in the pursuit of international competitiveness often at the expense of prudent and responsible environmental conservation. The case of the energy sector is germane to understanding this failure to meet internationally respectable greenhouse gas emission targets at Kyoto. The power of this sector within the national economy acts to constrain government policy and to reinforce neo-liberal dogma which acts to the detriment of the nation's international standing on matters of environmental protection.