Carbon Policy in Australia – A Political History

This article examines the historical progress of Australian climate change policy. The article in particular examines several interesting and significant aspects of Australian climate law highlighting governmental approaches and processes leading to the introduction of those laws. The historical perspective is necessary to identify most common features of the climate law implementation procedures and to identify what political factors influence these processes in Australia. Examination of the Australian climate change regime indicates how different actors influence policy proposals to achieve their own goals, rather than to cooperate in a process of generating the best overall legal option. This paper concludes that the development of climate law in Australia required some innovative and responsive law initiatives. However, the practical implementation of various climate change laws had been constantly impacted by various economic and political factors