Australian elections were held last month and Tony Abbott was declared the new Prime Minister. Most worrisome about his recent victory is that his top legislative priority is to repeal the carbon tax which has been imposed since 2012. The purpose of the carbon tax is to incentivize carbon intensive industries to transition to cleaner sources of power and emit less energy or else face a fine. This is done by placing a cap on the total amount of emissions that can be emitted, and permits that can be bought or sold by companies on the market. Australia’s scheme included the trading of permits with international actors such as the European Union.

It is one thing to debate the merits of a carbon tax and its ability to influence real action on climate change. But it is another to remove the tax for political and ideological purposes. The party’s stance towards all things related to energy and environmental matters is very troubling, according to an article in the Guardian by Alex White titled “Why Tony Abbott wants to abolish the carbon price.” For example, Abbott was cited as calling climate change “crap” and doing everything in his power to dismantle the strides made in energy policy. Moreover, Abbott is removing the role of the Minister for Climate Change. The same article mentions that there is also external pressure on Abbott to remove the tax coming from large industries such as oil and gas and mining.

The carbon tax seemed to be working as well. Despite claims that the tax hurt businesses, Australia experienced low inflation, growth in the stock market, and low unemployment rates. Moreover, the policy appeared to be solvent in that carbon emissions National Electricity Network fell by 7.4 percent in one year.

Abbott has proposed to replace the tax with policy of “Direct Action,” various policies that seek to address climate change. However, in another article in The Guardian by Alex White titled “Tony Abbott’s climate policy is just a figleaf developed by deniers,” none of Abbott’s proposed measures are sufficient to prevent or at least mitigate the effects of climate change. Much of the “Direct Action” revolves around voluntary mechanisms that are unlikely to get industries on board to reduce emissions or transition to cleaner technologies, according to Neil Perry, research lecturer at University of Western Sydney.

Several American Security Project reports speak to the way that climate change acts as a threat accelerant, hurting our environment and national security. However, climate change is a transnational threat that requires the support of all world governments, especially developed nations that are responsible for a majority of the emissions. Australia will take the chair of the G20 soon and it is necessary to make climate change a priority so that it can provide leadership to the world in tackling these difficult issues.

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