Whither justice? An analysis of climate change responses from South East Queensland, Australia

Climate change is a highly contested policy issue in Australia, generating fierce debate at every level of governance. In this paper we explore a crucial tension in both the policy and the public debate: a seeming lack of attention to social inclusion and broader equity implications. We pay special...

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Main Authors: MacCallum, Diana, Byrne, J., Steele, W.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Pion 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40923
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author MacCallum, Diana
Byrne, J.
Steele, W.
author_facet MacCallum, Diana
Byrne, J.
Steele, W.
author_sort MacCallum, Diana
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Climate change is a highly contested policy issue in Australia, generating fierce debate at every level of governance. In this paper we explore a crucial tension in both the policy and the public debate: a seeming lack of attention to social inclusion and broader equity implications. We pay special attention to the municipal scale, where concerns about social difference and democratic participation are often foregrounded in political discourse, using South East Queensland—a recognised climate change ‘hotspot’—as a case study. Mobilising critical discourse analysis techniques, we interrogate three local government climate change response strategies, and place these in the context of transscalar discourse networks which appear to sustain a technocratic, ‘ecological modernisation’ approach to the issue. Finally, we suggest a broad strategy for reimagining this approach to embed a notion of climate justice in our policy thinking about climate change.
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publishDate 2014
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-409232017-09-13T14:28:46Z Whither justice? An analysis of climate change responses from South East Queensland, Australia MacCallum, Diana Byrne, J. Steele, W. local government climate justice Australia climate change social justice Climate change is a highly contested policy issue in Australia, generating fierce debate at every level of governance. In this paper we explore a crucial tension in both the policy and the public debate: a seeming lack of attention to social inclusion and broader equity implications. We pay special attention to the municipal scale, where concerns about social difference and democratic participation are often foregrounded in political discourse, using South East Queensland—a recognised climate change ‘hotspot’—as a case study. Mobilising critical discourse analysis techniques, we interrogate three local government climate change response strategies, and place these in the context of transscalar discourse networks which appear to sustain a technocratic, ‘ecological modernisation’ approach to the issue. Finally, we suggest a broad strategy for reimagining this approach to embed a notion of climate justice in our policy thinking about climate change. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40923 10.1068/c11295 Pion restricted
spellingShingle local government
climate justice
Australia
climate change
social justice
MacCallum, Diana
Byrne, J.
Steele, W.
Whither justice? An analysis of climate change responses from South East Queensland, Australia
title Whither justice? An analysis of climate change responses from South East Queensland, Australia
title_full Whither justice? An analysis of climate change responses from South East Queensland, Australia
title_fullStr Whither justice? An analysis of climate change responses from South East Queensland, Australia
title_full_unstemmed Whither justice? An analysis of climate change responses from South East Queensland, Australia
title_short Whither justice? An analysis of climate change responses from South East Queensland, Australia
title_sort whither justice? an analysis of climate change responses from south east queensland, australia
topic local government
climate justice
Australia
climate change
social justice
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40923