Gaslighting Australia: The Instrumental Power of Australia's Mining and Energy Industries

Abstract

Australia has been harshly criticised for inaction on climate change. Previous Australian governments adopted an adversarial stance to counter criticism, notably at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in 2021. How had Australia come to be in this position? We demonstrate it was not through inaction, but proactive government support for the interests of the mining and energy industries. Applying a three faces of power framework, we identify the relations these industries have with government as the reason why support was provided. Crucially, we show that it is not their structural power due to controlling underlying economic relations that explains their power. It is their ability to instrumentally command public subsidies and policy support. The discourse around economic benefits, propounded by both government and the industries themselves, served as a “smokescreen” to hide this reality. Far from being too big to fail or indispensable, we conclude that it is more accurate to say that instrumental power was successfully deployed to produce policy protections and “rivers of gold” in public funding.