Some commentators argue that the major parties (Labour and Liberal-National Coalition) are now indistinguishable, with the only policy variety in Australian politics coming from the minor parties. Assess these claims (there are 2) for the period since the election of the first Howard government in 1996, focussing on one of the following areas “V (iii) Environmental Policy”.

Environmental policies are ones that occur in almost all of the major and minor party’s policy outlines. This is not only because it is an issue of the present, but also because our actions now will affect the state of the environment in the future. However, although it may be stated in all party’s policies, the specificity varies between both major and minor parties. The statement arguing “that the major parties are now indistinguishable with the only policy variety in Australian politics coming from minor parties is a perfect way of describing the current status of Australian party’s environmental policies. In order to prove this, I will be focussing on the specific and current issue of global warming and the emission of greenhouse gasses, as although Australia is particularly vulnerable to global warming, neither Liberal nor Labor will commit to serious greenhouse gas emission abatement because of their antiquated views that this will hurt Australian industry. (read full text…)