Arts & Science Council

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The Australian national election at the end of 2007 replaced a decade-long conservative government with a new, socially progressive government by a comfortable nationwide margin. This election has been widely reported as hinging on the progressive party's ability to successfully communicate about global climate change issues, and has even been heralded as the first national election campaign in recent history to turn on a scientific topic. However, analysis of the rhetoric used in the campaign cycle suggests that while climate change was the defining issue in this national campaign, in reality it served as a proxy for perceptions that the conservative government held closely to outdated ideas and ideologies in the face of new and emerging information. Climate change, which had previously not registered as a voter concern, worked as an analogy because Australia was experiencing its worst drought in 100 years.