Establishing political priority for regulatory interventions in waste management in Australia

ABSTRACT

This paper establishes a multi theory framework to help explain factors and conditions promoting a political priority for policy change. The framework’s analytical utility is illustrated through its application to a case study of waste management in Australia. A lack of political momentum to prioritise regulatory interventions has contributed to uncoordinated responses by the Australian federal and state governments resulting in unsustainable approaches to waste management. Lessons are derived from the analysis that provide insights into the potential for establishing political priority for policy change from uncoordinated voluntary schemes to more coordinated regulatory approaches.

在澳大利亚，对民主的满意度正快速下滑，2019年达到1970年代以来最低水平。澳大利亚公民一向是世界上最心满意足的民主人士，而如今的证据却表明民主正大失人心。如何解释政治支持的快速式微呢？比较研究强调政府的政治、经济表现左右了公民对政治制度的态度。本文采用1996年至2019年澳大利亚选举研究的数据，考察了政府的表现如何造成人民对民主制度的失望。研究结果显示，为多数选民所不满的总理频繁更换，以及经济上日益悲观的情绪造成了澳大利亚民主满意度的下降。

KEYWORDS:

• Political priority
• policy change
• waste management
• Australia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Stephen Jones is a Senior Lecturer in Public Sector Management in the Business School, University of Queensland. His research interests focus on intergovernmental relations, particularly issues of cooperation, coordination and performance management.