Gillard’s Clean Energy Future Package: Paradigm Change Minus Valence Equals Failure
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Author(s)
Barry, Sean
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2015
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It is now twenty years since Peter Hall wrote his influential Policy Paradigms, Social
Learning, and the State. He argued ideas are important in political and institutional change,
developed within what he called policy paradigms. Only rarely do ideas and the social
learning they create lead to what Hall called third order paradigm change, which radically
alters policy and leads to adapted goals and policy instruments. The Gillard government’s
Clean Energy Future Package (CEFP) was bold, challenging, and radical in the context of
Australian reform and it was a good example of Hall’s third order policy paradigm change.
The ...
View more >It is now twenty years since Peter Hall wrote his influential Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State. He argued ideas are important in political and institutional change, developed within what he called policy paradigms. Only rarely do ideas and the social learning they create lead to what Hall called third order paradigm change, which radically alters policy and leads to adapted goals and policy instruments. The Gillard government’s Clean Energy Future Package (CEFP) was bold, challenging, and radical in the context of Australian reform and it was a good example of Hall’s third order policy paradigm change. The Abbott government, elected on an ‘axe the tax’ platform, quickly repealed the CEFP. Despite its repeal, the CEFP remains an example of rare, difficult-to-achieve third order change. The policy, however, failed to engender the emotional appeal or valence (policy ‘stickiness’) within the community. This paper, therefore, investigates the interplay between two key variables for understanding policy change—paradigms and valence. It concludes that policy-makers attempting third order change must consider the issue of valence if their policies are to endure
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View more >It is now twenty years since Peter Hall wrote his influential Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State. He argued ideas are important in political and institutional change, developed within what he called policy paradigms. Only rarely do ideas and the social learning they create lead to what Hall called third order paradigm change, which radically alters policy and leads to adapted goals and policy instruments. The Gillard government’s Clean Energy Future Package (CEFP) was bold, challenging, and radical in the context of Australian reform and it was a good example of Hall’s third order policy paradigm change. The Abbott government, elected on an ‘axe the tax’ platform, quickly repealed the CEFP. Despite its repeal, the CEFP remains an example of rare, difficult-to-achieve third order change. The policy, however, failed to engender the emotional appeal or valence (policy ‘stickiness’) within the community. This paper, therefore, investigates the interplay between two key variables for understanding policy change—paradigms and valence. It concludes that policy-makers attempting third order change must consider the issue of valence if their policies are to endure
View less >
Conference Title
Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference 2015: The Future of Politics and Political Science
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2015. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. For information about this conference please refer to the conference’s website or contact the author(s).
Subject
Political Science not elsewhere classified