Energising the nation: The historical and contemporary framing of Australian energy policy

Abstract

This paper provides an intervention to the Energy Policy debate about the influence of epistemic frames on energy decisions and particularly, the framing of energy problems. We seek to deepen understanding of how and why different energy problem representations can be formed. Drawing on the social constructionist approach of Bacchji (2009, 2012), we explore the framing of energy policy using the empirical lens of the foundation of Australian energy policy since the early 20th century—the three development stages of Australian electricity provisioning. Rather than offering a direct contribution to the debate about the future of the Australian electricity sector or an alternative classification of differing conceptualisations of energy, we ‘drill down’ into one aspect of the Sovacool et al (2016) classification framework—'the explanation of energy’—by investigating the framing of Australian energy policy from Federation to the contemporary. Using a six-question analytical grid, we examine how debates about energy (aka electricity) have been constructed and reconfigured and represent a key mechanism through which the state has represented, constituted and configured its role in the nation. The paper concludes that the framing and reframing of the problem of ‘energy’ over time reflects broader transformations in the problem of ‘governing’.