"I

’ve always believed in miracles” newly re-elected Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told gathered supporters at is victory speech after confounding pollsters and winning power in the country’s general election in May. For months his Liberal-National coalition government had been behind Labor in the polls, with the expectation it would be defeated.





Like much in Australian politics today, the election campaign was loud, sometimes chaotic, with copious issues of local and national interest occupying much of the narrative. But at the heart of the debate were economics and climate change, despite Morrison’s attempts to silence climate rhetoric.





“Australia has been devastated by multiple climate disasters recently,” says Nathaniel Pelle, senior campaigner for Greenpeace Australia Pacific. “From the fires in Tasmania to the drought in the interior, the heatwaves in our cities, the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, and the storms and floods in Queensland, climate damage is hurting Australian families and is destroying the places we love.”





One major issue for the 16 million-strong electorate was the Great Australian Bight, a 720 mile stretch of ocean off the southern coast of Australia. Norwegian-based energy giant Equinor ASA, formally Statoil, has proposed a drilling programme, Stromlo-1, currently being considered by Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) in the Bight.