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This paper develops the concepts of the climate discourse complex, and national climate policy regime, in order to analyse significant patterns in Australian national climate politics over the twenty‐five years from 1988 to 2013. Six major discursive fields — scientific, ethical, economic, technological, political/legal, and "everyday life"— contribute to the ensemble of discourses that constitute a climate discourse complex. The climate discourse complex in turn serves to frame and discipline climate debate and the articulation of a national climate policy regime. The composition of Australia's climate discourse complex has been dominated by the economic discursive field. Debates over "old" and "new" economic discourses have been the key drivers of and constraints on the trajectory of Australia's climate policy regime for much of the period under consideration. These debates have diminished and sometimes marginalized the influence of scientific, ethical and other discourses, contributing to Australia's weak mitigation ambition. The paper also suggests that significant changes in Australian climate discourses and Australia's climate discourse complex have largely been initiated by factors external to Australia, with the major shift occurring in the period 2006/2007.

Climate change will be at the top of the agenda when leaders of the world's major economies gather in Japan for the G8 Summit in July. The science is clear on the need for an ambitious and rapid response. Almost all heads of government now have a basic understanding that without climate security they will be unable to meet their economic or development goals. This makes reducing global greenhouse emissions a vital national interest and a core issue for international diplomacy. Adapted from the source document.

Whilst we know quite a bit about organized forms of climate skepticism, very few studies focus on how disorganized climate skeptics seek an underdog position to speak truth to power. Hence, we investigate frank speech as updated ancient forms of truth-telling 'parrhesia', in two Swedish empirical sources that strongly question the climate change consensus. The first is a digital space for free speech, and the second a focus group of climate skeptics. Tracing 'epistemic skepticism' and 'response skepticism', we inquire into the attempts to counter scientific expertise and the different ways to refuse to act in accordance with officially sanctioned advice. We analyze the details of climate cynic truth-telling in relation to truthtelling as provocation, as ethical practice and as exhibition of a specific aim. We explore how the climate skeptic turns into a climate cynic, and discuss how alternative truth construction forms an anti-climate ethical selfhood. We end by problematizing how parrhesia is linked to ethical relativism, and argue that the recognition of climate cynicism facilitates our understanding of how conflicting political realities about climate change are produced.

"Auf der Weltklimakonferenz vom 3. bis 14. Dezember 2007 in Bali wurde eine neue Etappe der internationalen Klimaverhandlungen eingeläutet. Die afrikanischen Länder werden von allen Verpflichtungen zur Reduzierung ausgeschlossen bleiben. Von den weiteren Verhandlungen erhoffen sie massive internationale Finanztransfers, um sich an die gravierenden Folgen des Klimawandels besser anpassen zu können. Wissenschaftler des UN-Weltklimarats (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC) sind sich einig: Kein Kontinent wird so stark vom Klimawandel betroffen sein wie Afrika - und sie fügen hinzu, 'dass der Kontinent besonders verletzlich (...) sein wird, weil die weit verbreitete Armut die Kapazitäten, sich an den Klimawandel anzupassen, erheblich einschränkt'(Hulme et al. 2001). Afrikas Interessen waren bei den globalen Klimaverhandlungen im Dezember 2007 in Bali kaum zu vernehmen. Die klimawissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse für Afrika finden erst allmählich die Aufmerksamkeit der politischen Entscheidungsträger und der Zivilgesellschaft. Jüngst räumten auch afrikanische Regierungschefs ein, dass die Folgen des Klimawandels verstärkt auf die nationale wie internationale Tagesordnung gehören - und auf Bali forderten sie einen hohen Anteil am Fonds zur Anpassung an den Klimawandel. Ein klimabezogener African Peer Review Mechanism ('Klima-APRM') könnte das Koordinationsinstrument für eine effektive, konsistente und länderübergreifende Klimaschutzpolitik sein." (Autorenreferat)