Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/28664
Title: Regulatory resistance to environmental law in rural Australia: land clearing, murder and the media
Contributor(s): Howard, Tanya M  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2020.1712341
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/28664
Abstract: In 2014 an Australia public servant was killed in a confrontation over illegal land clearing. The perpetrator was a land holder with a history of noncompliance with environmental regulations and had been subject to a series of prosecutions. Political suggestions that the crime was somehow justified drew attention to the growing prevalence of law breaking linked to environmental law and policy in rural Australia. This paper investigated the social construction of both the crime and the community response through a qualitative media content analysis. Utilising the "Recipe for Criminalisation" framework developed by Amnesty International, the analysis identified a contest between media discourses of legitimacy in regards to the actions taken by the perpetrator, the public servant and ultimately, the regulatory framework itself. The analysis revealed that the link between media references to illegitimate legislation, excessive regulation, over-zealous compliance and strong social norms of rural independence and economic survival created a persuasive story of justified resistance to unwelcome environmental legislation in this case. Understanding how affected communities respond to instances of policy failure, civil and criminal law breaking and environmental compliance is a crucial factor in designing more legitimate and effective governance regimes. How media narratives are constructed, by whom and in whose interests remains an important analytic question for the study of resistance to environmental law and policy around the world.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Local Environment, 25(2), p. 130-146
Publisher: Routledge
Place of Publication: United Kingdom
ISSN: 1469-6711
1354-9839
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 180111 Environmental and Natural Resources Law
160201 Causes and Prevention of Crime
070199 Agriculture, Land and Farm Management not elsewhere classified
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 520302 Clinical psychology
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 960705 Rural Land Policy
950204 The Media
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 190207 Land policy
130204 The media
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science
School of Law
UNE Business School

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