The discourse of Modifying ETS

The discourse of Modifying ETS Ying Wang, University of Waikato, NZ Abstract This paper discusses the New Zealand National Party s discourse of modifying the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) following the 2008 general election. It explores the discursive strategies employed by the National Party in communicating its initiatives for proposing change. The paper argues that the discourse of modifying ETS is an exercise of power, through which the National Party strives to maintain its leadership and legitimacy. In adopting various discursive strategies, the party accomplishes the construction and reproduction of its political identity and ideology on the notion of promoting economic growth and protecting jobs, as well as balancing its economic and environmental responsibilities. Introduction In December 2007, the NZ Labour Government introduced the Climate Change Bill that amended the Climate Change Response Act 2002 by inserting an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), including all sectors of the economy and all greenhouse gases. The Emissions Trading Amendment Bill passed into law in September 2008 with support from the Green Party and New Zealand First Party. Following the election in 2008, however, the new National- led government announced that, in accordance with the coalition agreement with ACT (Association of Consumers and Taxpayers), it would delay the implementation of the NZ ETS pending a select committee review. After the Emissions Trading Scheme Review Committee reported back to the Parliament on 31 August 2009, Climate Change Issues Minister Nick Smith stated that the National- led Government would still prefer to amend the ETS (National Party, 2009c). On 14 September 2009, the National Government announced that the Maori Party had agreed to support the National Government's proposals to amend the ETS. On 24 September 2009, the Moderated Emissions Trading Amendment Bill had its first reading in Parliament (National Party, 2009e). This paper analyses, from a discourse perspective, the National Party s effort to modify the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) following the 2008 election. It aims to explore the discursive strategies employed by the National Party in communicating its initiative for proposing changes, as well as in the construction and reproduction of the National Party s identity and ideology. Following this introduction, with some background of the New Zealand Labour Party s initial ETS, this paper reviews relevant literature on discourse and discourse analysis, followed by a discussion on method. The next two sections present the paper s analysis and discussion on key findings. Finally, after a discussion on limitation and implication, the paper draws its conclusion. Literature review Inspired by the linguistic turn and associated rise of interpretivism, studies of discourse have departed from viewing language as merely a means of communication and developed upon recognising the constitutive role of language. Increasingly, works on discourse analysis reflect, to different extents, a post- structuralist sensibility, based on the argument that language ANZCA Conference 2012, Adelaide, South Australia Page 1

constitutes the conditions under which we know reality (Berg, 2009: 216). Discourse analysts, particularly those who are informed by Michel Foucault, essentially stress the centrality of language in the production of meaning and are committed to investigating the wider social and political implications of language use. One central concern of a Foucauldian perspective is the production of meaning through discourse. Following a broad social constructionist claim, discourse analysts view meanings as socially constructed through discursive practice. This represents what Alvesson and Karreman (2000) refer to as a discourse determination approach, where discourse drives and constitutes subjectivity. In exploring the relationship between discourse and the social construction of meaning, van Dijk (1997) proposes to study discourse as a practical, social and cultural phenomenon in which language users engage in different forms of talk and text in order to accomplish social acts and participate in social interaction. Such social acts can include making impressions on certain social groups, persuasion and manipulation, and achieving agreement through negotiation. In examining how meaning is constructed, van Dijk (1997) emphasises both the structure of discourse syntax, semantics, stylistics and rhetoric, as well as the cognitive process of discourse mental representation. There are many factors that may influence the construction of meaning through discourse: the intentionality of the speaker; different perspectives of speaker and recipient; and sometimes the subtle choice of a particular word. In efforts to conduct detailed analysis on linguistic features such as syntax and semantics, many methodologically oriented works provide techniques on textual analysis (see, for example, Wodak and Meyer, 2001). However, in considering the broader social implications of discourse, it is imperative to bridge micro- analysis of language use to macro level social and ideological issues (van Dijk, 2003). The micro- macro distinction echoes Alvesson and Karreman s (2000) classification between the little- d discourse micro level locally situated discursive practice and the big- D Discourse, which requires close attention to the global context. Social theorists interest in the broader fashion of discourse (Berg, 2009) requires discourse analysts to tie the little- d analysis to the big- D concerns and to place focus on the ideological function of discourse. In reviewing Fairclough s Analysing Discourse (2003), Manning and Weninger (2005) note that Fairclough s endeavour to link linguistic inquiry with in- depth sociological analysis should be celebrated. This is because, according to Manning and Weninger, a joint and balanced focus on social issues as well as linguistic (textual) analysis in discourse studies is essential to unveil the complex ways in which language and the social world are intertwined (2005: 303). In order to further understand wider social implications in language use, discourse analysts need to take into account the social context under which a discourse takes place. Van Dijk (1997) defines context as the structure of the properties (participants, settings, props, verbal and non- verbal actions, etc.) of the social situation that are systematically, not incidentally, relevant for discourse. The word relevant is emphasised in that, regardless of what the property is, it needs to be part of a meaning production process. Van Dijk (1997) also makes a distinction between local context and global context. While local context indicates the immediate settings of a discursive process, the global context emphasises the social categories and implications of the discourse. For van Dijk, in the process of bridging micro and macro level discursive practice, there is a natural interest to consider a higher level of context because the local discourse and context is often produced and understood as a functional part of global contexts (see also Glanzberg, 2002). This is not to say that the little- d is not important, but that in linking it with the big- D, discourse analysts can better spell out how discourse contributes to the reproduction of macro ANZCA Conference 2012, Adelaide, South Australia Page 2

structures (Fairclough, 1995, p. 42) and how ideology is reproduced through language use (Alvesson and Karreman, 2000). While all genres of discourses have broader implications, political discourses provide good examples in understanding the ideological function of discourse. Such works as Fairclough s (2000; 2001) analysis of British New Labour s discursive strategies present vivid cases of how political discourses are designed to manipulate and persuade the public and, in doing so, contribute to the construction of political identities and the reproduction of ideologies. According to Fairclough (2000; 2001), the idea of a new global economy, on which New Labour s ideology is based, is pervasively cultivated in the discourse of New Labour as an inevitable fact of life. For instance, the absence of an agent in the New Labour s discourse when discussing change change is here! indicates that change is out of anyone s control and thus inevitable. By representing the new global economy as inevitable, New Labour promotes its Third Way as the correct response to a changing environment and the only solution to reconciling apparently conflicting themes (such as enterprise and fairness ). In such construction of meaning, the public is persuaded to identify with the New Labour s neoliberal ideology because their Third Way is the only way (Fairclough, 2000; 2001). Attending to the effects of language use brings out the other key concerns of a Foucauldian discourse perspective that involve the strategies of power and the propagation of knowledge (Motion and Leitch, 2007). In the Foucauldian view that power and knowledge are inseparable, discourse plays a key role in establishing and reinforcing particular truths, and shaping power/knowledge relations. This interest in examining changes in power relations and social order through language use exhibits a critical approach to discourse analysis (Billig, 2003). According to Phillips and Jorgensen (2002), critical discourse analysis aims to uncover the role of discursive practice in the maintenance of unequal power relations, with the overall goal of harnessing the results of critical discourse analysis to the struggle for radical social change (p. 64). In presenting Laclau and Mouffe s concepts of social antagonism and hegemony, Howarth and Stavrakakis (2000) argue that discourses, and the identities produced through them, are inherently political entities that involve the construction of antagonism and the exercise of power. In this sense, social antagonisms are constructed to introduce an irreconcilable negativity into social relations that provokes power struggles through discourse. It is through these discursive struggles, hegemonic discourse order is formed, contested and retained (Fairclough, 2001). In the New Zealand political context, the competing views about ETS, provoked by the various political agendas behind them, can be seen as a contesting force of the National Party s dominant discourse. The ongoing process of political positioning and repositioning opens up a discursive space that invites all concerned parties to negotiate power through discursive struggles. Central to the view of language as an exercise of power, this research project is designed to explore the discursive strategies employed by the discourse actor the National Party in its effort to retain hegemonic control. The focus of this study is to explicate, through textual analysis, how the National Party constructs its identity and reproduces its political ideology in the process of meaning production. ANZCA Conference 2012, Adelaide, South Australia Page 3

Method In line with the theoretical framework, this study uses the method of critical discourse analysis. According to van Dijk (2003), critical discourse analysis is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context (p. 352). In this study, Fairclough s (1992) three dimensional method is adopted to examine the National Party s discourse of modifying ETS at three levels: textual practice; discursive practice; and social practice. At the level of textual practice, this study examines the use of language in terms of linguistic features, such as grammatical and syntactic structure, the choice of words, and the use of figures. At the level of discursive practice, this study looks at the discursive strategies employed by the National Party to create and communicate meanings. For instance, the following discursive strategies are identified and given detailed analysis: identification, juxtaposition (the construction of antagonisms); and association (see also van Dijk, 1997). These strategies are examined in terms of how they have helped to produce specific meanings in the process of discursive practice. At the social practice level, this study analyses the social and political implications of the National Party s modifying ETS discourse in hope of understanding how such discursive practice has contributed to the construction and reproduction of the identity and the ideology of the National Party. All the data used in this study are raw secondary data. The data were collected from the National Party s media releases which have been published on its official website in effort to modify the ETS since the 2008 New Zealand general election. As the objective of this study is to analyse the National Party s discursive practice, the data were chosen exclusively from that party s media releases. The source of the information was the National Party through its various spokespersons. This means that the messages have been designed to serve the political growth and ambition of the National Party and therefore are agenda- oriented. Analysis and interpretation Since its triumph in the New Zealand 2008 general election, the National Party has been under pressure from various political streams, especially the Labour and the Green Party, to implement the ETS that had been legislated prior to the election. These oppositional voices pose political threats to the National Party s identity, legitimacy and credibility. In the political arena, as Roper (2005) points out, it is through political discourse that identities are constructed. In employing various strategies in its discursive practice, the National Party expresses its efforts to defend, and construct, its political identity and position as well as retain hegemonic control. The rationale of delaying the implementation of the ETS, along with the attempts to modify the original version of the ETS, is central to the National Party s political ideology of promoting competitive enterprise and economic growth. In analysing its post- 2008 election discourse in media releases, this study identified three key themes through which the National Party justifies its political position and advocates for the values of its political ideology. Theme one The discourse of growth Throughout the National Party s discourse regarding the ETS, promoting economic growth is the value that has been placed beyond all others. One important discursive strategy adopted by the National Party is the use of identification. Specifically, when discussing the original ETS, the ANZCA Conference 2012, Adelaide, South Australia Page 4

proposed environmental standards are identified as costs to the New Zealand economy. For instance, in reviewing an economic report (17 June, 2009), despite not revealing the details of the analysis, the National Party s Minister for Climate Change, Nick Smith claimed it as a useful contribution to the important debate on how New Zealand meets its environmental goals at least cost to the economy (National Party, 2009a). By presenting environmental standards as economic costs, the National Party establishes the economy as its primary concern and environmental issues as threats. In enhancing its position of prioritising economic concerns, the National Party employs the discursive strategy of association. In his media release on 4 August, Smith stated: However, the consequences for New Zealanders of cutting by a third our stock number of sheep, cattle and deer would cost 47,000 jobs, reduce our export receipts by $6 billion and would significantly reduce the living standards of all New Zealanders. (National Party, 2009b) [Bold added]. In this excerpt, the National Party is using figures without explaining how they have been obtained to strengthen its claim. More importantly, the concern for economic growth is associated with issues that have direct impact on people s lives jobs, the export capacity of the farming industry and the living standards of all New Zealanders. Through this association, the National Party initiates a strategic shift in the way the public relates to the issues of ETS, from viewing it as a policy negotiation to relating to it at a personal level. When the general public is persuaded to see environmental standards as threats to their jobs and living standards, they are more likely to support the National Party s motion to weaken the ETS. Theme two The discourse of balance The discourse of balance is prevalent in the National Party s discussion about the ETS. On 16 September, the National Party s Minister of Finance, Bill English stated in a media release: Government changes to the Emissions Trading Scheme strike the right balance between protecting New Zealand jobs, halving the cost for families and households, and doing our fair share on climate change. (National Party, 2009d) [Bold added]. The syntactic structure in this quote is subject + verb + object. The personification of government changes makes it a subject actor that actively performs an action ( strike ) to its object ( the right balance ). Such syntactic structure assumes the government, and its proposed changes, as a responsible agent and in doing so establishes the legitimacy of the National Party. Another effect of asserting government changes as a responsible agent is that it places emphasis on the necessity of changes. Here changes are represented as the key to striking the right balance between economic and environmental responsibilities, through which the National Party s initiative to modify the ETS is justified. The verb in this sentence is strike, which suggests that the modified ETS meets halfway between economic and environmental concerns. This implies that the National Party places equal weight on economic and environmental issues and its proposed changes to ETS require concession from both. However, when presenting economic concern the National Party lists out specific issues protecting New Zealand jobs, halving the cost for families and households (again, associating with public concerns), while the environmental side of the argument is simply covered by doing ANZCA Conference 2012, Adelaide, South Australia Page 5

our fair share. The strategy of discursive ambiguity is adopted here by the National Party to be indistinct about what the environmental responsibilities are and what exactly the fair share would be. As Eisenberg (1984) point out, strategic ambiguity is an effective communication strategy in that it promotes unified diversity, facilitates change, and preserves privileged positions. By presenting one side as specific and clear, and the other as vague and ambiguous, the National Party makes it easy for its audience to resonate with the economic causes while feeling ambivalent about environmental concerns. The object of this sentence the right balance extends the use of discursive ambiguity. Just like the word fair, right and balance are both ambiguous and value- laden terms, which allow the audience to make up their own minds about what the right balance is and means. In the presence of ambiguity and the lack of specification, the National Party maximises its support from the public and minimises potential discrepancies. In its discourse of balance, the National Party employs the assertion of agency (through personification) and strategic ambiguity to establish legitimacy and justify its position on issues regarding the ETS. Theme three The discourse of risk The discourse of risk is used by the National Party to attack the Labour government and criticise its previously legislated ETS. In the 16 September media release, English stated that the changes we have agreed with the Maori Party are about making the ETS workable and affordable, so that the New Zealand economy and Kiwi jobs are not put at risk as they would have been under Labour's scheme. In this excerpt, the Labour Party s ETS scheme is associated with risk to the New Zealand economy and Kiwi jobs. By adding the word Kiwi in front of jobs and introducing the Labour Party s ETS as a risk to Kiwi jobs, the National Party seeks to build an emotional alignment with its audience on the issue. Through such emotional alignment, the audience is encouraged to identify with the criticism of the Labour Party s ETS and consequently support the National Party s proposed changes. Further, the National Party s initiative for changes is lent weight by being agreed with the Maori Party, which isolates the Labour Party in the policymaking battle. Despite that, in reality, the Labour Party has full support from the Green Party on this issue, its voice is significantly weakened by appearing to be standing alone and being on the opposite side of both the National and the Maori Party. In further attacking the Labour Party s stance on the ETS, the National Party expands its criticism of the Labour Party as a whole in attempts to delegitimise the Labour Party, in the same media release, English continued to comment: no amount of hand- wringing and petty political posturing by Labour will change the fact that its scheme would have cost Kiwi jobs and damaged the economy. Labour speaks with a forked tongue. It talks vaguely about the need to support jobs, but its policies - including its ETS and its unaffordable borrow- and- hope spending promises - do exactly the opposite. By contrast, this Government is about supporting jobs and fostering economic growth. (National Party, 2009d) [Bold added]. ANZCA Conference 2012, Adelaide, South Australia Page 6

In this passage, the National Party uses words like hand- writing, petty political posturing, forked tongue and borrow- and- hope to present the Labour Party as incompetent and irresponsible. The National Party makes further efforts to attack the Labour Party s credibility and legitimacy by creating what Sethi refers to as a legitimacy gap discrepancies between intended and perceived image and identity (Sethi, 1979 in Roper and Toledano, 2005). By presenting the Labour Party as talking vaguely about supporting jobs and doing exactly the opposite in its policies including its ETS, the National Party inserts a legitimacy gap in the Labour Party s identity and accuses the Labour Party for not looking after the interests of its citizens. In delegitimising the Labour Party, the National Party reinforces its own identity and legitimacy, through which the National Party gives stronger voice to its initiative for changing the ETS. Another important discursive strategy adopted in this excerpt is the use of juxtaposition: This juxtaposition is achieved through the construction of antagonism, whereby the Labour Party is being presented as costing Kiwi jobs and damaging the New Zealand economy. After establishing the Labour Party as the antagonist, the National Party positions itself at the opposite end of the spectrum with its incentive for supporting jobs and fostering the economic growth. This distinct positioning through the construction of antagonism signals a discursive struggle over the creation of meaning (Phillips and Jorgensen, 2002), where the National Party associates itself with positive values and claims legitimacy by being the opposite from its antagonist the Labour Party that it has sought to portray. In such discursive practice the audience is prompted to reject the Labour Party and its ETS (the risk ) and recognise the National Party s proposed changes (the right balance ) as logical and legitimate. Discussion The National Party s discourse regarding the ETS is based on the premise of economic growth, which is in line with the National Party s political identity and ideology. The ETS legislated by the Labour Party imposes high environmental standards and has the potential to significantly limit the growth of major New Zealand industries, which is seen by the National Party as a threat to its political goals. In advocating for making changes to the ETS and justifying its delayed implementation of the ETS, the National Party employs various strategies in its discourse in order to reframe the issue and produce new meanings about ETS in the lens of the National Party. Under the National Party s discursive construct changes to ETS is about protecting jobs, maintaining living standards and striking the right balance between economic and environmental responsibilities. In the National Party s discourse the meaning of environmental responsibilities equals doing the fair share, which pushes the context of the debate to an international scale and attempts to minimis New Zealand s responsibilities on climate change- related issues. In fear of the risk and costs as presented to them, the public is motivated to align with the National Party s position and identify with its political ideology of promoting economic growth at the expense of compromising environmental standards. ANZCA Conference 2012, Adelaide, South Australia Page 7

In presenting a strong rationale for proposing changes and delaying the implementation of the ETS, the National Party effectively retains hegemonic control of the dominant economic discourse. The National Party communicates, reinforces, and constructs a strong identity through positioning itself as the advocate for free enterprise and for using financial incentives as solutions for environmental issues. As pointed out by Howarth and Stavrakakis (2000), interests cannot be assumed to pre- exist agents because they are politically and discursively constructed. Therefore, identities, and their interests, are strategic outcomes of discourses. The National Party s interests in retaining the dominant economic order indicate its political ambition in maintaining its leadership role and strengthening its governmental legitimacy. The National Party s discourse of modifying ETS is ultimately a political struggle where language is used as an exercise of power. Limitations and implications The analysis of the National Party s discourse in this study does not account for the perspective of the audience as the consumer of discursive practice. A more specific identification and evaluation of the audience could add value to this study in terms of assessing the effectiveness of the discourse. Moreover, the scope of this study does not allow for a deeper consideration of the international environmental regulation and policymaking regime. Further study is suggested to include such perspectives so as to provide a better understanding of how New Zealand environmental policymaking process connects to the global context. Finally, this study identified characteristics and strategies in the National Party s discourse of modifying ETS as resembling common corporate response to issues surrounding climate change. The National Party s dealings of the ETS, such as delaying policy implementation and advocating the use of market principles as solutions for environmental issues, represent popular trends in the discourse of corporate social and environmental responsibility. The implication is that in the prevalence of the global economy, relying on government regulation may not yield the results needed for raising environmental standards. Conclusion After three years of rule, the National Party claimed another victory in the 2011 New Zealand general election. In its election policy document on environment and climate change, the National Party maintained its position on a more balanced approach to climate change and declared that its ETS is helping New Zealand do its fair share to reduce emissions, protect our clean, green brand, and help transition to a low- carbon economy (p. 1). The National Party establishes and reinforces a strong identity through its discursive practice in communicating its position on issues regarding the ETS. Through the process of meaning production, the National Party s discourse enables the public to identify with its philosophy and ideology. The discourse of modifying ETS is an exercise of power, through which the National Party strives to maintain its leadership and legitimacy. In employing various discursive strategies, the National Party avoids discussing the risk for New Zealand in delaying environmental policy implementation and provides a strong rationale for modifying the ETS. In such discursive practice, the National Party accomplishes the construction and reproduction of its political identity and ideology by positioning itself as the advocate for promoting economic growth, protecting New Zealand jobs, ANZCA Conference 2012, Adelaide, South Australia Page 8

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