Australia is in energy transition despite a national policy supportive of fossil fuels. Regional and remote areas, however, remain dependent on fossil fuels, including diesel. Renewable energy is becoming accessible for some regional communities, due to renewable energy incentives. This chapter considers the energy transition in Australia through the energy justice lens. It analyses the distribution of benefits and burdens of energy activities upon remote Indigenous communities, and examines energy price impacts and consumer protection reforms in liberalized electricity markets in the south. The analysis examines how social justice needs to inform the energy transition, also recognising that energy injustice cannot be separated from other social ills, such as poverty and discrimination based on factors including class, race, gender, or indigeneity. It concludes that there are significant protections emerging for energy consumers in the national electricity market, but an inequitable distribution of energy benefits and burdens in remote Aboriginal communities.
Challenging dominant sustainability worldviews on the energy transition: Lessons from Indigenous communities in Mexico and a plea for pluriversal technologies
