Environmental Justice in Australia: When the RATS Became IRATE

Environmental justice is a concept used in the United States to describe and analyse environmental politics. That concept also has application outside the country of its origin. In Australia the case study of a dispute between residents, industry and government in the town of Port Kembla provides an example of how environmental justice can be given specific meaning in a local context. Observations of the ‘politics’ of an environmental dispute are made.