Australian Carbon Tax

D I G I TA L METHODS

the australian carbon tax

PART 1 - CONTROVERSY

INTRODUCTION

CONTROVERSY CHOICE

AUSTRALIAN CARBON TAX

RESEARCH QUESTION

PART 2 - PROTOCOL

INTRODUCTION

STEP 1 corpus determination

STEP 2 reading and categorization of articles

STEP 3 reading and counting of comments

STEP 4 semantic extraction and categorization

STEP 5 values consideration

PART 3 - VISUALIZATION

#1 POLARIZATION

#2 VARIETY

#2.1 VARIETY PEAKS

#3 RELEVANCE

#4 PROMINENCE

CASE-STUDY

CONCLUSIONS

5

6

7

8

9

11

12

13

14

14

16

19

21

22

26

30

32

40

43

50

CONTENTS

PART 1controversy

6

INTRODUCTION

Industries reduce pollutionpaying the carbon taxCARBON TAX

ESTABLISHMENTExtra costs passed on to consumers by price increases

Small businesses and householdshave a price incentive to save energy and buy less pollution-intensive goods and services

part of the carbon taxrevenue is used to compensate households for price rises

21 3 4 As demand rises for clean energy efficiency, products and investment becomes more attractive and affordable

5 Carbon intensive industries industries shift toward lower emissions. Growth in cleaner energy and carbonsequestering technology

6 Emissions fall7

COMPENSATION

PRICE RISECARBON TAX

The increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is one of the

main causes of climate change.

CO2 emissions are extremely harmful for both the environment

and the human health: according to statistics of the WHO (World

Health Organization) they directly increase cardiorespiratory

diseases, and increasing temperature they intensify the

proliferation of vector borne and water borne diseases (cholera,

diarrhoea, dengue, malaria).

Several countries (such as Finland, Sweden, UK, New Zealand,

Quebéc State, British Columbia), during the years adopted the

carbon tax as a measure to ease the burden that human-caused

pollution contribute to make. This taxation is a scheme of carbon

pricing with the aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Since

the early stages of the taxation design, it has always been subject

to a big controversy, splitting the public opinion into a side of

carbon tax-pro and another side of carbon tax-cons.

part 1 - controversy

Many economists believe a tax on CO2 is the most efficient

market approach to climate change because it has several

advantages, particularly comparing it to other climate change

oriented measures such as the cap-and–trade scheme:

• Predictable carbon prices

• Easier to understand

• Revenue can be returned via tax cuts and/or used for public

goods;

On the other side, it has some disadvantages:

• there is no limit on the amount of carbon that can be emitted

• tax revenues may end up being wasted in special interest

spending, or priorities that are only

peripheral to climate or sustainability (corn-based ethanol,

nuclear., etc).

7

The field of research has been specified using digital tools that

contribute to a more conscious view of the hot spot of the con-

troversy. What at first has been pointed out is that the pattern

of web research about this topic changed in the past years. The

digital tool Google Trends, show how researches using the query

“Carbon tax”, remained mostly constant in the span 2007-2010,

while increasing dramatically in year 2011 and reaching a peak

in the second half of the year. Comparing the queries “Carbon

tax” and the more general “Climate change” it can be seen that,

quite surprisingly, the first overtook the second in July 2011.

Looking at the bar chart that Google trends provides, it can be

also seen a concentration of researches in Australia and specifi-

cally in the English language.

This analysis has leaded to focus the research on the more spe-

cifical Australian area: in fact, it is in this country that a debate

got heated during 2011 summer.

CONTROVERSY CHOICEpart 1 - controversy

8

AUSTRALIAN CARBON TAXpart 1 - controversy

Australia is a country where climate change has always been a

very significant topic, mostly because, even if very less popula-

ted, it is proportionally the first CO2 pro capital producer in the

world.

In November 2011 the majority of the Australian Parliament,

headed by the PM Julia Gillard (leader of Australian Labor

Party) with the support of the Climate change and energy effi-

ciency minister Greg Combet, approved the law that prices the

CO2 emissions.

Under this scheme, around 500 entities will be required to buy

permits for each tonne of CO2 emitted: This cost will initially be

set at $23, and increase gradually until 2015. Personal income

tax will be reduced and the tax-free threshold increased.

This politic measure generated a huge controversy throughout

the country: most of the population consider this tax an exces-

sive burden on the family outcomes, without a being real help

for the environment. Among the main opposers of the tax, the

large group of climate change deniers, that criticize the concept

of global warming for itself and subsequently consider iniquous

and irrelevant this kind of taxation. Other people consider the

carbon tax as a possible contribution, even if not resolutive, to a

global economy lead towards a better and cleaner planet .

The debate soon turned out to be substantially political, becau-

se one of the point that Miss Gillard’s government programme

focused on, was indeed not to establish the carbon tax. This

change in the game in the matter of climate policies, subsequent

to the alliance of the labors with the greens, has caused a huge

discontent among the population that voted for her. The oppo-

sition, headed by Australian Liberal Party’s leader Mr. Tony

Abbott, sided sharply against the carbon tax, preferring on the

other side the emission trading scheme adopted also in Europe.

9

AUSTRALIAN CARBON TAX RESEARCH QUESTIONpart 1 - controversy

This research focuses on what web users thinks about carbon

tax, specifically considering their response to public information

sources. In the “sharing era” what counts the most is not only

what people say, but particularly how they say it: the prelimina-

ry consideration is that if an idea many times is expressed (in

a sort of binary code) just in a form of positive/negative, more

often it is developed in slight and ambiguous ways.

It is remarkable to consider, in addition to a mere statistic work

based on the count of different opinions, how an idea can be ex-

pressed and supported in its different shades. The attempt is to

experiment a sentimental analysis based of a combined work of

both human judgment and scientific digital tools.

The project questions can be summarized as follows [img 3]

1) What do web users think

about Australian carbon tax?

3)Which are the main topics that

people presents in support of their ideas?

2) How do they express

their opinions?

55 51 32 197 155

11 lin

ks

POLITICAL DEBATE

PART 2protocol

12

INTRODUCTIONpart 2- protocol

In the determination of a functional protocol, the first question to

ask is which is the most suitable place to find materials. According

to the aim of studying users’ point of view, at first they have been

considered several different platforms, such as social networks,

blogs and video-sharing websites, but they didn’t seem to respond

to the basic requirements they had previously been established: cle-

ar argumentation and heterogeneity of opinions, pertinence to the

input-topic and lack of vulgar language.

Subsequently it has been chosen the way of expressing an opinion

that most matched these criteria: the comments on articles found

on online newspapers, both Australians and non Australians. The

major factor that lead the research to focus on these particular field

is that commenting an article most of the time implies a stronger

interest in the topic discussed in the article itself.

GOOGLE\NEWS

DMI HARVESTER

MANUAL CLEANING

CATEGORIZATION

READING

CORPUS DEFINITION

removing links without comments

46 links

1 2 3 4 5political debate

political acts

non-politicalopinions

popoularreactions

extra-AUchronicles

SI NO N.R.

*.txt *.txt

*.html *.html

x

ALCHEMY API*.csv *.csv

MANUAL CLEANING

time range: last 3 monthscorpus size: 200 linkquery: “carbon tax” Australia

DIVISION BY TOPICS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12COUNT RELEVANCE WEIGHT

semantic varietypolarization

relavancepolarization

prominence by topicpolarization

x 5 volte

tools

manual steps

manual process

digital process

13

The first step has been a research on news.google.com, with the

query “Carbon tax” Australia. Results have been filtered con-

sidering a corpus of 200 links, in a time range of the last four

months.

With DMI Harvester, detection of these 200 links, checking

the boxe “Exclude URLs from Google and Youtube”.

This corpus made of 200 links, has been manually checked and

cleaned following these criteria:

1) Exclusion of “Not found” links

2) Exclusion of links that diverted from the main topic

3) Exclusion of the news websites that didn’t allow comments

The corpus has this way been reduced to a total of 46 links.

STEP 1_Corpuspart 2- protocol

1

2

Dislocation of newspaper site in Australia

dailytelegraph.com.autheaustralian.com.au

theherald.com.au

northernstar.com.au

perthnow.com.au

heraldsun.com.au

abc.net.au

sbs.com.au

thechronicle.com.au

adelaidenow.com.ausmh.com.au

news.com.au

fw.farmonline.com.au

Perth

National

Adelaide

MelbourneCanberra

Sidney

Newcastle

BrisbaneGoonellabah

Goulburn

canberratimes.com.au

goulburnpost.com.au

14

Each article has been read and inserted in a specific category.

It has been possible to detect five categories according to the

article typology: political debate, non political opinions, political

acts, popular reactions and extra-australian chronicles. This sub-

division is useful in order to achieve a more complete knowledge

of the controversy dynamics: in fact depending on the input, the

answer may vary considerably.

Each comment has been read and divided according to its ex-

pression of a favourable opinion about carbon tax or a negative

one. It has been introduced a third group of comments that for

their particular characteristics couldn’t fit in the mere judge-

ment of pro/cons: the comments that have been considered not

relevant because they didn’t express a clear and categorizable

opinion, because they diverted from the main topic (in this case,

particularly politic dissertations that didn’t include carbon tax

itself) or simply because they were a noise source.

The result of this preliminary analysis is a spreadsheet that

shows the distribution of the consent among the analysed ca-

tegories. What at first can be seen, on a basis of about 1200

comments, is a sharp predominance of the cons above the pro.

STEP 3_ reading, counting of comments

part 2- protocol

STEP 2_ reading and categorization of articles

part 2- protocol

15

STEP 3_ reading, counting of comments

STEP 2_ reading and categorization of articles

15 55 51 32 197 155 239 176 21 21 3 42 71 17

11 lin

ks

4 link

s

11 lin

ks

5 link

s

5 link

s

NON-POLITICAL OPINIONS POPULAR REACTIONS EXTRA-AU CHRONICLESPOLITICAL DEBATE

SEMANTIC EXTRACTION WITH ALCHEMY API

POLITICAL ACTS

words words

wordswords

56

PRO

209

471 527

344310

CONS

788

NOT RELEVANT

174

16

At this point, each category was divided in the three sub-catego-

ries of pro, cons and not relevant: the last one has however been

removed because it wasn’t made of significant data on which to

build a semantic analysis.

Afterwards, for each category they have been generated two

html files containing respectively all the comments in favour and

against the carbon tax.

Using Alchemy API, it has been obtained a semantic analysis

made by 10 csv files that considered concept, entities and

keywords. The following step required an interpretation of the

raw data the tool had given, and what at first seemed necessary

was to consider all the data got from the extraction, not limi-

ting it only to concept or entities. After a brief cleaning of the

words detected by the tool but completely not relevant, such as

sequences of random letters and numbers or lonely prepositions.

They have also been removed the words “Australia” and “Carbon

tax”, that were contained in each csv because they were part of

the original query. The process developed then into a further

categorization ignoring the one proposed by the tool (that auto-

matically detect some fields such, for example, City, People or

Organizations).

They were generated 12 categories that emerged in a physio-

logical way from the reading of the extracted words, and once

merged them in a color subdivision they have been checked and

cleaned a second time, taking care of removing the equal words.

In addition to these categories it has been added another one

that included all the words that, even if pertinent to the carbon

tax controversy, weren’t clearly attributable to one of the twelve

previously determined. The purpose of this additional category

is to show how in a pattern of similar topics what can make the

difference is indeed the word that “doesn’t fit in”.

STEP 4_ semantic extraction and categorization part 2- protocol

17

taxesCarbon tax and other taxation in Australia or not

majority partyPrime Minister Giulia Gillard, Labour Party and all the majority line-up

opposition partyOpposition leader Tony Abbott, Liberal Party all the minority line-up

geographical referencesCities and Countries in Australia and all over the world

regulationProtocols (like Kyoto), tradings, carbon prices regulations

climate referencesAll about climate change, global warming and the scientific references

fossil fuelsCarbon fossil fuels, like coal, fuel and natural gas

pollutant Emissions of pollutant gases, like Co2 emission

energiesAlternative or clean energies

moneyMicro economics issues, family income, bills, wage

businessMacro economics issues, enterprises, multinationals company

istitutionsState institutions or non governative organizations

18

Raw .csv data, uncleaned

Cleaned and categorized data

19

Typically, an Alchemy analysis provides three different measu-

res that can be used to visualize a controversy: count, (only for

“entities”) relevance and the total count of the words shown in

the csv, that give an idea of the semantic variety in the analysed

category. For this research they have been used relevance and

words count, used alone or weighted. The weighting is a parti-

cularly important factor because one of the main purposes of

the analysis is to compare words and topics amongst the same

category but also between different categories: in order to do it,

it is necessary to convert all the values considered in a compa-

rable base, in this case 100. This way the absolute value become

relative and the comparison is possibile.

The weighting process starts from the idea that, if both count

and relevance can express a lot if considered individually, they

have a greater visualizing potential if joined to express a more

reliable value.

STEP 5_ value considerationpart 2- protocol

count1° value

2° value

3° valueweight

count : tot count = x : 100

count * 100

use the percentage to comparecounts between different topics

relevance

always use the averageof relevance of topics relevance

try to weighting percentage and average in order to estimate topics prominence

tot count

▼

percentage100 * average( )

0,49

2267

5

0,34

8631 0,

4279

0175

0,31

8323

67

0,27

5667

5

PART 3visualization

22

In the attempt to perceive the predominant topics in the pro-

side and in the cons-side, it has been visualized the polarization

graph: in these three graphs it is expressed the polarization of the

twelve topics (plus the discriminant category) between the two

poles of pro and cons. The closeness of a topic to one of the two

vertical axes, reflects the real closeness to the correspondent side.

They have been proposed three versions (prominence, relevan-

ce, word count) to allow a comparison and an observation of the

main patterns.

#1 POLARIZATION part 3- visualization

23

count

95

70

30

95

70

30

40

50

110

0 0

110

taxesgeographic references

clean energy

institutions

majority party

moneyopposition partyregulation

discriminate

pollutants

fossil fuels business

climate references

PRO CONS

#1 POLARIZATION

Count: this value express how many words belong to each topic.

The highest value of each topic is used to set the position

on the Y axe.

1

24

relevance

PRO CONS

0,95

0,70

0,30

0,50

0,95

0,70

0,30

0,50

clean energy

pollutants

1

0 0

1

taxes

climate references

regulationfossil fuels

money

geographic references

opposition partymajority party

discriminate

business

Relevance: this value consider the relevance of each word ex-

tract with Alchemy. The highest value of each topic is used to

set the position on the Y axe.

2

25

95

70

30

95

70

30

5050

110

0 0

110

discriminate

PRO CONS

Prominence: the value used in this graph considers the weighting

of both relevance and count. The highest value of each topic is

used to set the position on the Y axe .

3

prominence

26

#2 SEMANTIC VARIETY part 3- visualization

The two graphs show the whole semantic corpus extracted with

Alchemy after the operation of checking and cleaning, and it

is clearly visible the subdivision in 12 different categories.

The aim of these visualizations is to point out the semantic va-

riability for each category. Linking the words that are equal in

different categories clearly shows how, for different topics, users

can express their ideas in a less heterogeneous way. It can be

seen a so called “reticulate of variability”: more links correspond

to a smaller vocabulary used to express the same concept. This

is particularly significant in order to have a clear and complete

view on users’ habits and to understand which are the topics

that are closer to the person who’s speaking. As a matter of fact,

topics more “official” such as politics or climate change related

have a smaller semantic variations, whilst hotter topics such as

money and household do actually have a more prominent se-

mantic variability

Obama

emissions trading

Tony Abbott

emission standard

Liberal policy

Climate change

Turnbull

Global warming

prime minister Julia Gillard

LiberalsTony Abbott

national party

Mr No

greens

Bre’r Abbott

Labor party

entire payroll tax

socialistGillard government

domestic carbon tax

Howard government

coal tax

Howard

a carbon tax

Labor party

marketcoal industry

Miss GillardWestern Europe

coal exportersmining australian coal

JapanNorth America

australian coal exports

UKRupert Murdochclean energy nance

SingaporeMelbourne

renewablenuclear power

India

clean energy

China

energy sources

carbon footprint

USA

capita carbon emissionlowest carbon dioxide

Wstern Australia Europe

carbon pollution

South Australia

pollutiongreenhouse gas

Victoria

fuel emission

China total domestic emissions

carbon dioxidelittle obfuscation

Co2 production coal seam gas

honourable thingcompetitive advantage

carbon emission

global

GHG carbon dioxide

guilty conciences

emission reduction strategy

extensive public consultation

industrial revolution

regulation pricing carbon

trading scheme

good thing

carbon price

negligible bene tplanet

coal ban treaty

cleaner

emission tradingKyoto protocol

tsunamienergy bills

brown dirty coalaustralian coal supply

UKGillard government

chinese coal

life insurance

fuel coal plant capacity

biggest carbon tax

pigovian tax

pollution belching coal

australian coal

sulpher oxidecarbon dioxide

CNG coal plants

medicare threshold

medicare

natural gascoal mining

ATI

fossil fuel

colder climate

coal

climate science

prime minister

global warming

state government

brown coal

dirtiest p

ower station

clown act

long time

carbon

Abraham Lincoln

Murdoch media

massive mining companies

Jimmy Carter

conservative radio media

Hazelwood

Murdoch

Tea Party

trading co

ncept

federal parliament

carbon

price

libertarian cato insitute

emiss

ion tra

ding

energy

energy efciency

Kyoto P

rotoco

l

energ

y ef cie

nt

University od Colorado

low em

ission

tech

nolog

y

Guy Pearce

greate

st ren

ewab

le reso

urces

Gillard government

Mc Mansion

small

er cle

an ge

nerat

ors

bipart

isan s

uppo

rt

fossil fuels

clean energy

outst

andin

g exam

ple

powe

rful e

nemies

Israel

little

pigs

Melbourne

bette

r Aus

tralia

climate change

signi

cant

displa

y

global warming

carbon footprint

utter

nons

ense

Murdo

ch-A

bbott

spin

greenhouse gas emission

treme

ndou

s boo

m

carbon dioxide

carbon pricing

bulls

hit po

litics

Kyoto Protocol

ignora

nt vi

ctims

low carbon economy

large

dista

nces

nake

d part

isan

emission trading

baby

boom

ers

Howard

high c

ertain

ty

Turnbulljust a one trick pony

don’t

belie

velon

g term

think

ing

Christopher Pyne

Tony Abbott

don’t

offer

alter

nativ

es

high tax bracket

spoil

t whit

e tras

hwe

althie

s cou

ntrie

s

huge tax cut

boss

es

tax free threshold

electr

icity

tax

world

progressive taxhigher income

oxyg

enpe

nsion

incre

ases

minimum wagewage

clima

te ch

ange

Glob

al wa

rming

self funded retirees

capit

a car

bon e

miss

ion

ination rate

stimulous payments

Carb

on di

oxide

BOM

addit

ion fo

ssil f

uels

Natu

ral g

as

NOAAIPCC

clean

energ

y

NASA

gas t

urbin

eEn

ergy s

ource

s

national civic council

carb

on tr

ading

legis

lation

medicareClean Energy Future

IR po

licy

ETS

hard work

gas t

urbin

e bus

iness

anti carbon people

proti

t marg

ins

future generationsmanic laughs

supe

r pro

tsIra

q

long runcommon usage

Afgh

anist

an

news limited

Sydn

eyDu

bai

special bent

Europ

e

literary warnings

USA

mass dupability

supe

r pro

ts tax

true hijackingolocaust deniers

actio

n paln

tax

tricky attempt

walth r

edist

ributi

on ta

x

carbo

n tax

deba

te

societysanctimonious hypocricy

tax cu

tstax

private school

Rudd

welfarelong term support

Gregg C

ombet

direct actions

labor

govern

ment

prime m

inister

Bob HawkinsBrad Collis

Australia

n labor p

arty

government

Sheeze

Coalition government

Samuelson

right w

ing ratbags

UNIoakeshott

good opposition leader

liberal party sta

nds

Michael Cunningham

Abbott stra

tegy

carbon

election campaign Abbott

business

small tax

right wing nutters

right wing

carbon tax comment

minerals councils

Tony Abbott comedy

Arthur Sinodinos

climate change commission

Reith

Clean energy future

Tony Abbott

clean energy bill

clean energy

minority government

Liberal party of Australia

energy sources

pure beleaguered voting

employments opportunities

sceptics

insurance premiums

hip pocket

free trade

direct action

global temperature

climate disasters

desperate man

climate change

pure ction

Global warming

desperate measures

policy

Kyoto protocol

cap-and-trade scheme

marines

wealth redistribution

carbon pricing laws

Youtube

ranging carbon price

Bogan

carbon pricing

POLITICAL DEBATE

POLITICAL ACTS

NON POLITICAL OPINIONS

POPULAR REACTIONS

E

XTRA

-AU CH

RONI

CLES

61 words

51 words

66 words

64 words

68

words

13

13

7

6

6

3 3

3 2 2 2 1 24

4 4

4

3

3 3 2 2 1 1 1

13

9

8

6

6 6

4 3

3 3 2 1 1

26

7 6 5 5 4

2 2 1

1 1 1

14

13

7

6

6

5

6

4

4

2

1

PRO

Obama

emissions trading

Tony Abbott

emission standard

Liberal policy

Climate change

Turnbull

Global warming


LiberalsTony Abbott

national party

Mr No

greens

Bre’r Abbott

Labor party

entire payroll tax


domestic carbon tax

Howard government

coal tax

Howard

a carbon tax

Labor party

marketcoal industry



JapanNorth America



SingaporeMelbourne


India

clean energy

China

energy sources

carbon footprint

USA



carbon pollution

South Australia


Victoria

fuel emission





carbon emission

global

GHG carbon dioxide

guilty conciences





trading scheme

good thing

carbon price


coal ban treaty

cleaner


tsunamienergy bills



chinese coal

life insurance


biggest carbon tax

pigovian tax


australian coal


CNG coal plants

medicare threshold

medicare


ATI

fossil fuel

colder climate

coal

climate science

prime minister

global warming

state government

brown coal

dirtiest p

ower station

clown act

long time

carbon

Abraham Lincoln

Murdoch media


Jimmy Carter


Hazelwood

Murdoch

Tea Party

trading co

ncept

federal parliament

carbon

price


emiss

ion tra

ding

energy

energy efciency

Kyoto P

rotoco

l

energ

y ef cie

nt


low em

ission

tech

nolog

y

Guy Pearce

greate

st ren

ewab

le reso

urces

Gillard government

Mc Mansion

small

er cle

an ge

nerat

ors

bipart

isan s

uppo

rt

fossil fuels

clean energy

outst

andin

g exam

ple

powe

rful e

nemies

Israel

little

pigs

Melbourne

bette

r Aus

tralia

climate change

signi

cant

displa

y

global warming

carbon footprint

utter

nons

ense

Murdo

ch-A

bbott

spin


treme

ndou

s boo

m

carbon dioxide

carbon pricing

bulls

hit po

litics

Kyoto Protocol

ignora

nt vi

ctims

low carbon economy

large

dista

nces

nake

d part

isan

emission trading

baby

boom

ers

Howard

high c

ertain

ty


don’t

belie

velon

g term

think

ing

Christopher Pyne

Tony Abbott

don’t

offer

alter

nativ

es

high tax bracket

spoil

t whit

e tras

hwe

althie

s cou

ntrie

s

huge tax cut

boss

es

tax free threshold

electr

icity

tax

world


oxyg

enpe

nsion

incre

ases

minimum wagewage

clima

te ch

ange

Glob

al wa

rming


capit

a car

bon e

miss

ion

ination rate

stimulous payments

Carb

on di

oxide

BOM

addit

ion fo

ssil f

uels

Natu

ral g

as

NOAAIPCC

clean

energ

y

NASA

gas t

urbin

eEn

ergy s

ource

s


carb

on tr

ading

legis

lation


IR po

licy

ETS

hard work

gas t

urbin

e bus

iness

anti carbon people

proti

t marg

ins


supe

r pro

tsIra

q


Afgh

anist

an

news limited

Sydn

eyDu

bai

special bent

Europ

e

literary warnings

USA

mass dupability

supe

r pro

ts tax


actio

n paln

tax

tricky attempt

walth r

edist

ributi

on ta

x

carbo

n tax

deba

te


tax cu

tstax

private school

Rudd


Gregg C

ombet

direct actions

labor

govern

ment

prime m

inister


Australia

n labor p

arty

government

Sheeze


Samuelson

right w

ing ratbags

UNIoakeshott


liberal party sta

nds

Michael Cunningham

Abbott stra

tegy

carbon


business

small tax

right wing nutters

right wing

carbon tax comment

minerals councils

Tony Abbott comedy

Arthur Sinodinos


Reith

Clean energy future

Tony Abbott

clean energy bill

clean energy

minority government


energy sources



sceptics

insurance premiums

hip pocket

free trade

direct action

global temperature

climate disasters

desperate man

climate change

pure ction

Global warming

desperate measures

policy

Kyoto protocol


marines


carbon pricing laws

Youtube


Bogan

carbon pricing

POLITICAL DEBATE

POLITICAL ACTS


POPULAR REACTIONS

E

XTRA

-AU CH

RONI

CLES

61 words

51 words

66 words

64 words

68

words

13

13

7

6

6

3 3

3 2 2 2 1 24

4 4

4

3

3 3 2 2 1 1 1

13

9

8

6

6 6

4 3

3 3 2 1 1

26

7 6 5 5 4

2 2 1

1 1 1

14

13

7

6

6

5

6

4

4

2

1

Obama

emissions trading

Tony Abbott

emission standard

Liberal policy

Climate change

Turnbull

Global warming


LiberalsTony Abbott

national party

Mr No

greens

Bre’r Abbott

Labor party

entire payroll tax


domestic carbon tax

Howard government

coal tax

Howard

a carbon tax

Labor party

marketcoal industry



JapanNorth America



SingaporeMelbourne


India

clean energy

China

energy sources

carbon footprint

USA



carbon pollution

South Australia


Victoria

fuel emission





carbon emission

global

GHG carbon dioxide

guilty conciences





trading scheme

good thing

carbon price


coal ban treaty

cleaner


tsunamienergy bills



chinese coal

life insurance


biggest carbon tax

pigovian tax


australian coal


CNG coal plants

medicare threshold

medicare


ATI

fossil fuel

colder climate

coal

climate science

prime minister

global warming

state government

brown coal

dirtiest p

ower station

clown act

long time

carbon

Abraham Lincoln

Murdoch media


Jimmy Carter


Hazelwood

Murdoch

Tea Party

trading co

ncept

federal parliament

carbon

price


emiss

ion tra

ding

energy

energy efciency

Kyoto P

rotoco

l

energ

y ef cie

nt


low em

ission

tech

nolog

y

Guy Pearce

greate

st ren

ewab

le reso

urces

Gillard government

Mc Mansion

small

er cle

an ge

nerat

ors

bipart

isan s

uppo

rt

fossil fuels

clean energy

outst

andin

g exam

ple

powe

rful e

nemies

Israel

little

pigs

Melbourne

bette

r Aus

tralia

climate change

signi

cant

displa

y

global warming

carbon footprint

utter

nons

ense

Murdo

ch-A

bbott

spin


treme

ndou

s boo

m

carbon dioxide

carbon pricing

bulls

hit po

litics

Kyoto Protocol

ignora

nt vi

ctims

low carbon economy

large

dista

nces

nake

d part

isan

emission trading

baby

boom

ers

Howard

high c

ertain

ty


don’t

belie

velon

g term

think

ing

Christopher Pyne

Tony Abbott

don’t

offer

alter

nativ

es

high tax bracket

spoil

t whit

e tras

hwe

althie

s cou

ntrie

s

huge tax cut

boss

es

tax free threshold

electr

icity

tax

world


oxyg

enpe

nsion

incre

ases

minimum wagewage

clima

te ch

ange

Glob

al wa

rming


capit

a car

bon e

miss

ion

ination rate

stimulous payments

Carb

on di

oxide

BOM

addit

ion fo

ssil f

uels

Natu

ral g

as

NOAAIPCC

clean

energ

y

NASA

gas t

urbin

eEn

ergy s

ource

s


carb

on tr

ading

legis

lation


IR po

licy

ETS

hard work

gas t

urbin

e bus

iness

anti carbon people

proti

t marg

ins


supe

r pro

tsIra

q


Afgh

anist

an

news limited

Sydn

eyDu

bai

special bent

Europ

e

literary warnings

USA

mass dupability

supe

r pro

ts tax


actio

n paln

tax

tricky attempt

walth r

edist

ributi

on ta

x

carbo

n tax

deba

te


tax cu

tstax

private school

Rudd


Gregg C

ombet

direct actions

labor

govern

ment

prime m

inister


Australia

n labor p

arty

government

Sheeze


Samuelson

right w

ing ratbags

UNIoakeshott


liberal party sta

nds

Michael Cunningham

Abbott stra

tegy

carbon


business

small tax

right wing nutters

right wing

carbon tax comment

minerals councils

Tony Abbott comedy

Arthur Sinodinos


Reith

Clean energy future

Tony Abbott

clean energy bill

clean energy

minority government


energy sources



sceptics

insurance premiums

hip pocket

free trade

direct action

global temperature

climate disasters

desperate man

climate change

pure ction

Global warming

desperate measures

policy

Kyoto protocol


marines


carbon pricing laws

Youtube


Bogan

carbon pricing

POLITICAL DEBATE

POLITICAL ACTS


POPULAR REACTIONS

E

XTRA

-AU CH

RONI

CLES

61 words

51 words

66 words

64 words

68

words

13

13

7

6

6

3 3

3 2 2 2 1 24

4 4

4

3

3 3 2 2 1 1 1

13

9

8

6

6 6

4 3

3 3 2 1 1

26

7 6 5 5 4

2 2 1

1 1 1

14

13

7

6

6

5

6

4

4

2

1

28

UN

Gillard partyPaul Keating

top t

en po

lluter

s

Labor government

tax bi

g bus

iness

Juliar

busin

ess

gree

nhou

se ga

s emi

ssion

s

ALPGillard government

carb

on em

ission

Julia Gillard

carb

on di

oxide

gree

nhou

se ga

s

extremist

met ic

e melt

ing


globa

l watm

ing

my wife

sea l

evel

chronic diseasetreasury

clima

te ch

ange

emiss

ion st

anda

rd

The GFCRoss Garnaut

carb

on pr

icing

Wall Street Journal

carb

on cr

edit

federal government

emiss

ion tr

ading

Kyoto

proto

col

Their polluting waysbills

carbo

n trad

emi

norit

y part

y

single income family

LNP p

arty

lower income earnerspocket

wish

ful th

inking

Tony

higher income earners

libera

ls

lower income

Mr. N

oJo

e How

ard

high incomesingle income

Joe H

ocke

y

wage

libera

l gove

rnmen

t

oppo

sition

lead

er

low income

Tony

Aboo

t

income earnerspointless tax

point

less c

arbon

tax

carbo

n tax

schem

es

tax ratenew tax

mining

supe

r tax

mining

tax

stupid tax

tax

tax dollarstax system

co2 ta

x fraud

carbon tax

nonsense

income taxcarbon dioxide tax

deceitfu

l carbon tax

unwanted carbon tax

tax cuts

ridiculous c

arbon tax

tax payers

carbin tax betra

yal

taxationmethane

Juliarlabor government

climate change

Julia Gillard

global warming

patheticgovernment

IMF

taxobsessedgovernment

UNPauline Hanson

worstgovernment

inept government

Tony Abbott

the current prime minister

low carbon technologies

clean energy

coalition greatest strenghth

Australian labor party

wind turbines

business

Brazil

comcars

California

Charlton

industry

oil companies

Northern England

co2 emissions

AsiaIndia

greenhouse gas emissions

greenhouse gas

Goulburne

Japan

carbon dioxide

carbon credits

Canada

carbon price

Melbourne

emission standard

Chinahypocrites

Kyoto protocol

bad policies

emission trading

Indonesia

maternity leave

fools

China

legislation

Malesia

stupid

Canberra

show

GreeceEurope

massive debts

government sysrem

USAIndia

black holes

ppolicies

Julia Gillard

senate

Kevin

rainbow government

aussie government

labor government

treasuryObama

labor partyBob Brown

enough courage

greens

Canadian government

left government

IPCCco2 emissions

Comrad-Gillard

greenhouse gas

long timeplanet

carbon dioxidecivialian nuclear power

power station

nuclear plants

policydepression

nuclear power

Obama

Robert ReichJulia Gillard pentagon

a liar and turncoat

senate

net ice melt

parliament house

climate change

treasury

global warming

carbon tax asco

natural gas

iniquous carbon taxidiotic carbon tax

efcient coal plants fossil fuels

carbon tax nonsense

coal

highest carbon tax

extra household cost

wide carbon taxGST tax

extra household

taxes

fuel cost

so-called carbon tax

extra household expenses

smaller carbon tax

tonne tax income tax

carbon tax bungle

green tax

pointless carbon tax

carbon tax bill

new taxmining tax

higher taxes commercial nuclear power

methane gascarbon credit

commercial nuclear reactors

emission trading

european industryindustry

petrol companiesstanding orders

steel makers

super pro t

BG group

South Africa

MW nuclear plants

Spain

Origin EnergyQantas

Nigeria

Virgin Australia

USASidney

Michigan

Asia majors

Sidney

Africa

Ohio UK

price increaseretirement pensions

Asia

retirement options

India vancouver

higher costs

Curtis island

tax payers money

GDP

Wyoming

work choice

Europe USA

Joe Hockey

the Chinese

liberal government

carbon indulgies

LNP decision

cycling gravity variaton

minority government

Tony Abbott

poor fool voters

extra warming energy

Mel Brough

John Howard

prime minister

extra

LNP party

carbon tax component

trained workers

Elite

labor tax h

ike

carbon tax lie

Steven Levitt

Al Gore

carbon tax highlights

Mister Revkin

income tax

scam tax

Matt Ridley

Navy

ridicu

lous ta

x

mining

tax

Robert Reich

climate change

taxtax ob

sessed

gover

nmen

t

global warming

carbon emission

Prime M

iniste

r

Bob C

arr

carbon dioxide

CSIRO

Bob H

awke

social

ist

IPCC medicare

corru

pted g

overnm

ent

Adam

Band

t

IPCC report

labor

gover

nmen

t

carbon credit

Gillar

d gov

ernmen

t

ETS Kyoto protocol

Bob B

rown

emission trading

Mr. J

enkin

s

Mr.No

Gillar

d/Brow

n gov

ernme

nt

Peter Costello

Julia

Gilla

rd

Malcolm Turnbull

Kevin

Rudd

liberals

austr

alian

labo

r part

y

Tony Abbott

highe

st of

ce

big polluters

polit

ical p

rincip

le

big business

rocke

t scie

nce

unsa

vour

y dea

l

businessQantas

cons

iderab

le inc

rease

three eco-crimilals

moral

princ

iple

top ten polluters

annu

um in

creas

e

dubio

us re

putat

ion

Hong KongDarwin

manip

ulativ

e man

oeuv

ering

legisl

ation

Greece

intern

ation

al me

asur

e

Brazil

cens

ure m

otion

India

Alan

Joyc

e

Europe

electr

icity

Melbourne

the b

esr t

hing

Sidney

the p

arlia

ment

greens government

16

11

11

11

10

6

4

4 3 1 16

15

9

8

7

7

3 2 1

14

10

9

8

5

4 4

3 2 2 2 1

11

11

10

8 8 6 5

4

4

2 2

14

13

9

5

4

4 3

3

3

3

1

79 words

69 words

64 words

70 words

62 w

ords

POLITICAL DEBATE

POLIT ICAL ACTS


POPULAR REACTIONS

EX

TRA-AU

CHRO

NICLE

S

CONS

29

UN

Gillard partyPaul Keating

top t

en po

lluter

sLabor government

tax bi

g bus

iness

Juliar

busin

ess

gree

nhou

se ga

s emi

ssion

s

ALPGillard government

carb

on em

ission

Julia Gillardca

rbon

diox

idegr

eenh

ouse

gas

extremist

met ic

e melt

ing


globa

l watm

ing

my wife

sea l

evel

chronic diseasetreasury

clima

te ch

ange

emiss

ion st

anda

rd

The GFCRoss Garnaut

carb

on pr

icing

Wall Street Journalca

rbon

cred

it

federal governmentem

ission

trad

ingKy

oto pr

otoco

l

Their polluting waysbills

carbo

n trad

emi

norit

y part

y

single income familyLN

P part

y

lower income earnerspocket

wish

ful th

inking

Tony

higher income earnerslib

erals

lower incomeMr

. No

Joe H

oward

high incomesingle income

Joe H

ocke

y

wagelib

eral g

overnm

ent

oppo

sition

lead

er

low incomeTo

ny Ab

oot

income earnerspointless tax

point

less c

arbon

tax

carbo

n tax

schem

es

tax ratenew tax

mining

supe

r tax

mining

tax

stupid taxtax

tax dollarstax system

co2 ta

x fraud

carbon tax

nonsense

income taxcarbon dioxide tax

deceitfu

l carbon tax

unwanted carbon tax

tax cutsrid

iculous carbon tax

tax payerscarbin tax b

etrayal

taxationmethane


climate changeJulia Gilla

rd

global warming

patheticgovernment

IMF

taxobsessedgovernment

UNPauline Hanson

worstgovernment

inept government

Tony Abbott

the current prime minister

low carbon technologies

clean energy

coalition greatest strenghth


wind turbines

business

Brazilcomcars

California

Charlton

industry

oil companies

Northern England

co2 emissions

AsiaIndia

greenhouse gas emissions

greenhouse gas

Goulburne

Japancarbon dioxide

carbon credits

Canadacarbon price

Melbourneemission standard

Chinahypocrites

Kyoto protocol

bad policiesemission trading

Indonesia

maternity leave

foolsChina

legislationMalesia

stupidCanberra

showGreece

Europemassive debts

government sysremUSAIndia

black holes

ppoliciesJulia Gillard

senateKevin

rainbow governmentaussie government

labor government

treasuryObama

labor partyBob Brown

enough couragegreens

Canadian governmentleft government

IPCCco2 emissions

Comrad-Gillard

greenhouse gaslong timeplanet

carbon dioxidecivialian nuclear power

power station

nuclear plantspolicydepression

nuclear powerObama

Robert ReichJulia Gillard pentagon

a liar and turncoatsenate

net ice meltparliament house

climate changetreasury

global warmingcarbon tax asco

natural gasiniquous carbon taxidiotic carbon tax

efcient coal plants fossil fuelscarbon tax nonsense

coalhighest carbon tax

extra household cost

wide carbon taxGST taxextra household

taxesfuel cost

so-called carbon taxextra household expenses

smaller carbon taxtonne tax income tax

carbon tax bunglegreen tax

pointless carbon taxcarbon tax bill

new taxmining taxhigher taxes commercial nuclear power

methane gascarbon creditcommercial nuclear reactors

emission tradingeuropean industry

industry

petrol companiesstanding orders

steel makerssuper pro t

BG groupSouth Africa

MW nuclear plants

SpainOrigin Energy

Qantas

NigeriaVirgin Australia

USASidneyMichigan

Asia majorsSidney

AfricaOhio UK

price increaseretirement pensions

Asiaretirement options

India vancouver

higher costsCurtis island

tax payers money

GDPWyoming

work choiceEurope USA

Joe Hockeythe Chinese

liberal government

carbon indulgies

LNP decisioncycling gravity variaton

minority government

Tony Abbottpoor fool voters

extra warming energy

Mel Brough

John Howardprime minister

extra

LNP party

carbon tax component

trained workers

Elite

labor tax h

ike

carbon tax lie

Steven Levitt

Al Gore

carbon tax highlights

Mister Revkin

income tax

scam taxMatt Ridley

Navy

ridicu

lous ta

x

mining

tax

Robert Reich

climate change

taxtax ob

sessed

gover

nmen

t

global warming

carbon emission

Prime M

iniste

r

Bob C

arrcarbon dioxide

CSIRO

Bob H

awke

social

istIPCC medicare

corru

pted g

overnm

ent

Adam

Band

tIPCC report

labor

gover

nmen

tcarbon credit

Gillar

d gov

ernmen

tETS

Kyoto protocol

Bob B

rown

emission trading

Mr. J

enkin

sMr.No

Gillar

d/Brow

n gov

ernme

nt

Peter Costello

Julia

Gilla

rdMalcolm Turnbull

Kevin

Rudd

liberals

austr

alian

labo

r part

yTony Abbott

highe

st of

cebig polluters

polit

ical p

rincip

lebig business

rocke

t scie

nce

unsa

vour

y dea

lbusinessQantas

cons

iderab

le inc

rease

three eco-crimilals

moral

princ

iple

top ten polluters

annu

um in

creas

e

dubio

us re

putat

ionHong KongDarwin

manip

ulativ

e man

oeuv

ering

legisl

ation

Greece

intern

ation

al me

asur

eBrazil

cens

ure m

otion

India

Alan

Joyc

e

Europe

electr

icity

Melbourne

the b

esr t

hing

Sidney

the p

arlia

ment

greens government

16

11

11

11

10

6

4

4 3 1 16

15

9

8

7

7

3 2 1

14

10

9

8

5

4 4

3 2 2 2 1

11

11

10

8 8 6 5

4

4

2 2

14

13

9

5

4

4 3

3

3

3

1

79 words

69 words

64 words

70 words

62 w

ords

POLITICAL DEBATE

POLIT ICAL ACTS


POPULAR REACTIONS

EXTR

A-AU CH

RONIC

LES

30

This visualization is an integration of the previous one, in fact

it provides a direct comparison between the two poles pro and

cons, showing how the same topic can have a more considerable

semantic variability in a pole more than in the other. It can also

be easily seen a direct comparison between different topic in

the same pole.

#3 SEMANTIC PEAKSpart 3- visualization

PRO

CONS

31

32

These graphs show, for each category, the fluctuation of relevan-

ce average of the topics, directly comparing pro and cons. The

goal is to understand in which side the words extracted in the

semantic analysis are more or less relevant.

#4 RELEVANCEpart 3- visualization

political debate

01

0,688

954 0,7

6568

72

0,549

5436

3

0,248

339

0,473

0787

2

0,6130

989

0,607

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3

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9223

0,487

23133

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2

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2751

7

0,358

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6

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3

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5

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04

0,166

6451

4

0,492

2675

0,348

631 0,4

2790

175

0,318

3236

7

0,275

6675

The second visualization points out categories inside pro and in-

side cons, in order to allow, varying the research question, the

choice of the most suitable variables..

33

popular reactions

10

0,290

4652

0,194

7815

0,324

357

0,575

914

0,525

474

0,203

3963

8

0,607

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39

0,6171

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3

34

extra-Au chronicles

0,262

268

0,308

001

0,436

4635

6

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1973

3

0,466

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political acts

0,338

4878

3

01

35

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2

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1973

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political acts

0,338

4878

3

01

non-political opinions0

1

0,601

539

0,337

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4

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129

0,554

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5

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36

popu

lar re

actio

n

polit

ical a

cts

extra

-Au c

hron

icles

non-

polit

ical o

pinion

polit

ical d

ebate

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0,619

9346

7

0,4177

01 0,488

9861

3

0,427

90175

0,404

39

0,390

7742

5 0,384

40317

0,327

777

0,318

3236

7

0,6171

834

0,551

673

0,4218

3871

0,4136

8663

0,275

6675

relevance PRO

01

37

popu

lar re

actio

n

polit

ical a

cts

extra

-Au c

hron

icles

non-

polit

ical o

pinion

polit

ical d

ebate

0,700

269

0,367

9915

0,262

268

0,298

21938 0,3

7627

517 0,4

7842

825

0,308

001

0,320

386

0,358

6763

6

0,355

6295

0,505

1973

3

0,436

4635

6

0,987

159

0,248

482 0,3

5172

771

0,354

4483

3

0,304

69

0,335

079

0,466

21325

0,378

0886

0,336

3876

7

0,267

0643

3

0,346

8946

5 0,475

8235

8

0,254

21021

0,3172

3343

0,261

0781

5

0,4215

1733

0,564

4705

0,5110

175

0,310

12

0,4126

04

0,406

082

0,3119

55

0,223

51122 0,2

9918

2

0,166

6451

4

0,370

9126

0,537

889

0,394

9657

5

0,425

5355 0,4

9226

75

0,338

4878

3 0,338

4878

3

0,293

7433

3

0,348

631

0,454

1498

0,619

9346

7

0,4177

01 0,488

9861

3

0,427

90175

0,404

39

0,390

7742

5 0,384

40317

0,327

777

0,318

3236

7

0,6171

834

0,551

673

0,4218

3871

0,4136

8663

0,275

6675

relevance PRO

01

38

popu

lar re

actio

n

polit

ical a

cts

extra

-Au c

hron

icles

non-

polit

ical o

pinion

polit

ical d

ebate

0,290

4652 0,3

8833

072

0,473

122

0,337

7226

4

0,549

5436

3

0,177

3812

0,295

2685

4

0,165

2945

0,462

5528

2

0,228

636

0,487

9543

3 0,601

539

0,194

7815

0,323

406

0,199

354

0,248

339

0,589

291

0,452

245

0,324

357

0,324

357

0,376

2500

7

0,334

4389

0,473

0787

2 0,575

914

0,370

5923

relevance CONS

01

39

0,370

5923 0,4

3852

38

0,602

129

0,6130

989

0,203

3963

8

0,238

675

0,359

1865

8

0,279

3702

0,3113

9223

0,607

876

0,520

7592

5

0,583

0877

5 0,688

954

0,5125

9958

0,338

12038 0,4

2751

5 0,525

474

0,505

9823

3

0,554

0624

0,607

2623

3

0,368

9701

7

0,333

4165

0,366

5256

7

0,401

4377

5 0,487

23133

0,539

7898

0,476

366

0,448

352

0,633

552

0,765

6872

#5 PROMINENCE part 3- visualization

The importance of this graph is its being summarizing and dou-

ble-readable. In fact, it allows a multiple comparison between

the two poles pro and cons, topics and categories. If in the cen-

tral bar it can be found the overall flows of topic, the polarity on

the sides allows to understand how these flows are divided and,

at the same time, to also have a singular vision inside the topics

of one specific category, made more easily understandable with

bar charts. This way, it can be considered a summary and a dee-

pening of the previous visualizations. Is goal is to express the va-

lue of “prominence” of the topics inside categories, weightening

word count and relevance.

8,113,155,6

5,65,2

38,5140,9

13,4

1515,313,862,5

29,7

36,6

20,8

223,9

83,427,852,3

16,4

12,7

36,3

6,1

19,7

43,2

10,9

27,1

7,2

15,4

40,6

32,9

9,4

22,1

30,1

76,4

37,4

29,1

9,1

5,7

31,7

8,6

15,7

6,3

5

30,6

28,3

13,6

38,6

37,6

43,3

43,4

14

14,2

37

36,5

12,3

16,1

17,4

58

21,1

34,8

3,1

95,8

8,352,3

9,421,26,252,3

3,375,2

35,4

31,528,55,285

47,3

23,2

34,9

24,2

75,3

62,6

33,2

47,5

84,4

22,9

69,8

90,5

131,7

48,3

46,8

12,7

5,2

34,2

80,6

34,3

27,6

12,3

31,6

25,1

19,3

53,2

38,8

30,8

49,5

13,8

7,2

23,1

15

17,3

24,5

26,2

17,4

36,4

25,2

polit

ical d

ebat

epo

pular

reac

tion

polit

ical a

ctno

n-po

litica

l opin

ions

extra

-au ch

ronic

les

PRO

CONS

polit

ical d

ebat

epo

pular

reac

tion

polit

ical a

ctno

n-po

litica

l opin

ions

extra

-au ch

ronic

les

8,113,155,6

5,65,2

38,5140,9

13,4

1515,313,862,5

29,7

36,6

20,8

223,9

83,427,852,3

16,4

12,7

36,3

6,1

19,7

43,2

10,9

27,1

7,2

15,4

40,6

32,9

9,4

22,1

30,1

76,4

37,4

29,1

9,1

5,7

31,7

8,6

15,7

6,3

5

30,6

28,3

13,6

38,6

37,6

43,3

43,4

14

14,2

37

36,5

12,3

16,1

17,4

58

21,1

34,8

3,1

95,8

8,352,3

9,421,26,252,3

3,375,2

35,4

31,528,55,285

47,3

23,2

34,9

24,2

75,3

62,6

33,2

47,5

84,4

22,9

69,8

90,5

131,7

48,3

46,8

12,7

5,2

34,2

80,6

34,3

27,6

12,3

31,6

25,1

19,3

53,2

38,8

30,8

49,5

13,8

7,2

23,1

15

17,3

24,5

26,2

17,4

36,4

25,2

polit

ical d

ebat

epo

pular

reac

tion

polit

ical a

ctno

n-po

litica

l opin

ions

extra

-au ch

ronic

les

PRO

CONS

polit

ical d

ebat

epo

pular

reac

tion

polit

ical a

ctno

n-po

litica

l opin

ions

extra

-au ch

ronic

les

41

8,113,155,6

5,65,2

38,5140,9

13,4

1515,313,862,5

29,7

36,6

20,8

223,9

83,427,852,3

16,4

12,7

36,3

6,1

19,7

43,2

10,9

27,1

7,2

15,4

40,6

32,9

9,4

22,1

30,1

76,4

37,4

29,1

9,1

5,7

31,7

8,6

15,7

6,3

5

30,6

28,3

13,6

38,6

37,6

43,3

43,4

14

14,2

37

36,5

12,3

16,1

17,4

58

21,1

34,8

3,1

95,8

8,352,3

9,421,26,252,3

3,375,2

35,4

31,528,55,285

47,3

23,2

34,9

24,2

75,3

62,6

33,2

47,5

84,4

22,9

69,8

90,5

131,7

48,3

46,8

12,7

5,2

34,2

80,6

34,3

27,6

12,3

31,6

25,1

19,3

53,2

38,8

30,8

49,5

13,8

7,2

23,1

15

17,3

24,5

26,2

17,4

36,4

25,2

polit

ical d

ebat

epo

pular

reac

tion

polit

ical a

ctno

n-po

litica

l opin

ions

extra

-au ch

ronic

les

PRO

CONS

polit

ical d

ebat

epo

pular

reac

tion

polit

ical a

ctno

n-po

litica

l opin

ions

extra

-au ch

ronic

les

CONS

PART 4case study

44

Obam

a

pension increasesclimate changeGlobal warming

capita carbon emissionCarbon dioxide

addition fossil fuelsNatural gas

clean energygas turbine

Energy sources

carbon trading legislationIR policy

ETS

gas turbine business

protit margins

super profitsIraq

AfghanistanSydney

Dubai

EuropeUSA

super profits tax

action paln tax

walth redistribution tax

carbon tax debate

tax cutstaxRudd

Gregg Combet

labor government

prime minister


government


right wing ratbags


liberal party stands

Abbott strategy


right wing nutte

rsrig

ht wing

Tony Abbott c

omedy

Arthur Sinodinos

ReithTony A

bbott

minority gover

nment

Libera

l party o

f Austr

alia

pure

beleag

uered

voting

scepti

csfre

e trad

edir

ect ac

tion

despe

rate m

anpu

re fic

tion

desp

erate

measu

respo

licy

marine

s

wealt

h red

istrib

ution

Youtu

beBo

gan

13

13

7

6

6

3

3

3

2

2

2

1

POLITICAL DEB

ATE

61 word

s

CASE-STUDY

In order to reach the research goals, it will now be analysed a case-study with

the attempt to verify if they are exhaustive and functionals. It has been chosen

to consider only one category, specifically “Political debate” and analyse how it

can be used as a basis to answer to the research questions.

1. What do users think about carbon tax?

p o l i t i c a l d e b a t e ’ s t o p i c

11 lin

ks

POLITICAL DEBATE

15 55 51 32 197 15556

As the first graph shows, the analysed comments sharply express

the opposition of users to carbon tax (197 vs 56), being them more

than double of the users that on the other hand, are in favour to it.

Corpus remains even bigger subsequently to the semantic analysis

in which, after a manual cleaning of pointless words, they have been

analysed 79 for cons and 61 for pros.

Obam

a

pension increasesclimate changeGlobal warming

capita carbon emissionCarbon dioxide

addition fossil fuelsNatural gas

clean energygas turbine

Energy sources

carbon trading legislationIR policy

ETS

gas turbine business

protit margins

super profitsIraq

AfghanistanSydney

Dubai

EuropeUSA

super profits tax

action paln tax

walth redistribution tax

carbon tax debate

tax cutstaxRudd

Gregg Combet

labor government

prime minister


government


right wing ratbags



Abbott strategy


right wing nutte

rsrig

ht wing

Tony Abbott c

omedy

Arthur Sinodinos

ReithTony A

bbott

minority gover

nment

Libera

l party o

f Austr

alia

pure

beleag

uered

voting

scepti

csfre

e trad

edir

ect ac

tion

despe

rate m

anpu

re fic

tion

desp

erate

measu

respo

licy

marine

s

wealt

h red

istrib

ution

Youtu

beBo

gan

13

13

7

6

6

3

3

3

2

2

2

1

POLITICAL DEB

ATE

61 word

s

pro

2. How and in which form (language) do users express their opinion?

cons

Observing the main topic for each category it can be inferred that generally

in cons’ argumentations there are a lot of comparisons with other realities deeply

involved in the carbon tax controversy, because geography is the prevailing topic.

In the same way, it can be observed that in the pro group the biggest topic

is the one referring to the opposition party, and subsequently it can be inferred

that the main fields of the argumentation were about politics.

With a further topic, for example the one about taxations, they can be pointed

out the differences between words typologies: in the pro group prevail personal

name, while among cons group prevail adjectives, used to negatively

characterize an unpopular tax.

UNtop ten polluterstax big businessbusiness greenhouse gas emissionscarbon emissioncarbon dioxidegreenhouse gasmet ice meltingglobal watmingsea levelclimate changeemission standardcarbon pricingcarbon creditemission tradingKyoto protocolcarbon trademinority partyLNP partywishful thinking Tony

liberalsMr. NoJoe HowardJoe Hockeyliberal government

opposition leader

Tony Abootpointless carbon tax

carbon tax schemes

mining super tax

mining taxtaxco2 tax fraud

carbon tax nonsense

deceitful carbon tax

unwanted carbon tax

ridiculous carbon tax

carbin tax betrayal


Julia Gillard

atheticgovernment

tax obsessed government

worstgovernment

inept government

the current prim

e minister

coalition greatest s

trenghth

Australian labor p

arty

BrazilCalif

ornia

Charlton

Northern

Engla

nd

AsiaIndiaGou

lburne

Japa

n

Cana

da

Melbou

rne

Chinahy

pocri

tes

bad p

olicie

s

materni

ty lea

ve

foolsleg

islati

on

stupidshowma

ssive

debts

gove

rnme

nt sys

rem

black

holes

polic

iesse

nate

rainb

ow go

vern

ment

treas

ury

Obam

aen

ough

cour

age

Cana

dian g

overn

ment

16

11

11

11

10

6 4 4 3 1

POLITICAL DEBATE

79 words

1 link2 link

3 link

4 link

The categories (political debate_pro and political debate_cons) extracted from count graphs show the semantic variety

inside categories. Summarized with cirles of different sizes according to the number of connection the word has,

it is clear to point out how among the cons there is a less semantic variety: in fact, the words used are the same used

in other categories. It can also be notices that in the cons group, even if it has a bigger number of words, there is a smaller

number of topics: it results in a reduced semantic variation and a reduced topics amount.

46

3) Which are the topics users use on support to their thesis?

Whilst cons comments seem to be penalized, due to their reduces

semantic variability, with an observation

of the relevance graph the situation seem to favour them:

in all the topics the cons comments are more relevant that the pro

ones, particularly in the fields of emissions, climate change and

protocols. It has, though, to be underlined

their lack of topics such as energies and fuels,

like argumentations seem to stop at a level of criticizing

the emission problem without suggesting a solution.

political debate0

1

0,376

2751

7

0,358

6763

6

0,248

482

0,267

0643

3

0,261

0781

5

0,4126

04

0,166

6451

4

0,492

2675

0,348

631 0,4

2790

175

0,318

3236

7

0,275

6675

3,1

95,8

47,3

62,6

69,8

46,8

12,3

38,8

23,1

26,2

polit

ical d

ebat

e

CONS

47

8,1

13,1

55,6

16,4

43,2

40,6

76,4

5,7

15,7

13,6

14

16,1

PROpo

litica

l deb

ate

To finally have a general vision on the problem and to compare the word count with

their relevance, it can be seen the prominence graph in which,

as expected, it can be seen in a more immediate way the comparison between pro

and cons and, taking in consideration a single flow,

compare the single values.

Obama

pension increases

climate change

Global warming

capita carbon emission

Carbon dioxide

addition fossil fuels

Natural gasclean energygas turbineEnergy sourcescarbon trading legislation

IR policyETSgas turbine businessprotit marginssuper profitsIraqAfghanistanSydneyDubaiEuropeUSA

super profits taxaction paln taxwalth redistribution taxcarbon tax debatetax cutstaxRuddGregg Combetlabor government

prime ministerAustralian labor partygovernmentCoalition government

right wing ratbagsgood opposition leader


Abbott strategyelection campaign Abbott

right wing nutters

right wingTony Abbott comedy

Arthur Sinodinos

ReithTony Abbottminority

government



scepticsfree tra

dedirect action

desperate man

pure fiction

desperate measures

policymarines

wealth redistr

ibution

Youtube

Bogan

si

13

13

7

6

6

3

3 3 2 2 2 1POLITICAL DEBATE

61 words

Obama

pension increases

climate change

Global warming

capita carbon emission

Carbon dioxide

addition fossil fuels

Natural gasclean energygas turbineEnergy sourcescarbon trading legislation

IR policyETSgas turbine businessprotit marginssuper profitsIraqAfghanistanSydneyDubaiEuropeUSA

super profits taxaction paln taxwalth redistribution taxcarbon tax debatetax cutstaxRuddGregg Combetlabor government

prime ministerAustralian labor partygovernmentCoalition government

right wing ratbagsgood opposition leader


Abbott strategyelection campaign Abbott

right wing nutters

right wingTony Abbott comedy

Arthur Sinodinos

ReithTony Abbottminority

government



scepticsfree tra

dedirect action

desperate man

pure fiction

desperate measures

policymarines

wealth redistr

ibution

Youtube

Bogan

si

13

13

7

6

6

3

3 3 2 2 2 1POLITICAL DEBATE

61 words

PART 5conclusion

50

According to the graphs the controversy pattern can be summa-

rized as follows:

Among those who say yes to carbon tax, the most relevant to-

pics are the ones related to the harmful effects of pollutants, to

the political actions, and to the fossil fuels. In fact the supporters

of this tax are very sensitive to environmental issues and global

warming, and think that carbon tax is the first step to clean the

planet from human’s pollution.

Looking at the relevances of the topics of carbon tax Cons, it has

been notice that people opposed to carbon tax would prefer an

action about clean energy and incentives for it, rather than pay

a tax that many persons can not afford.

As it’s analyzed in the case study, it is interesting to see that the

category Political Debate in the PRO side has a large number of

words related to the opposition party, and the opposers to car-

bon tax have a large number of words linked to the government

of Julia Gillard.

Analyzing the topic Popular Reactions is easy to see the dissa-

tisfaction related to tax and money: in many comments there

examples of families who describe their economic situation and

family size, and would not be able to support this tax.

CONCLUSIONpart 5 - conclusion

67,3%CONS 17,8

PRO

14,9

NR

51

CONCLUSION

Referring to the graph of the semantic variety, it has been no-

ticed that in the comments PRO carbon tax this aspect hardly

changes among the topics, but this that’s very different in the

CONS part: the topic TAXES has a high number of words, be-

cause users of NO prefer to talk about the negativity of taxation

in its varous aspects, writing a lot of impulsive and angry com-

ments.

There are many words also in the topic Majority Party, as many

are the invectives against the government, Julia Gillard, and

nicknames that users give to her.

The category determinate (the one with words that can not be

contained in any other category) is very remarkable in the topic

Political Act in the YES side. Words such as “long term thin-

king”, “do not offer alternatives”, “better Australia”, “wealthiest

countries” explain well the thoughts of users, who encourage to

think to a better future of our children, and believe that a re-

duction of CO2 is only possible with a choice that does not offer

alternatives: a political action requiring everyone to participate.

Documents

Australian Carbon Tax