Election 2010

Civil society calls for pollution price (2/9/10): A joint statement from twenty civil society organisations was sent this week to political leaders calling for all involved in the current negotiations to form a Federal Government to commit to implementing a price on carbon pollution. The full text of the statement, and list of endorsing organisations, included CANA, is available here.

Engaging with the Independents (31/8/10): CANA has contacted the 4 Independents MPs (Katter, Oakeshott, Wilkie and Windsor) plus all the Greens Senator-elects, MP and re-elected Senators to flag our top priorities for climate action and request a meeting to brief these political reps. These include: introducing a price on carbon pollution; ensuring that Australia’s greenhouse pollution levels begin falling by 2012 through such measures as replacing Australia’s dirtiest coal-fired power station, Hazelwood, with clean energy; and introducing measures that prevent the construction of new coal-fired power stations.

 The Climate Institute: Attitudes on climate change: The Climate Institute has released its Climate of the Nation 2010 market research report on Australians’ attitudes to climate change and climate change policy over the past year. They found three quarters (76 per cent) believe it is important to take action on climate change. Eighty-five per cent said they would support a party that had a “detailed plan to change Australia to using cleaner energy sources of energy.” Eighty-two per cent believe that Australia should make “medium” to “very large” changes to address to climate change. Forty-three per cent of soft voters were more concerned about climate change because of the delay of the CPRS (Auspoll, June 2010). They added an Election Day exit poll result which shows that almost one-third of Green voters in key marginal seats say they would have voted ALP if it had not delayed the introduction of its CPRS. The exit survey also found 62 per cent of voters disagreed that Prime Minister Gillard showed strong leadership on climate change.

Thousands join Walk Against Warming: On August 15 2010 around the country, tens of thousands of Australians joined the annual Walk Against Warming one week before the election, calling on federal political leaders to ‘walk with the people, not the big polluters’. A variety of events, including major rallies, took place in Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Penrith, Port Macquarie, Willoughby, Wollongong, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Darwin, Alice Springs and Perth. Through this event, the community called on all political leaders to: Make the polluters pay by putting a price on carbon; Replace our most polluting power stations with clean energy; Create new clean jobs and industries; Guarantee to cut pollution over the next term of government; and Support poor and vulnerable countries to tackle the impacts of climate change and invest in sustainable development. Huge congratulations to the organisers, which included CANA members Environment Victoria, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, Environment Tasmania, the Conservation Council of WA, and the Conservation Council of South Australia. CANA was proud to be a supporting partner organisation.

     Melting ice, polar bears and snorkels prove no distraction for Tony & Julia's dance (16/8/10): A colourful rally outside the ALP's election launch in Brisbane today emphasised that climate change is a vote winner and an issue needing urgent attention that neither of the major parties are addressing. “There is already community consensus for action on climate change across Australia” said Nina Hall, Director of the Climate Action Network Australia, which represents 70 non-government groups calling for climate action. “Recent polling shows an overwhelming 79 per cent of respondents believe Australia should either begin reducing carbon pollution before other countries, or start reducing regardless of when other countries choose to act”. The rally this morning had two 'polar bears' climbing a melting iceberg, while a 'fake' Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard dance around, unaware of the melting ice, displaced polar bears, and people wearing snorkels and flippers in the future of rising sea levels. “We've handed out ice mints to the ALP delegates this morning for them to enjoy” said Dr Hall, “with a reminder message that, while the ice mints won't melt, our chance for a safe climate is melting away fast, and the time to act is now!”

       Chart the parties' climate promises:  The Climate Institute has launched the election 'Pollute-o-Meter' to carbon pollution commitments from the ALP, Coalition and the Greens throughout the election campaign. As of July 27, the  ALP is pushing emissions up by 19% above 1990 levels by 2020, t he Coalition is pushing emissions up by 8% above 1990 levels, and the  Greens are cutting emissions by 25% by 2020, with some limited international offsets.

        Victoria's climate plans ahead of the nation: Victoria's Brumby Government delivered its Climate Change White Paper last week, positioning Victoria as the leading state on climate change nationally. The White Paper includes a target to reduce Victoria’s greenhouse pollution by 20% by 2020 (on 2000 levels) – a total of 30mill tonnes over the next decade. It includes some actions that will see Victoria’s emissions fall by over 5 % in the next term of Government, including the proposal to retire 400 MW of brown coal (not enough, but the first offer), a feed-in tariff and target for large scale solar projects, a doubling of the Victorian energy efficiency target and a commitment to getting the average standard of existing Victorian houses up from 2 stars to 5 stars over the next decade. The target is unconditional, meaning that the Victorian government is committed to meeting the target with or without a price on carbon pollution. More details are here. While it’s not everything the climate movement would like, it’s a lot better than anything else we’re being offered at the moment. And while the State Government acknowledges the need to replace coal-fired power generation, Environment Victoria point out that to achieve the target of 20 percent by 2020 it will be essential to replace the whole of our dirtiest power station, Hazelwood, with clean energy. Brumby is seeking feedback on this White Paper- so you can share your thoughts and suggestions here.

 Climate movement angered at ALP's backward election announcement on climate (23/7/10): The ALP today released their much-anticipated climate election policy to great disappointment to many of CANA's member groups. A joint press conference of seven non-government organisations, including CANA, stated that Gillard's call for 'community consensus' has been proven repeatedly through the election mandate to Kevin Rudd in 2007, the emergence of 120 community-based climate groups around the country, up to 100,000 Australians attending the last Walks Against Warming, as well as recent WWF-GetUp polling. Gillard's policy also opens up the possibility for 12 new coal-fired power plants to be built, provided they are fitted with 'CCS ready' technology, which itself has yet to be proven. CANA's member groups offered their own analyses:

• The Conservation Council of WA says Labor’s climate policy is actually a coal policy and shows all the hallmarks of being written by the coal industry, it has begun an online petition to Gillard, calling for a commitment to no new coal fired power stations.

• Oxfam Australia says Ms Gillard is yet to pass two critical tests: Seriously reducing Australia’s emissions and Providing sufficient support to help people in developing countries at the frontline of the climate change crisis.

• GetUp! noted that two days ago it was reported in the China Daily that China will put a price on pollution from next year. Meanwhile, Julia Gillard has yet another process for consultation but no policy to deal with rising pollution.

• The Australian Conservation Foundation stated that the money for grid infrastructure is important, but we need solar power stations to connect the grid to.  Today’s announcement will not see any additional solar power stations built.

• The Climate Institute said the ALP had delivered only small steps forward toward a credible pollution and climate policy when large strides are needed.

• WWF Australia stated that piecemeal action in areas such as clean energy and energy efficiency will not be enough without an economy-wide price on carbon pollution.

• The Australia Institute considered that, rather than ‘moving forward’, the government is delaying what the scientists and economists tells us is inevitable – the need to put a price on carbon.

• Environment Victoria said today’s announcement gives the green light for 15 new coal-fired power stations nationally, including the HRL proposal in Victoria. It allows power stations like Hazelwood to keep polluting.

• Greenpeace calls on Gillard to urgently introduce a pollution reduction standard for all new power, introduce a price on pollution and move subsidies from the high-polluting power sector to the renewable energy sector.