Australia votes for climate action in 2022 Federal election

Image: In the polling booth with How to vote cards and ballots

(This is from an email briefing to international climate colleagues)

We take heart that in Australia we have changed the government. Citizen concern with lack of action on climate change was a large part of this as surveys and polls showed. Many of us have been working hard in the background for weeks and months with community campaigning, holding forums, letterboxing, and some joining candidate campaigns to bring about this result.

We still don't know if it will be a Labor minority or small majority government as preferences are counted in several close electorate contests. The major conservative Party - the Liberal Party -  suffered a 20 odd seat defeat. But Labor only picked up some of these seats. A loose alliance of Community Independents - the Teal Independents - picked up at least 6 seats from the Liberal Party in their heartland electorates. The Greens also increased their numbers from 1 MP to 3 MPs, and possibly a couple more. 

Nationally, all major parties suffered swings against them and with increased support for Independents and the Greens.  

The Floods 🌊 | Pre-election Australian Honest Government Ad for #Ausvotes

So much is packed in this Juice Media Honest Government Ad about the Flood Crisis in South East Queensland and North Coast of New South Wales, and the ineffective Federal Government political response.

Of Course it is part of a long history of first denying climate change, then delaying any response to acting on climate change. And doing minimal work in emergency response and recovery, and in developing a national climate risk assessment and developing a national climate adaptation plan.

Rather Australia keeps on approving new coal mines and new gas projects like the Narrabri gas field by Santos in NSW, Beetaloo Basin Gas in the Northern Territory by Origin Energy (70%, operator) and Falcon Oil and Gas (30%) , and the Scarborough Gas project by Woodside Petroleum off the Western Australian Coast.

IPCC report, Labor climate policy and targets: Email to Peter Khalil MP for Wills

The following email was sent to Labor MP for Wills, Peter Khalil on 16 August 2021. As of 12 September 2021 there has been no response or acknowledgement of this email. 

Climate and Environment #Ausvotes election 2016 scorecards

This is an abridged version focussed on climate change scorecards, of an article at nofibs.com.au detailing 39 election scorecards across multiple issues.

Still undecided after several weeks of the election campaign? Are you confused on policies? Do you have a pet issue that may influence your vote? I might have just the election issue scorecard to help you decide.

I have always been more interested in party policies than voting for the personality of a candidate or leader. Ultimately policies are what really count, although there is evidence that many electors are more influenced by appearance than policies, according to psychologist Dr Lissa Johnson in New Matilda.

Eminent Australians Climate Emergency call met with political silence in Federal Election

On Thursday 23rd June a host of eminent Australians called on the next Australian Government to declare a climate emergency. The call was made in an open letter published as a half page advertisement in The Age Newspaper.

Yet the open letter produced just two news stories at the ABC (here and here)

There was no other coverage. No comment by political leaders. Just a political silence. In the middle of an election campaign.

The issue being raised is a fundamental one which affects us all and future generations, yet political silence reigned.

Climate blocker Josh Frydenberg's office shut down for climate crimes

Climate activists invaded the campaign office of Energy and Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg on Burke Rd, Camberwell in Melbourne. The climate campaign organisation 350.org have listed Josh Frydenberg as a 'Climate Blocker' on their website.

About fifty people turned up around 9.30 this morning with 12 people aged from 19 to 76 occupying the office, while others decorated the outside of the office with Climate crime scene tape, draped climate emergency banners, and signs about global warming impact on the Great Barrier Reef.

The Liberals having a Missing Climate Plan, but don't want you to know

The High Court has found there is an implied right of political speech in the Australian Constitution, but that doesn't stop the Liberal Party putting pressure for an inconvenient election billboard to be taken down.

Environment Victoria paid for a Billboard opposite and a bit down the road from the Liberal Party campaign headquarters in the marginal seat of Deakin in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.

The billboard was up for about 72 hours on the busiest intersection in Deakin. Environment Victoria say the local branch of the Liberal Party made a complaint to the owner of the site, who then had the billboard taken down.

Polling shows most Australians want reef prioritised over coal #ReefElection

79 per cent of voters who read the Sydney Morning Herald either "strongly agree" or "agree" that the health of the Great Barrier Reef should be prioritised over coal mining.

Analysis of Fairfax Media's YourVote tool, which is similar to Votecompass in gauging online readers' beliefs to determine their political leanings, shows that out of about 63,000 responses, about 79 per cent either "strongly agree" or "agree" that the health of the Great Barrier Reef should be prioritised over coal mining. Yet both the Labor and Coalition parties have prioritised coal over coral.

Related:

• The Conversation (June 2016): Survey: more Australians want climate action now than before the carbon tax
• Climate Citizen (June 2016): Support for carbon pricing increases to 63 percent: VoteCompass
• Climate Citizen (May 2016): Opinion Poll: Support for 45 per cent climate targets and emissions trading
• Climate Citizen (Nov 2015): Lowy Institute Survey: climate now a pressing problem, Australians say lift targets
• Climate Citizen (July 2015): Renewables firmly favoured by Australian Public says poll
• Climate Citizen (Nov 2013): Australian Public opinion on carbon pricing and climate change

Bandaids for an unmitigated reef catastrophe #ReefElection

Image: Malcolm Turnbull, Greg Hunt, Ewen Jones travelling to Magnetic Island. Photo: Greg Hunt/twitter. Article first published using storify at nofibs.com.au

A promise by the Prime Minister to divert $1 billion in Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) funding to improve reef catchment water quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been soundly criticised as legally problematic, inefficient and far below the funding scientists say is required to Save the Reef.

This video, published on 2nd June 2016 from the Climate Council, articulates the climate change threat facing the reef, with statements from tourism operators, marine scientists and climate scientists.

Storms, floods and avoiding the dots on climate in the Federal election

This article was originally published at nofibs.com.au

During a tour of flood affected areas in Tasmania on Thursday 9 June, the Prime Minister was asked a question (See SMH report) relating to extreme weather events and climate change:

Taking the renewables roadshow to Wentworth and the Prime Minister's electorate

Article originally posted at nofibs.com.au

The Prime Minister's electorate of Wentworth in Sydney played host to a Solar Citizens forum at Paddington Town Hall: the Wentworth 100 percent renewables forum. Former MP for Wentworth John Hewson turned up and gave the keynote address.

Wentworth is one of the wealthiest electorates in Australia, but it also has the second lowest uptake of solar PV in Australia.

The Paddington Town Hall was used for the forum and had a packed audience. Though Malcolm Turnbull, the member for Wentworth, couldn't make it, the organisers kept a chair vacant on stage with his name on it.

The Prime Minister was invited to a peoples forum up in Brisbane with Bill Shorten, but declined. Instead he appeared on the ABC 7.30 Report interviewed by Leigh Sales, that proved to be a bit of a trainwreck. He probably would have been far better attending the Paddington Town Hall meeting.

Support for carbon pricing increases to 63 percent: VoteCompass

The latest Vote Compass data on carbon pricing and climate change shows that Australians want more action on climate change and back carbon pricing. Some 63 per cent of Australians want carbon pricing back and 74 per cent support more government action on climate change. But Coalition voters remain split on carbon pricing.

Support for carbon pricing has increased from 50 percent at the votecompass survey in 2013 to 63 percent in 2016.

For the question on more action on climate change the results also incresed by 13 percent from 61 percent in 2013 to 74 percent in 2016.

Politicians offer token #ausvotes funding to Great Barrier Reef facing extinction. It is a climate emergency

We need to come to terms that the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem and coral reef ecosystems globally as we know them, are facing extinction. It is a climate emergency. The reef is our canary in a coalmine and it is now dying from the greenhouse gases we have released.

Early surveys of the Great Barrier Reef showed that 93 percent of reefs were affected by coral bleaching. Scientists have been undertaking extensive aerial and underwater surveys since then to refine these initial survey results. Scientists from the Coral Reef Centre of Excellence are now reporting that over 35 percent of coral north of Cairns in the northern and central regions are now dead or dying.

The impact of coral bleaching changes dramatically from north to south along the 2300km length of the Reef.

“We found on average, that 35% of the corals are now dead or dying on 84 reefs that we surveyed along the northern and central sections of the Great Barrier Reef, between Townsville and Papua New Guinea,” says Professor Terry Hughes, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University (JCU).

“Some reefs are in much better shape, especially from Cairns southwards, where the average mortality is estimated at only 5%. This year is the third time in 18 years that the Great Barrier Reef has experienced mass bleaching due to global warming, and the current event is much more extreme than we’ve measured before."

“These three events have all occurred while global temperatures have risen by just 1 degree C above the pre-industrial period. We’re rapidly running out of time to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” concluded Terry Hughes.

Climate protestors close down Newcastle coal port for #Breakfree2016 as Federal election called

When the politics has failed in taking necessary rapid climate action, more people will step up, to protest, to put their bodies on the line in civil disobedient actions. As part of the Global BreakFree mobilisation Australians blockaded Newcastle coal port on Mothers Day, Sunday 8 May 2016. This article is derived from my live blog on Storify of the protest in Newcastle. 350Australia also live blogged the protest

The protest drew more than 2,000 people to Horseshoe Beach, one of the largest climate protests against coal in the NSW regional city of Newcastle. More than 60 people, including a flock of climate angels and Bill Ryan a 94 year old Kokoda veteran from World War II, have been arrested, charged and released for blockading the Kooragang Island rail bridge that is used for transporting coal to the port. Another 4 people were arrested for locking on to coal terminal equipment and banner drop at the coal wharf.

Bill Shorten on climate change in reply to Morrison's budget

Original article published at nofibs.com.au

In Bill Shorten's budget reply speech he mentioned climate change 5 times. This was five times more than Treasurer Scott Morrisson used the term in his budget speech.

It was a positive and inspiring speech covering the traditional Labor concerns: Jobs, Education, Medicare, Climate Change, Affordable housing, fair taxation, Equality for women, and belief in young Australians. But, like the Treasurer's speech two days ago, reference to refugee detention on Manus Island and Nauru was absent.

The speech comes as Essential Vision polling published 3 May shows Labor ahead on two party preferred figures of 52 per cent versus 48 per cent for the Coalition parties. Roy Morgan polling also shows ALP in front but Election too close to call: ALP 51% - L-NP 49%.

The Paris Agreement requires that we transition to a zero carbon economy by at least the middle of the century. Transition should be an important economic consideration. The comparison between the Coalition parties and Labor (and the Greens) could not be more stark as contained in the Treasurer's budget speech, and the budget reply speeches of Bill Shorten and Senator Richard Di Natale.

Here is the section on climate change excerpted from Bill Shorten's full speech (SMH). You can watch Bill Shorten's full budget reply at Malcolm Farnsworth's channel on YouTube.

Budget2016 fails on climate change: environment & climate NGOs respond

Article originally published at nofibs.com.au

The Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison delivered the Federal budget without once mentioning in his speech (Full text at Sydney Morning Herald) climate change, renewables, phase out of coal or transitioning to clean energy economy. This Government, though it recently signed the Paris Agreement, is in effect in climate denial going into the July 2nd Federal election.

The Treasurer's only related reference was to the abolition of the carbon tax. The Abbott/Turnbull government kept the tax scales that Labor introduced as compensation for introduction of carbon pricing. So although high income earners and companies get a tax cut in this budget, everyone on low income has already had our tax reward back in 2012, and hence get nothing.

"This change also builds on the tax cuts provided to those on incomes of less than $80,000 to compensate for the carbon tax. By abolishing the carbon tax and keeping the tax relief in our first budget we delivered a genuine tax cut for those earning up to $80,000 a year."- Scott Morrison

I'll leave others more qualified to comment on the economic and political ramifications of this budget. But the absence of any mention of the environment, of transitioning the economy away from coal to renewables and a clean energy future, and the tens of thousands of new jobs this would create, makes it clear this government is firmly stuck in the past. They use the word innovation a lot (5 times in the Treasurers speech), but it is more marketing than actual substance in supporting and funding the science and education in transforming to a low carbon economy.

Opinion Poll: Support for 45 per cent climate targets and emissions trading

Polling done by Essential vision shows that most people approve the higher climate targets and the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme in Labor's climate plan. The polling was published on May 3 and supports previous polling in March that a majority of Australians want greater action on climate change.

The survey found that 57 per cent of voting age people approved of the Labor Party’s higher climate targets that more closely match the science and carbon emissions policy. Just 21 per cent disapproved of these targets and implementation of an ETS.

Can Labor wedge the Coalition on #climatechange in #ausvotes2016?

Original article published at nofibs.com.au

Action on climate change is a live issue at the 2016 election, but it is still divisive. The Australian Labor Party unveiled it's climate action plan to take to the Federal Election, likely to be on July 2. A lot of deliberative thought and nuanced politics have gone into this plan with targeted changes in different sectors.

Environment and community groups, along with the Business Council of Australia, broadly said the plan was positive, although there were criticisms raised about the need for climate policy to become bipartisan to ensure stability in the economic transitions needed. Environment groups stressed that it was a useful starting point and much better than the Coalition government targets and policy, but didn't go nearly far enough to meet the obligations now enshrined in the Paris Agreement of limiting warming to well below 2 degrees and aspire to 1.5 degrees limit on warming.

Guest Post: John Hewson - Shorten can wedge Turnbull on climate

I recently wrote how I still feel ashamed of Australia during and after the Paris COP21. Australia signed the Paris Agreement in New York on April 22, but is still not showing signs of walking the talk on climate action. I am far from the only one who are critical of current Government political inaction in addressing climate change from across the political spectrum. Here is John Hewson, an Economics Professor and a former opposition leader of the Liberal National Party in 1993, who accused the Government, and Environment Minister Greg Hunt, of 'blatant hypocrisy'...

John Hewson, Australian National University

It was all a bit much for me to see Environment Minister Greg Hunt wallowing in the signing of the Paris Agreement on emissions reduction in New York this week. His commitment to its ratification by year end, after opposing the pricing of carbon and attempting to close down the renewables industry, is nothing short of blatant hypocrisy.

Further, it was galling to hear him boast that, “We’re now on track to meet and beat our..targets and our Paris 2030 targets are strong and ambitious and they have been welcomed and hailed”, and then to attempt to create the impression that “our domestic climate change policies” have and will continue to deliver “real outcomes”.

Nationals Senator Fiona Nash stuffs head in sand as Great Barrier Reef suffers severe bleaching

A second member of the Australian Government, Deputy Leader of the Nationals NSW Senator Fiona Nash, has declared climate science is not settled and articulated on the need to adapt. This follows a statement by Attorney General George Brandis in the Senate on Tuesday that climate science was not settled.

Senator Nash is responsible for regional development, communications and health. She told Sky News interviewer David Speers there were "varying views" on climate science and she was of the opinion it was still up for debate, but that we need to adapt.

This comes as Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching prompted Australian Environment Ministers to have an emergency phone hook up and heated debate. At the end they called for strong and urgent action needed on climate change.