Economy drops as voter priority: Climate claims top of agenda

Herald Sun
Saturday 31/3/2007 Page: 16

FOUR out of five Australians want legal action on greenhouse emissions and would support legislation for more efficient homes and cars. They also believe Australia should be leading the world in clean energy technology such as solar and wind power, according to a report by the Climate Institute Australia.

The report, released today, shows climate change is a potential vote changer, with 66 per cent of people saying they would be more likely to vote for a political party with a strong, clear climate change plan. It includes the results of a poll of 1000 voters, taken this month, and draws on research conducted in the past five years to track Australia's changing attitude to climate change. The Climate of the Nation report comes as debate about climate change continues in Federal Parliament ahead of an election later this year.

While Prime Minister John Howard continues to highlight his Government's record on financial management and national security, the report found these issues now rank second to climate change among voter concerns. "Not only is concern at an all time high, but climate change now ranks as more important to people than a wide range of issues including housing affordability and national security." the report said.

"Many people are worried about the legacy they will be leaving for their children's futures. Some believe it may be too late to solve climate change." The report found: 81 per cent of voters believe governments should make Australia a world leader in finding solutions to climate change 71 per cent believe our politicians are failing to lead on climate change. 86 per cent of people support a quarter of Australia's electricity generation coming from clean energy like wind and solar by 2020.

The report comes as a leaked copy of the second UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report shows Australia will be hit with more frequent and intense droughts, floods, bushfires and heatwaves. The second IPCC report - Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability - will be released on Good Friday and contains a chapter on Australia and New Zealand. The draft report warns Australia's temperature could rise by between 0.3C and 3.4C by 2050.

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday that the information was well known to the Government. "The IPCC report is based on peer-reviewed published science, everything in there is well known to us, we know that there is the possibility or the probability of a hotter and drier future in southern Australia," Mr Turnbull told ABC radio.

"We have a whole climate change adaptation framework under way." But Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, who will host a national climate change summit in Canberra today, said the Government was out of touch claiming there was nothing new in the report. "It talks about the possible destruction of Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef, it talks about increased deaths arising from more intense heat waves in this country," Mr Rudd said.

"And Mr Howard's Environment Minister says there's nothing new in this. "Well, this underlies one core fact: when it comes to climate change, Mr Howard is radically out of touch with the challenge now and for the future." Mr Rudd said Labor set a target of 60 per cent emission cuts by 2050.