Monday 23 April 2007

Warming a big concern in marginals

Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday 21/4/2007 Page: 6

A MAJORITY of voters in key marginal seats believe that Australia should greatly boost its efforts to combat global warming even if it affects business profits and puts up the price of their own electricity bills, the chief coal mining union has found. The majority of those polled by the union on attitudes to climate change also believed the Federal Government "has done nothing about climate change".

And about 62 per cent said they agreed or strongly agreed that "the Liberal Government is too close to big business and won't take any serious steps to stop businesses polluting". The poll of 800 voters in marginal seats around the country was conducted last month for the national mining and energy branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, headed by its president, Tony Maher.

The research will help the leftwing union and the Labor Party steer a rocky course between supporting coal miners' jobs and policies to combat climate change in the election campaign due later this year. The polling shows climate change may already be a vote changing issue in the marginal seats, hurting the Government. Ninety-five per cent of the marginal voters polled wanted more government investment in renewable energy, such as solar and wind energy.

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