THE Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) dropped into Newcastle on Thursday as part of its climate election campaign launch.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 52-year-old organisation is travelling the country to galvanise communities in order to force the Federal Government to take action on climate change.
A federal election can be called anytime after November 2, and must be called before May 18, 2019.
The ACF wants climate change to be the number one election issue.
“Last week, while the Liberal party was tearing itself apart, 1600 bushfires were burning across NSW,” the ACF’s Kathryn McCallum told the audience on August 30.
“Events of the last week show this was a watershed moment. We have to make the link between drought and coal. Digging up and burning coal is destroying our environment.”
Ms McCallum claimed a small number of politicians whose “views were out of step with the public” were holding the government hostage, resulting in a failure to take action on climate change.
“They now want to withdraw from the Paris Agreement,” she said.
The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance, starting in the year 2020.
Ms McCallum pointed to numerous polls which showed the community was concerned about climate change.
“We need to turn that community concern into a willingness to vote on this issue,” she said. “We are prioritising climate change because it has to be done.”
Ms McCallum said people power could stop further destruction of the environment. The ACF intends to recruit supporters of the campaign to assist with starting conversations about climate change policy.
The strategy the ACF outlined was to focus effort on the marginal seats of Bonner, in Queensland; and the two Victorian seats of Chisholm and McNamara.
These seats are held with margins as low as between 1000 and 3000 votes.
ACF plans to target 52,000 voters residing within these seats.
The campaign is demanding a stop to the Adani Charmichael coal mine, the end of digging and burning coal and a switch to 100 per cent renewable energy.
About 50 people, including representatives from the Wilderness Society, Lake Macquarie Sustainable Neighbourhoods, Newcastle Youth Forum and Stop Seismic Testing Newcastle were in attendance.
To find out more about the campaign visit: acf.org.au
