TACKLING THE CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCY
Climate crisis
The government needs to take the climate science as seriously as it has taken the coronavirus science.
While we’ve rightly been focused on responding to COVID-19, the climate crisis that drove the devastating bushfires early this year has not gone away.
We are still facing an existential climate crisis that threatens human civilisation and our government must start paying attention.
We call on the Australian Parliament to declare a climate emergency, and you can too.
Declaring a climate emergency means recognising that the climate crisis is the fight of our lives, it puts action on climate change at the centre of all government policy and planning decisions and it begins the whole of government and whole of society mobilisation effort required to protect Australia’s people and ecology.
Our plan to tackle the climate crisis:
- Lead the world on climate action by phasing out coal stations, exports and legislating against new coal mines.
- Achieve 100% renewable energy by funding a massive investment in infrastructure that will transform our energy system.
- 180,000 jobs established by creating new industries, jobs and supply chains right across the economy.
- Reduce bills by $200 a year by creating a publicly owned energy provider and subsidising investment in solar power and batteries.
- Build a multi-billion dollar clean energy export industry to replace coal exports.
- Create a $1 billion fund to retain, upskill and invest in workers and local communities so no one is left behind.
Protecting our environment
The Morrison Government is taking a chainsaw to our environment protection laws. Our natural environment is in crisis - logging, mining and climate change are polluting our environment and pushing our native animals to extinction.
But it’s about to get even worse. The Morrison Government is trying to push through new laws that will make it easier for mining companies and big developers to get approval for projects that will damage our environment even more. The government is slashing environment protections so big corporations can make more profits.
The Greens will:
- Fund a science-based, national Environmental Protection Agency with strong powers.
- Pass a new generation of environmental laws.
- Create an $8 billion Environment Future Fund to save natural heritage.
- Create the Great Forest National Park right on Melbourne’s doorstep.
- Grow a domestic recycling industry and phase out single-use plastics to fix the waste crisis
- Ensure animal justice by ending live exports, cruel factory farming practices and improve labelling laws for free range products