With many Australians dismayed by the climate-wrecking, anti-nature policies of the new administration in the USA – not to mention the increase in extreme weather and continued destruction of nature here at home – the Australian Conservation Foundation has urged all political leaders to rise to the challenge to co-create a healthier, thriving Australia for all of us.
“Escalating climate change and the relentless plundering of nature are pushing Australia’s much-loved wildlife, forests and wetlands to the brink,” said ACF’s CEO Kelly O’Shanassy.
“Australians are feeling climate change in hotter nights, longer heatwaves, more intense bushfires and harder-to-control downpours that result in flooding.
“People are feeling climate change in higher food prices and electricity bills and in the skyrocketing costs of insurance – where houses are not deemed uninsurable.
“Wildlife and communities don’t have time to recover before the next disaster strikes.
“The burning of fossil fuels is driving climate damage; the next government must support renewables, not more polluting and expensive coal and gas.
“The destruction of wildlife habitat – leaving koalas and gang gang cockatoos on the threatened list – is undermining our collective understanding of what Australia is.
“Nuclear, with its massive costs and risks, is not right for Australia. The renewables transition is already powering ahead. While nuclear costs, solar saves.
“This election is the time for leaders to step up and take decisive action on climate and nature.”
ACF is calling on all candidates and parties to commit to:
- Save nature: Stop bulldozing the bush
- Champion renewables and cut climate pollution
- Reject nuclear: Australia’s future is renewable, not radioactive
- Stop the climate wreckers: No more approvals for big coal and gas
ACF’s national agenda sets out the policies the national environment group believes are needed. During the election campaign ACF will issue a scorecard measuring parties’ policies against the national agenda.