The Greens call on other parties to join in the Walk Against Warming
From Bankstown Greens
Greens candidates John Ky and Susan Roberts at the Domain in Sydney for the Walk Against Warming rally on 11 November 2007. (Photo: Marina Gobbi)
Media Release - Friday 9 November 2007
Greens Candidate for Banks, Susan Roberts, has called on the other political candidates contesting the seat in the coming Federal election to join her and the expected 250,000 other Australians who will be walking this Sunday to demand action on climate change.
"I know where Darryl Melham stands on this important issue, and while we may differ on strategies and targets, it's clear he's looking at it seriously. That's one of the reasons why the Greens are giving our first preference to Labor in Banks," Ms Roberts said.
"Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the other candidates. Some of them don't want to talk about global warming, some deny its happening. It's really quite difficult to figure out how they would propose to deal with the issue if elected.
"The Greens have been at the forefront of the climate change debate for decades now. When Bob Brown spoke of this threat in parliament over 10 years ago he was uniformly ridiculed. It has taken a long time for the other parties to wake up," Ms Roberts said.
A recent Greens policy announcement is the 'Sun Fund'. This is a 10-year, $3 billion investment program in renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
The Sun Fund will transfer the $300 million in current annual Federal Government subsidies for fossil fuels across to renewable energy, providing significant ongoing investment to underpin research, development, commercialisation and capacity building across the broad range of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
"The Sun Fund aims to put Australia back where we belong - leading the world in renewable energy from innovation right through to installation," Ms Roberts said.
She added, "The Greens have also committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 30% below 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80% below by 2050, and would ensure that emissions were reduced across the energy, transport, industrial, waste and land management sectors."
Greens candidates, members and supporters will be attending the Walk Against Warming rallies, of which at least 50 will be held in the major cities and across regional Australia, on Sunday November 11th.
For more information please contact Simon Brooks on 0412 115 643.
