85% of Newtown residents say government needs to do more on climate!

Members and supporters of Climate Action Newtown fanned out across Newtown on World Environment Day last Saturday door-knocking the community to put climate change back on the agenda in the lead up to the federal election.

Inner-city seats like Grayndler are now marginal Labor-Green and the sitting members and candidates know that the climate vote can determine the outcome on election day.

“The Federal government has walked away from what Rudd himself declared as the greatest moral issue of our time – climate change – recently dumping the carbon trading scheme and offering very little in its place”, member of Climate Action Newtown and doorknocking organiser, Lydia Andrews said.

The doorknocking team of 15 visited more than 500 households in the Grayndler electorate.  Over 100 residents were surveyed about renewable energy and climate change and asked to express their concerns to their local candidates on camera for a short voxpop youtube piece.

“85% of residents said without hesitation that the Rudd Government is not doing enough to tackle climate change” said Lydia “and 92% of people believe the government should significantly boost investment and create clean energy jobs by developing a plan to move to 100% renewable energy”.

“Residents overwhelmingly said they would support candidates in the election who were committed to strong climate action. 95% of voters undecided about how they would vote said they were more or much more likely to vote for a candidate who committed to a price on carbon and investment in renewable energy” said Lydia.

“It was great to hear such community support for strong action” said Ingrid Dernee, first time doorknocker. “I was really nervous about knocking on people’s doors but this is such an important issue to me that I was willing to put my nerves behind me. I ended up really enjoying listening to what people in my community think.”

“I want to urge other residents to make their voices heard in the lead up to the federal election, by contacting their local candidates and letting them know we want real climate solutions” said Ingrid.

“An urgent transition to renewable energy is possible. All we need now is our leaders to share the community’s vision for a clean energy future”.

Door knocking and letter-boxing will take place in other suburbs across Grayndler in the coming weeks, starting with Ashfield on Sunday 4^th July.

Survey results included:

• 85% of residents said that the Rudd Government is not doing enough to tackle climate change
• 93% of people believe the government should significantly boost investment in renewable energy and create clean energy jobs
• 92% of people believe that Australia should develop a plan to move to 100% renewable energy
• 75% of residents believe that the government should stick to its 2007 election commitment to put a price on carbon and make polluters pay
• 75% of residents were more likely or much more likely to vote for a candidate committing to a price on carbon and significant investment in renewable energy
• 95% of swing voters  said they were more or much more likely to vote for a candidate if they were to commit to a price on carbon and significant investment in renewable energy