• Compensate polluters with our taxes via free pollution permits in a scheme that creates another global financial market just like the one which melted down
• Enable major polluters to hide their pollution (ie via shady offshore emission permits) while Australia's emissions continue to soar until around 2035 (under Treasury's own modelling. They only start to drop because the government assumes we have invented clean coal by then)
• Fail to stimulate investment in alternative zero emission energy and energy efficiency technologies which will reduce emissions and create countless new jobs in local green economies
• Render the voluntary actions you do at home and at work to reduce your emissions nothing but a way to free up permits for big polluters to buy cheap, and thereby not reduce Australia's emissions beyond the pathetic target.
• Fail to reduce emissions in Australia
• FAIL TO SECURE A SAFE CLIMATE FUTURE

Kenneth Davidson nails it in this article: Rudd Government an Obedient Servant of the Big Polluters

 “...the Government has the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), which is so weak that it will do nothing to reduce emissions produced in Australia."
 
Interestingly the French govt is bypassing the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) model entirely, arguing that since the intention is to reduce emissions, what would be the point of adopting a model which is actually designed to fail its aim? Voila! 

Meanwhile, our govt is sitting pretty. Its carefully constructed rhetoric has created precisely the intended impression; that it is taking the issue of climate change seriously and doing something about it (tick meeting election promise box) even though (just as Howard’s would have), the climate policies being adopted will still protect polluters and guarantee runaway climate change, more droughts, heatwaves and bushfires. Rudd is using the issue as a wedge to further expose the hapless Liberal and National parties' disarray on the issue of global warming, while the media turns it into a debate between Labor and Liberal, rather than a debate between science and vested interests.

Our options are very limited at this late stage as the Labor Party is in negotiations with the Liberal Party. However, we have to act to make sure that our representatives are aware of our displeasure with the CPRS and our even greater displeasure with a watered down one. We cannot let the Australian public be fooled into thinking the climate crisis is being addressed by our government, when it is not.

What's an alternative? Well, there are lots being proposed.

One viable alternative is that put forward by The Greens in their Safe Climate Bill. Which actually takes the climate crisis seriously and puts forward solutions that may actually prevent catastrophic climate change - it is a true breath of fresh air compared with the cynical capitulation to big corporate vested interests that represents the Labor/Liberal Parties' approach. We highly recommend you take a look at this summary.


We stress, YCAN is strictly and proudly non-partisan. We will support whichever political party or parties offer policies to most quickly and equitably deliver a safe climate future. However, we can't deny the facts and at the moment only the Greens’ policies come close. Because the Greens refuse to compensate polluters or allow them to escape genuine emission reductions (and because they don't have the balance of power), they are being locked out of climate negotiations. Our reading is that both major parties are genuinely threatened by the ‘green vote’ and are just as likely to work together to get the fatally flawed CPRS passed (thus look after the interests of their mutual campaign donors) before the Greens can improve it. 

So, starting now, we must put our best efforts into… 

INFORMING OUR FELLOW AUSTRALIANS RE THE MAGNITUDE OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT OUR GOVT IS SAYING AND WHAT IT IS DOING IN ORDER TO FORCE THE ADOPTION OF CLIMATE POLICIES WHICH WILL DELIVER A SAFE CLIMATE FUTURE 

We can't leave this task to others, and we can't let ourselves be lulled into silence by an inadequate and downright dangerous CPRS and an ill-informed media.

Thank you for sticking with us through this web of political intrigue and we hope you will engage on this with (at least send this message to) EVERYONE you can think of who can vote or influence a voter! The people in Australia’s parliament must represent OUR best interests, NOT those of polluting industries.

Please speak with your family, friends and colleagues (EVERYONE!) about this important issue at this critical time. If our government fails us now we will delay the urgent action we should have started taking yesterday! 

“Unless there is a radical change of plan between now and December (in Copenhagen), world leaders will not only be discussing the alignment of deckchairs on the Titanic, but hotly disputing whose deckchairs they really are and who has the responsibility for moving them”. (George Monbiot, Not Even Wrong, 31 August 2009)

 
There are now around 700 of us in YCAN and if we engage with at least 10 people each we will reach 7,000 and so on…This is a fast growing movement with the number of Australians now connected to a local climate change action group (CAG) estimated in the tens of thousands. We can do this! And know that we are joining countless other world citizens in fighting hard against entrenched vested interests, and the fast ticking clock, to secure a safe climate future. 

We have also attached a form letter which you can adapt and send to your federal member of parliament and state senators. You can get their contact details by putting in your postcode via this website:http://www.yourvoiceinhouse.org.au/

Please note the attached letter is designed for a Labor member of parliament, it will need to be adapted for other parties.

Thanks & happy campaigning!
The Yarra Climate Action Now team.