A new survey of attitudes on the environment has found that most Victorians believe the state government has a responsibility to reduce greenhouse pollution. Among the survey’s major finding are:
Ahead of next week’s decision by the Baillieu Government about whether to retain the Victorian Climate Change Act, Environment Victoria has today released a series of questions from the poll testing community attitudes on climate change.
Environment Victoria CEO Kelly O’Shanassy said today, “The polling shows overwhelming community demand for the State Government to reduce greenhouse pollution, with 76 percent of Victorians believing the state has a responsibility to act, while just 24 percent think that it should leave action to the Federal Government and the carbon price.”
“This is a clear message for Premier Baillieu ahead of his government’s release of the Review of the Climate Change Act, anticipated next week. Victorians expect their state government to act to reduce pollution.”
The polling also showed extremely high community support for renewable energy and low support for coal-fired power.
“78 percent of Victorians want to see more renewable energy projects like solar and wind, and 82 percent want to see more energy efficiency. However, just seven per cent want to see more coal-fired power in the next five years.”
The poll found also that the Baillieu Government’s 2km wind farm buffers are considered unfair by 50 percent of Victorians while just 22 percent think they are fair.
“Victorians can see that the Baillieu Government’s anti-wind laws discriminate against wind power and risk billions of dollars investment and regional jobs. This Government should be concerned that just 27 percent of ‘Soft Liberal’ voters think that its anti-wind laws are fair while 42 percent say the laws are unfair.”
“Since coming to office the Baillieu Government has reduced support for solar and wind power and has questioned the need for the State’s pollution reduction target. The only bright spot has been the doubling of the Victorian energy efficiency target “This polling shows that continuing to ignore the community’s massive appetite for cleaning up our energy supply is politically dangerous for the Baillieu Government as well as gambling with Victoria’s future economic, social and environmental prosperity.”
For interviews contact:
Kelly O’Shanassy, CEO Environment Victoria: 0421 054 402
Ian Kenins, Media Officer: 0417 561 563
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