Dandenong Ranges residents are campaigning for the Federal Government to pull back fossil fuel subsidies in the leadup to the federal budget.
The Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association group was outside La Trobe MP Laura Smyth's office in Berwick last week with a giant cancelled cheque to garner support.
Emerald resident Peter Cook said they wanted to see a substatntial reduction in the $10 billion in fossil fuel subsidies currently handed out to big polluters every year and redirected elsewhere.
"That's equivalent to giving them $65 million from the people in this electorate alone," he said.
"We would much rather this money was spent in the community on health, education and public transport."
He said environmental groups including Environment Victoria, the Australian Conservation Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and many others have launched a major nation-wide campaign.
"Fossil fuel subsidies are a big problem right throughout the world – in 2011, the subsidies worldwide were $523 billion and that's a huge figure," he said.
"Coincidentally, at the same time, the subsidies for renewable energy internationally were $88 billion, it's not exactly a level playing field."