Here is my letter that I just sent off.
Subject: Action on Climate Change.
Dear Prime Minister Gillard,
As a member of your electorate of Lalor, I congratulate you on your appointment as Prime Minister of Australia today.
However, I would like to bring to your attention the promise of action on climate change that was made by the Labor party preceding the last election. I, as many Australians are, was extremely disappointed when the previous PM dropped the CPRS, and replaced it with a big fat nothing. It seemed to me that your party was all talk and spin, with little real commitment to put a price on carbon.
I believe that a price on carbon would fundamentally change the way the current economy works, giving people and corporations a huge incentive to green up their act, and start taking decisive action on reducing carbon emissions. We have seen the effects of climate change in this country already, with the scientific community, including your own Chief Scientist, calling for action on this, the greatest single issue of our time. Your fellow Australians are expecting this decisive action, and soon, or we will all be suffering the consequences of our inaction.
Yours faithfully,
Gavin
Melton West, Victoriawww.greeningofgavin.com
Great article… eco-celebrity!! 😉
I agree with everything you’ve said…
Well said. I am interested to hear if she has the sense to abandon the ridiculous plans for internet censorship.
I turned the news on for the first time in years and have to say, she can definately hold her own in a confrontation. Here’s hoping its not all word mincing and there is some real action to back it up.
Great article too, love the pic.
xB
It’s an interesting development, but Julia’s from the same faction as Rudd was, isn’t she? The cynic in me just thinks they wanted a figurehead who could lead them to victory at the next election – Rudd’s opinion polls were really languishing.
An interesting note: here in Jamberoo (NSW) we now have female leaders at all levels of government – mayor, premier, prime minister, and even the governor general! My local councillor and federal member are female as well.
Hi Gavin,
Great Article.
I agree with everything you say but I think that people are forgetting that one of the reasons the scheme was dropped was because of the idiot opposition that seemed determined to block the whole thing in the Senate, no matter what. Julia Gillard could come up with the best scheme ever but as long as we have an Opposition that doesn’t support Climate Change nothing will make it through the Senate. Then, of course there is the politicans greatest fear, if it’s unpopular and it might get them voted out, it must be dumped.
Yay democracy.
Good On Ya Gav,
Keeping contact with elected officials is a really important job, if you happen to be in their electorate all the better.
Julia isn’t going to get an easy ride from anywhere, nor should she. She has been handed a poisoned chalice and now has to work like hell to find an antidote that will get them through the next election. If we are going to get real action on climate change it’s going to be on the other side of that, hopefully with a less hostile senate.
As Nevyn said choosing to push the ETS through the current hostile senate would simply have caused a double dissolution election not necessarily any action.
Kind Regards
Belinda
I’m sorry to disagree with you but an emissions trading scheme is wrong and just plain evil.
Reducing emmissions and consumption is a must but the notion of issuing shares to speculate with is in no way going to help save our environment.
I think if you check you will find Al Gore actually owns a company that will be issuing bits of paper for polluters that will turn over a tidy little profit for himself.
If we are truly honest about wanting a cleaner world then corporations have to be targeted not the households. Stop it at the source is the only way that is fair. Of course the expense will need to be passed on thereby reducing consumption but that is fairer than creating mddlemen who hoard shares for profit at the expense of us all.
Hi Gavin – Congratulations on the article in the paper – and love the photo 🙂
I can’t help thinking what a mess Australian politics is in right now.
But Tony Abbott as potential PM? That’s churning my stomach from as far away as New Zealand!
Leanne XXX
I’m thankful the CPRS didn’t get through — Bob Brown rightly called it the Continue Polluting Regardless Scheme, and I did wonder how much of it was designed to provoke Liberal infighting rather than reduce CO2 emissions. But no ETS will get through the current Senate. I’m hopeful about the increasing Green vote — it would be great if a Green balance of power delivered a high-quality ETS.