Antinuclear

Victorians, including Liberals, want urgent shift to renewable energy

Majority of Victorians support urgent shift to renewable energy, poll finds https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/18/majority-of-victorians-support-urgent-shift-to-renewable-energy-poll-finds

A ReachTEL poll commissioned by Friends of the Earth shows 68% of the state, including a majority of Liberal voters, want to see an end to reliance on coal, Guardian, Michael Slezak, 18 Aug 16, The vast majority of people in Victoria – and even a majority of Liberal voters – support the state moving towards 100% renewable energy “as a matter of urgency,” a new poll has found.

The polling comes as the state government works to rewrite the Climate Change Act, including pre-2050 emissions reduction targets.

More than 68% of Victorians said they agreed or strongly agreed that “Victoria needs to transition its energy use from coal to 100% renewables as a matter of urgency”, according to the ReachTEL poll of 1,137 people conducted on 4 August and commissioned by Friends of the Earth.

That was in line with previous national polls. But when the researchers drilled down to the views of people who supported different political parties, they found consistent support for an ambitious state-based renewable energy target.

A majority – 51.2% – of Liberal-voting or leaning Victorians agreed that victoria needed to move urgently towards 100% renewable energy. And support among Labor-voters was very high, at 78.6% and virtually unanimous among Green-voters at 93.5%.

With a large number of Liberal-voters undecided, just 15.9% of Liberal-voters disagreed with the statement.

Support for a 100% renewable energy target was highest among those that said they were undecided who they would vote for in a state election, with 70% saying they agreed with the statement.

“The polling shows that the community understands the need to rapidly transition our economy away from our current reliance on coal to meet most of our energy needs,” said Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth campaigns co-ordinator.

In June, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced state renewable energy targets of 25% by 2020 and 40% by 2025, placing Victoria at the head of the pack among Australian states.

Andrews also announced that the government would rewrite the state’s Climate Change Act to include a target for zero net emissions by 2050. But exactly how that would be achieved, and what the interim targets would be, have not yet been announced.

The polling found an even larger majority among voters of all persuasion agreed that the Victorian government should commit to “major reductions” in greenhouse gas pollution – 71% overall and 54.4% of Liberal voters.

Walker said he was concerned that the interim targets before 2050 would be too weak.

“The heavy lifting on climate change must occur this decade if our state it to make headway on this issue. Victoria can’t afford to defer ambition until after 2020,” he said.

Walker said the polling showed the community wants to rapidly transition the economy away from coal.

“The best way that the government can do this is to announce an ambitious interim emissions reduction target – this is the only target that the government can guarantee that it can actually deliver, so it is essential it is a respectable figure.”

Walker said the polling showed the Victorian opposition should support a strengthened Victorian Climate Change Act too.

“It’s time for opposition leader Matthew Guy to acknowledge strong concern about climate change among Liberal party voters and offer bipartisan support for a strengthened climate change act,” said Walker.

August 19, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | energy, politics, Victoria