Federal election 2019: Ex-Liberal leader John Hewson endorses South Australian Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
Federal election 2019: Ex-Liberal leader John Hewson endorses SA …
At last – HENRY COX, a Senate Candidate with the guts to fight the nuclear waste dump plan !
Confident Clive Palmer predicts tax-payer funding for nuclear power
The Australian Tribune 10 May 19, “……………What’s needed for Palmer to win Nuclear Project?
Mr Palmer is confident that his party could hold the balance of power in the senate, which would guarantee the go ahead of the project.
‘We will need about five to six seats and our polling is showing we will win five to six seats pretty easily and we should be able to win more,’ he said.
‘Australia has had nuclear reactors for 50 years in Lucas Heights in the middle of Sydney.
‘There are no safety issues there, they operate every day and they’re still there.’
Mr Palmer is calling for the federal government to fund the power plant, using the Commonwealth government’s previous handling of steelworks as an example.
‘The Commonwealth government in 1913 provided a guaranteed establishment to SteelWorks in Whyalla and they can do it again,’ Senator Palmer said. https://www.theaustraliantribune.com.au/2019/05/palmers-case-for-nuclear-power/
Bill Shorten urged to declare climate emergency if Labor wins
Peter Garrett urges Bill Shorten to declare climate emergency if Labor wins
Former environment minister calls for creation of ‘war’ cabinet committee to plot transition to zero carbon, Guardian, Katharine Murphy Political editor@murpharoo 9 May 2019 The former environment minister Peter Garrett has urged an incoming Labor government to convene a climate emergency summit to plot a transition to zero carbon, and create a super department aligned to Treasury, like the Department of Post War Reconstruction after the second world war, to implement the transition…….
Former UN climate leader supports MP Zali Steggall, Kerryn Phelps, Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie, and MP, Julia Banks
‘Appalling’ policy inaction draws former UN climate leader into
federal election campaign https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-07/canberra-inaction-on-climate-change-appallling/11088336
Key points:
- Christiana Figueres led the global negotiating process that culminated in the 2015 Paris climate change agreement
- She has thrown her support behind four female independents whose key opponents are Liberals
- Speaking to a Sydney forum, Ms Figueres said the Paris Agreement required countries to bring forward the most ambitious possible national targets every five years
Christiana Figueres led the UN’s global negotiating process that culminated in the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, and is now a climate leader at the World Bank.
She has thrown her support behind Zali Steggall, who is standing against former prime minister Tony Abbott in the NSW seat of Warringah, Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps, Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie and the MP for Chisholm, Julia Banks, who resigned from the Liberal Party and is contesting the nearby seat of Flinders as an independent.
Ms Figueres said the four women “set out strong policy platforms and longer-term vision for what it would take for Australia to take its rightful place as a leader in the global fight against climate change”.
She condemned what she called “the ridiculous climate wars in Australia that have led to a very damaging climate and energy policy vacuum for more than a decade”.
“This inaction is putting us at war with a climate that has no more room for atmospheric pollution,” Ms Figueres said.
Independents praised for their ‘courage’
Two of the four candidates — Dr Phelps and Ms Steggall — on Tuesday attended a meeting in Sydney of Mission 2020, which was established after the Paris Agreement to drive global action on climate change in order to cap greenhouse gas emissions and limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Speaking via video link, Ms Figueres praised the four independents for “your courage and leadership in having put climate action and clean energy at the forefront of your respective campaigns.
“As mothers, we all share a deep sense of responsibility to make right what is currently going very wrong.”
After the meeting Dr Phelps told the ABC that she thought it “enormously significant that a world leader on climate change has backed the independents who are backing action on climate change.”
“We have a moment in time when can put in place policies that will make a difference to the future of our planet,” Dr Phelps said.
Business leaders, clean energy lobbyists and investors advocating stronger climate change action and policy signals briefed the candidates at the forum.
We have been hearing today from investors … and people who understand the science of climate change better than anyone in the country and they are telling us that not only is there an urgent need for action, but governments can no longer afford to delay their action,” Ms Phelps said.
“There is a dire message from the science on climate change but there is a positive message about where we can go,” Zali Steggall added.
“With clear policy from government the market will take care of it and we have great potential.”
Cost of inaction
Ms Steggall also responded to concerns raised during the campaign about the cost of Labor’s proposed climate change policies.
“The price of climate change action is nothing compared to the price of inaction.”
Speaking to the Sydney forum, Ms Figueres said the Paris Agreement required countries to bring forward the most ambitious possible national targets every five years.
“Whoever is elected needs to be prepared to bring a revised 2030 target to the table in the next 12 months,” she warned.
The former UN climate change leader dismissed arguments that action in Australia to limit global warming would make little difference to global climate change.
“The fact that Australia only contributes 1.5 per cent of global emissions is not an excuse not to act,” she said.
“If every country adopted that stance, we would be on track to oblivion. Your island neighbours in the Pacific would go under the waves.”
“We look hopefully to the Land Down Under for a watershed election that sparks a new wave of climate leadership.”
Scott Morrison on “cutting green tape” – commentators respond savagely and sceptically
There was a great long stack of comments on the Brisbane Times article (below) – and all condemned Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s pledge to cut environmental regulations – he chose the same day as the UN’s damning report on biodiversity loss was released. Here’s just a couple of samples .They call it “green tape”, many others call it saving the environment from destructive ultra right policies.
No wonder 1 million species of flora and fauna around the world are on the brink of extinction within just decades..
“Federal government botched scrutiny of plan to bulldoze pristine forest”
(SMH 27 Nov 2018) “The Morrison government has conceded it botched scrutiny of a plan to bulldoze 2000 hectares of pristine Queensland forest near the Great Barrier
Reef and has been forced back to the drawing board following a legal challenge by conservationists.”
“The development comes as confidential documents show government MPs lobbied environmental officials to wave through the proposal, which would raze land almost three times the size of the combined central business districts of Sydney and Melbourne.”
“Old growth forest in the vicinity of Kingvale Station, where 2000 hectares is set to be cleared.”
“Environment Minister Melissa Price agreed to court orders that the weak assessment applied to the Kingvale proposal was unlawful.” https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/federal-government-botched-scrutiny-of-plan-to-
bulldoze-pristine-forest-20181127-p50il2.html#comments
Melissa Price is the Liberal member for Durack in WA.
Only 10 more days until Melissa Price can be kicked out of parliament for good.
PM shifts attack on Labor to ‘green tape’ he says costs Australian jobs, Brisbane Times, By David Crowe, May 7, 2019 Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to stop the spread of union power and stem the growth of environmental rules that he blames for costing Australian jobs, as he sharpens his pitch to voters in the final days of the election campaign.
Ahead of his final debate against Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in Canberra on Wednesday night, Mr Morrison warned of a threat to the economy from the expansion of union “red tape” and environmental “green tape” that tied down employers when they should have more freedom to expand and hire workers…….
Lagging Labor in the polls with only 10 days to go until ballots are cast, the Prime Minister warned that a vote for Labor would give unions control over industrial laws and the Greens control over environmental laws.
“I don’t want to see the Labor Party get to office where they tie businesses up with all sorts of union red tape and all sorts of the Greens’ green tape, which would just cost people jobs,” he said……
The Coalition has blamed “lawfare” and “green tape” for halting or delaying mining and other projects in recent years, turning this into a major dispute with Labor and the Greens.
Mr Morrison said voters should remember that Labor sought to apply native vegetation laws more widely and increase the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to slow down developments.
“They want to hypercharge an Environment Protection Authority which will basically interfere and seek to slow down and prevent projects all around the country,” he said.
Zali Steggall, Independent candidate for Warringah, aims to tackle the health impacts of climate change

Zali Steggall promises action to stem health impact of climate change https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/06/zali-steggall-promises-action-to-stem-health-impact-of-climate-change 6 May 19,
The Warringah independent signs up to strategy to tackle problems of increased asthma, mental illness and heat-related deaths
Independent candidate for Warringah, Zali Steggall, has pledged to address the health impacts of climate change if she wins Warringah as an independent.
Like her fellow independent, Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth, Steggall signed up on Monday to the strategy developed by the Climate Health Alliance, which has more than one million health professionals behind it through their representative groups. It is pushing governments to start factoring climate change into their thinking about health policy, warning that a rise of 3C in world temperatures would have catastrophic consequences for the health of Australians.
Among the health impacts of climate change are an expected jump in severe asthma attacks, more disease due to severe weather events such as flooding, increased mental illness due to prolonged droughts and higher death rates among the elderly and chronically ill due to more frequent very hot days.
On 21 November 2016 thousands of people were taken ill and 10 people died in Melbourne due to thunderstorm asthma. High temperatures, thunderstorms and windy conditions blew rye grass pollen into the city causing the mass incident.
Melbourne has now implemented an alert system for epidemic asthma which operates during October and December each year when pollen levels are at their highest.
Mary Chiarella, professor of nursing at Sydney university, said increasingly warm weather meant there would be more out-of-season pollen that would extend the asthma risk season.
More hot days would drive hospital admissions putting additional stress – and costs – on the health system.
“[Economist] Warwick McKibbon says no action is not a zero sum game. Just because you don’t spend the money taking action, doesn’t mean it will deliver a zero cost,” said Steggall.
“We are in one of the most exposed regions to climate change,” she said.
Steggall said she would be pushing for the expert panel to look into the climate change impacts on health outcomes and to advise the government on its response.
“My point of difference [with Tony Abbott] is I do like facts and data,” she said, a reference to the criticism that Abbott has made of her expert panel proposal.
At a debate last week, Abbott said Steggall would be shirking her responsibilities as a parliamentarian when she said she would be “led by experts” on climate change policy and what emissions cuts the nation should commit to.
She also criticised Abbott’s focus on power costs due to measures to address climate change.
“The more people understand the other impacts on them personally, the more the case for action,” she said.
Australian Greens will push Australian Parliament to declare a “climate emergency”, as Britain has done

Greens urge climate emergency declaration, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/greens-urge-climate-emergency-declaration 4 May 19, The Greens will push the Australian parliament to declare a “climate emergency” after the federal election, party leader Richard Di Natale says.The federal Greens will push for Australia to declare a national “climate emergency”, following in the footsteps of the UK.
With Britain’s parliament becoming the first in the world to make such a declaration, federal Greens leader Richard Di Natale says it’s time to do the same at home.
With Britain’s parliament becoming the first in the world to make such a declaration, federal Greens leader Richard Di Natale says it’s time to do the same at home.
“We’ve put forward proposals to the parliament already. We’ll be doing that again when we return to the parliament,” he told AAP on Saturday.
“We’re calling on both the Liberal and the Labor party to support what the conservative party in the UK have now adopted.”
Senator Di Natale says the push isn’t a lost cause in Australia’s political environment because “the pressure (to act) is building and it’s building very fast”.
“The major parties ignore the community at their own peril.”
The Greens leader also said he wanted environmental laws to be changed so projects had to specifically take into account their effect on climate change.
Senator Di Natale also backed Labor’s $1 billion pledge for environmental initiatives, including a native species protection fund and protecting beaches from erosion.
But the Greens want a “climate trigger” put into environment laws.
“Quite simply when any proposal is being put forward and the environment impact is being considered, what we have to do is make sure climate change is the first thing that’s considered as part of environmental impact,” Senator Di Natale said.
Adani coal mine expansion is the critical test for Australia’s climate action. We must stop it – Bob Brown
‘It is up to us,’ to stop Adani: Bob Brown’s dire warning on coal mine, SBS, 5 May 19, The stop Adani convoy has ended its long j
ourney in Canberra with a rally on the lawns of Parliament House where Paul Kelly performed.
Veteran environmental activist Bob Brown has told thousands of climate action supporters they can’t rely on divine intervention to prevent the Adani coal mine. “It is up to us”.
The former federal Greens leader led the stop-Adani convoy that began in Hobart just before Easter and travelled to Clermont in central Queensland before reaching its final destination in Canberra on Sunday where a rally was held on the lawns of Parliament House.
Organisers estimated there were 2,500 people at the rally – “a bigger crowd than Bill Shorten will face today and a bigger crowd than Scott Morrison will ever face”, Dr Brown said.
He told the crowd that neither of the big parties were willing to stop the Adani mine to secure the planet for Australia’s kids……..
Dr Brown told reporters the convoy had been peaceful and law abiding but participants had endured hardships along the route.
“We had rocks thrown at us, we had people spat on, some people were actually physically absued.”…..
Greens leader Richard Di Natale told reporters Australia was in the midst of a climate election.
“Right now the Adani coal mine is a test of whether Liberal or Labor are serious about stopping climate change and right now,” he said,
“Liberal and Labor have failed the test.”……. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/it-is-up-to-us-to-stop-adani-bob-brown-s-dire-warning-on-coal-mine
Schoolkids take their climate message to the politicians. Abbott pooh poohs it.
The earth has survived many things’, Abbott tells children protesting against climate change inaction, SMH, By Laura Chung and Jenny Noyes May 4, 2019 Dark clouds threatened rain as schoolkids gathered outside the Sydney electorate offices of both Labor and Liberal politicians on Friday, but it didn’t dampen their message on climate change.Prime Minister Scott Morrison, former prime minister Tony Abbott and Labor infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese were among those targeted as part of the nationwide protest against climate change inaction by federal MPs.
The protest held extra potency in Manly, where Mr Abbott’s 25-year grip on the seat of Warringah is under threat from independent candidate Zali Steggall in a campaign centred on climate change.
Armed with homemade signs, about a hundred students, parents and grandparents marched on Mr Abbott’s Manly office, chanting the slogan favoured by Steggall supporters: “Time’s up Tony”……..
A group of students tracked Mr Abbott down in a local cafe after the protest and voiced their concerns to him.
He also told them he didn’t believe the “environmental catastrophe” predicted by scientists would come about.
“I’m not saying that there isn’t going to be some time in the future when, for whatever reason, things come to an end, but I don’t believe that modest increases of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over the next few decades are bound to bring about the kind of environmental catastrophe that you seem to fear.”……
Another protester dressed up in costume as Scott Morrison and a blackened piece of ‘coal’.
Another protester dressed up in costume as Scott Morrison and a blackened piece of ‘coal’.
Labor wasn’t let off the hook either.
Students also took their climate message to infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese’s Marrickville electorate office too, with a focus on urging Labor to pull the plug on the Adani coal mine. A Bill Shorten costume also made an appearance. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-earth-has-survived-many-things-abbott-tells-children-protesting-against-climate-change-inaction-20190503-p51jts.html
Australia’s Liberal and Labor Parties on Climate Change – politics theme for May 2019
Federal Election: Whose climate change plan is better?
Shorten’s climate policy and why we don’t need to fear the Coalition’s ‘big scary numbers’ Guardian, Katharine Murphy, 2 May 2019
Scott Morrison wants voters to think that Bill Shorten is risky and reckless …
What’s the cost of not acting?
what Labor is saying is correct. It’s factual for this reason. Labor has set out the framework of its climate policies: the emissions reduction target, which is 45% (compared to the government’s 26%), and the various policy mechanisms to deliver that result.
But there is a fair bit of fine print missing because Labor wants to consult with stakeholders on final design before attempting to legislate the policy. …..
until we know the proportion of permits and a bunch of other things we don’t yet know – including what the Senate does to the policy if Labor wins – any number produced would be a guess. ….. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/02/shortens-climate-policy-and-why-we-dont-need-to-fear-the-coalitions-big-scary-numbers
Climate change costings that don’t count the cost of inaction are worthless, Guardian, Greg Jericho 5 May 19 We must demand better of our political parties – and there is no excuse for the media either,Just seven months ago the United Nations told the world that we have 12 years to limit the climate change catastrophe. It means that to keep global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels we need to cut carbon pollution by 45% by 2030 and down to zero by 2050. Twelve years. Actually scratch that – now it is 11 years.
Now ask yourself how often that has been raised during this election campaign?
At the start of the 2019 federal election campaign Scott Morrison put out a video where he was all dewy-eyed about the future, saying “the next 10 years are important to everybody at every stage of life”.
And yet not once – NOT ONCE – did he mention that the UN has given us 11 years to do something about a global catastrophe.
No, instead it’s all standard of living and nothingness statements that would get shot down by any decent advertising firm
in the first meeting……..
Tony Abbott and his ilk – your time is done….
We need at a minimum a 45% reduction by 2030 and to get to zero net emission by 2050. So parties need to explain what they are going to do to get there and argue why their way is best.
Clive Palmer enthuses about nuclear power for South Australia: Labor and Liberal do not agree
Clive Palmer says SA needs nuclear to stop being a ‘backwater’ during federal election visit, ABC News, 3 May 19 Clive Palmer has described South Australia as a “backwater” which lacks “enterprise, energy and investment” during a campaign visit to Adelaide to spruik his party’s pro-nuclear policies.
Key points:
The United Australia Party (UAP) leader wants nuclear reactors built in South Australia as a way of boosting investment and jobs. The State Government ruled out the nuclear option following a royal commission which concluded in 2016. A citizens’ jury also rejected a high-level waste dump “under any circumstances”. However, Mr Palmer said South Australia had the “world’s largest uranium deposits” and should embrace nuclear technology. “Australia has had nuclear reactors for 50 years at Lucas Heights in the middle of Sydney,” he said.
In 2018, an independent expert review found the Lucas Heights nuclear medicine lab failed modern nuclear safety standards and had a culture of “make-do and mend”. A contamination incident at the facility was deemed the most serious in the world in 2017 according to the International Nuclear Event Scale — the global grading system for nuclear incidents. Days after the review was released, another contamination scare at the reactor occurred, in which radiation levels rose “above allowable limits set by the regulator”. Mr Palmer said he hoped to secure the “balance of power” to work towards establishing “nuclear reactors and a vibrant manufacturing industry in South Australia”. He said any future reactor “may not be, or it may be, Australian-owned”……. Royal commission ruled out nuclear energyBoth the Liberals and Labor have hit back at Mr Palmer’s remarks, with Labor senator Penny Wong saying they prove “Clive would be devastating to South Australia…… Both the Liberal and Labor parties in South Australia rejected the royal commission’s suggestion that the state should pursue removal of federal prohibitions on nuclear power development. In a statement, SA Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan reaffirmed that commitment. “The State Government does not support the introduction of nuclear power in South Australia,” he said…….. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-02/clive-palmer-campaigns-for-federal-election-in-south-australia/11069286 |
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A new political force in Australia- YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WANT ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Young people won’t accept inaction on climate change, and they’ll be voting in droves,
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PhD Researcher in Science Communication, Australian National UniversityToday young Australians will hit the streets for the second Climate Strike of 2019. Youths are often brushed off as being politically disengaged, but the Australian Electoral Commission has reported record high numbers of youth enrolment, and climate change will be at the forefront of their minds when many take to the polls for the first time. Today young Australians will hit the streets for the second Climate Strike of 2019. Youths are often brushed off as being politically disengaged, but the Australian Electoral Commission has reported record high numbers of youth enrolment, and climate change will be at the forefront of their minds when many take to the polls for the first time……. While protests are an ancient tradition, Climate Strike is being led entirely by school students. Greta Thunberg, now aged 16, began the School Strike for Climate movement after attracting press to a then solitary protest at Swedish parliament in 2018. By March 15, 2019, the movement had grown to over 1.4 million studentsin more than 300 cities worldwide. This movement forces adults to acknowledge climate change is not only impacting the futures of an unknown, unborn generation, but also of those protesting here and now. Climate change, then, is not only an important issue for under 24-year-olds, but also a deeply personal one. Discussion of climate change often elicits intense emotions like fear and anxiety for their futures. In a speech earlier this year in Davos, Switzerland, Thunberg said:
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Grey voters see red over 3 years of federal radioactive waste plan
Maria Bonacci, 29 April 2019, Today marks three years since the federal government named Wallerberdina Station in the Flinders Ranges as its preferred site for a national radioactive waste facility.
Since then, Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula has also been targeted. Members of both communities have since worked consistently to prevent becoming home to Australia’s radioactive waste.
Adnyamathanha woman from the Flinders Ranges Vivianne McKenzie said “there are many people in the community who have opposed this nuclear waste dump since it was first announced. We need Canberra to listen to us, because we will never give up.”
As part of these efforts a community postcard initiative opposing the planned waste site is being delivered tomorrow to the Whyalla office of current federal member for Grey, Mr Rowan Ramsey. He is being requested to take it to Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan on behalf of the community. Copies will also be given to Shadow Minister Kim Carr, the Kimba District and Flinders Ranges Councils and the SA state government.
One of the messages collected on the postcards was “please investigate all safe options before proceeding with this current plan”. The Government is rushing and wrong and we want a different approach.
There are three sites currently under federal consideration: two near Kimba on the Eyre Peninsula and one near Hawker in the Flinders Ranges. All three sites are actively contested and all are in Grey, the largest electorate in South Australia.
Dr Susi Andersson from Hawker said “three years of uncertainty is too long. The process of finding a site for a NRWMF is dividing and harming our community. Most people, for or against the facility, feel three years is too long. This is affecting the well-being of individuals and the community.
“The Cadence Economic Report commissioned and published by DIIS predicts an 8% increase in GRP (gross regional product) when the facility is expected to be operational in 2030. SA tourism predict a State-wide rise in tourism activity by 2030 of 32%. Tourism and primary production are the basis of our economy and our future, not a radioactive waste facility. DIIS produces lots of slick propaganda promoting their proposal but when we ask questions or for clarification, it usually takes months to get an answer” Dr Andersson concluded.
Peter Woolford, a farmer from Kimba said “Our homes – our communities – our jobs are at risk from this unpopular and unnecessary plan. We will not sit quietly and allow a flawed plan to have a lasting negative impact on our way of life.”
The No Dump Alliance – a broad grouping of SA community, Aboriginal and agricultural representatives – is calling on the current and any future federal government to scrap the current site selection process, take the three sites in SA off the table and hold an independent inquiry into the full range of ways to manage Australia’s radioactive waste.
For media comment or to arrange interviews please call Mara Bonacci: 0422 229 970
Liberal Coalition gets a poor rating on climate policy
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Coalition scores ‘F’ on climate policy-ACF, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/coalition-scores-f-on-climate-policy-acf 28 Apr 19,The federal coalition government has scored a ‘fail” on its climate change policy but Labor has scraped through with a “pass”, a conservation group says.
A climate change advocate has scored the climate policies of the major policies, marking down the coalition as a fail but with Labor scraping through with a pass mark. The Greens, however, scored a high distinction. “Of the two major parties, Labor is miles ahead of the coalition on climate commitments, but neither party is doing enough to make Australians safe from climate damage,” Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy warned. Given the importance of the response to climate change in the 2019 election campaign, the ACF assessed the policies on 50 key tests across four broad areas before giving each a score out of 100. These areas included ramping up renewables, phasing out coal, stopping Adani’s coalmine and protecting nature. The scorecard gives the Greens’ policies 99/100 and Labor 56/100, but the coalition just 4/100. “The coalition’s signature climate policy – the emissions reduction fund – has not curbed Australia’s climate pollution,” Ms O’Shanassy said handing down the scorecard on Monday. “For the coalition to again offer this ineffective policy as its main plan to tackle climate change shows a disregard for farmers, survivors of natural disasters fuelled by global warming and the next generation of Australians.” Meanwhile, the ACF believes while Labor has put forward a credible framework for cutting climate pollution and growing the renewable energy sector, it is only halfway to full marks because of its blind spot on coal and gas. In particular, Labor hasn’t (established) plans to phase out coal-fired power and hasn’t ruled out the Adani mine,” Ms O’Shanassy. However, the policies the Greens are taking to the election reflect the urgency of action that scientific bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change say is needed to keep global warming at relatively safe levels, she added. |
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