Open letter to PM on 2010 Budget

Letter to the Honourable Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the Honorable Treasurer Wayne Swan, and Members of the Government

The Critical Need for Renewable Energy Investment in the 2010/11 Budget

May 10, 2010

Dear Prime Minister Rudd, Treasurer Swan, and Members of the Government,

We express our profound concern that your government has still not proposed or implemented any policy to significantly reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. At a time when climate change experts agree we must act, it is imperative that your government begins efforts to de-carbonise our national economy.

Australia cannot afford to waste any more time in responding to the climate crisis. This is why we call for the Rudd Government to scale-up investment in renewable energy and climate-friendly infrastructure in this year’s federal budget.

Australia needs a nation-building project for climate change with the scale and vision of a Snowy Mountains Scheme for the 21st Century. Such an initiative will drive our transition away from fossil fuels towards a clean, renewable energy economy. This approach will spur economic development and create good Australian jobs. It will put Australia on track to achieve the emissions reductions needed to protect the nation from dangerous climate change.

We call for a fiscal commitment to a nation-building project that at least matches the $22 to $42 billion your government will invest in the rollout of a national broadband network.

An investment package for this infrastructure will demonstrate your government’s commitment to addressing the challenge of climate change, recognised widely and by your own government as “the greatest moral, economic and environmental challenge of our generation.”

Sincerely,

Alternative Technology Association
Ararat Greenhouse Action Group Inc.
The Australia Institute
Australian Solar Energy Society
Australia Youth Climate Coalition
Bayside Climate Change Action Group
Beyond Zero Emissions Inc.
Climate Action Canberra
Climate Action Newtown
Climate Change Balmain-Rozelle
Climate Emergency Network
C4 (Communities Combating Climate Crisis)
Dandenong Ranges Renewable Energy Association Inc
Darebin Climate Action Now
Electrical Trades Union Victorian Branch
Emerald for Sustainability
Environment Victoria
Friends of the Earth Australia
GetUp!
Greenfaith Australia
Greenleap Strategic Institute
Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Healesville Environment Watch Inc.
Jewish Ecological Coalition
Kingston Conservation and Environment coalition
Locals Into Victoria's Environment
Mount Alexander Sustainability Group
National Toxics Network
Parramatta Climate Action Network
Postgraduate Environment Network (PEN)
Renewable is Do-able (Save Solar Systems Campaign)
Surf Coast Energy Group
Sustainability in Stonnington
Sutherland Climate Action Network
Sydney University Climate Action Collective
Victorian Climate Action Centre
Western Region Environment Centre
Yarra Climate Action Now
100% Renewables
450ppm
Dr Nina Hall, Director Climate Action Network Australia
Dr. Geoff Davies, Senior Fellow in Geophysics at the Australian National University
Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics
Mick Harris, Managing Director EnviroGroup
Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director of the Global Change Institute, the University of Queensland
Professor David Karoly, climate scientist, University of Melbourne
Tony Kevin, former senior Australian diplomat and author of Crunch Time
Guy Pearse, Research Fellow at the Global Change Institute and author of High and Dry