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Australia Federal 2010 election

Last updated: Wednesday 4th of August

We have now completed the major website upgrade and our early stage assessment of the major parties policies. These will be refined and added to as the election progresses.

Election Details

Saturday, 21 August

For more election details see the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) Website

Policy Comparison

To view the comprehensive visual analysis of climate related policy click here.

For information on past policies see either the 2007 Federal election analysis stored on the National Library website, or the 2009 Higgins VIC / Bradfield NSW By-election analysis

At a glance policy summary

The key assessment of any climate change policy is does have any chance of reversing global warming and thus prevent a run away climate change event.

Policies that might stop runaway climate change...

...and adopt a climate emergency response

Soclailist Alliance

Policies that wont stop runaway climate change...

...but have numerous positive elements that will help the adoption of a stronger response down the track

The Greens
The Democrats

...and take only limited action which will not stop global warming reaching dangerous levels quickly

Labor
Liberal

... and seek to delay action or deny there is a problem

Family first
Christian Democratic Party
Climate Sceptics

Voting Recommendations

For the lower house you must number all the boxes in order of preference, that is favourite to least favourite party. This ballot paper is green and smaller. For the upper house or the Senate you can either put a number 1 above the line or number every box below the line. This ballot paper is white and large.

Number 1 - Socialist Alliance
Number 2 - The Greens
Number 3 - The Democrats
Number near bottom - Labor and Liberal
Number from bottom up - Family First, Christian Democratic Party, Climate Sceptics

Help spread the Vote Climate message

A summary of seven parties key climate polcies. Great for the office notice board.

Vote Climate "Policy Summary" Poster Colour PDF Downlad (0.2 MB)
Vote Climate "Policy Summary" Poster Colour jpeg image file Downlad (0.8 MB)

Print out a Vote Climate poster and put it up in your workplace, school, university or community.

Election Overview

It is a sad day when climate change, despite record breaking temperatures and weather patterns, continued acceleration of greenhouse gas emissions, is given so little attention at this 2010 federal election. This situation is as much a comment on the environment movement, which has failed to force the issue to prominence in the minds of both the public and the politicians.

On one hand we have the Labor Government of the day, who single handedly cocked up almost every climate related environmental initiative put forward from the disaster of the home insulation scheme to turning home solar panel systems into the most carbon intense power stations in the world. The same government has now displayed a total failure of leadership choosing not to have a climate policy at this election, instead handing that responsibility to 150 random Australians who will set the climate policy for Labor for the election that follows this one.

The Liberals do have a policy based around farmer friendly climate policies and an environmental workforce of 1000's of unemployed, but they are a party whose current leader, who is a past climate denier, came into power on the votes of climate deniers within his party.

The Greens of course are running the strongest goals and policies of any of the major elected parties, but their policies fall short of those actually needed to save us from runaway climate change. Voters expect the Greens to be honest and represent the truth but the Greens are underplaying the seriousness of climate change, undermining and slowing the eventual move to climate emergency policies that give us the best chance of saving the future.

Why are the Greens doing this? The Greens (well at least their leadership) have known for a number of years that we need a climate emergency response if we are to avoid runaway climate change and a resulting social and environmental catastrophe. However instead of adopting appropriately strong policy they have decided to risk all and aim for their long term goal of replacing the Democrats in the senate and thus gaining the balance of power. By adopting a weaker policy than needed the Greens hope they won't offend marginal Greens voters. It interesting to note that the Democrats ultimately sold out their supporters over the GST, while the Greens are beginning their balance of power reign having already done so.

We need to look outside the sitting members of parliament to find some hope for the future. The Socialist Alliance have the strongest climate policy out of any national organised political party and have built on previous efforts since we first reviewed their policies in 2006, and produced the first climate emergency policy response of any political party. Of all the parties assessed, only the Social Alliance policy will have any chance of preventing run away climate change.

Regardless of the failure of policy by the major parties, this election does represent a critical opportunity for climate change. If the Greens achieve the balance of power in the senate, as is likely, and also win a lower house seat in Melbourne, we are likely to see significant positive shifts on climate policy by the Labor party and eventually the Liberal party, similar to the effect we saw when One Nation was at it peak federally, though on a different set of policies.

The threat to the lower house seats has already impacted on Victorians state ALP with Brunby, Victoria's premier, announcing a 20% Greenhouse emission reduction target and the goal of closing Victoria's most carbon intense power station Hazelwood (excluding small scale solar systems whose owners sold phantom RECs).

Party Commentary

Socialist Alliance
Consistently one of the best performers on climate change since Vote Climate looked at its first election in 2006. In the 2007 federal election Socialist Alliance had the second strongest climate policies behind the "What Women Want Party", who are not running in this election (clearly having got what they wanted?). This time the Socialist Alliance take the number one position.

Socialist policy is basically driven by care for people, and they understand the direct connection between the environment, the services it provides and human wellbeing. They have reviewed climate science and impacts and concluded the mainstream response to climate change is no where near enough.

In response they have developed the first comprehensive climate emergency response of any party Vote Climate as seen. The policy is comprehensive and sets out the goals on principles from which a detailed climate emergency response would be developed. It covers all key areas except population. You can down load their climate policy here.

The Socialist Alliance policy is the strongest of any nationally organised political party and offers the best hope for the future and we recommend you vote for them both in the senate and in the lower house seats.

Labor
Labor has chosen not to have a climate policy for the next term of government if they win this election, instead handing the decision to act on climate change to 150 random Australians to somehow come up with a supposed National consensus on how we are to move ahead on the issue of climate change - just in time to develop policy for the following term. To devolve responsibility on the most important issue facing the world to such an unrepresentative body and sham process will forever mark Julia Gillard time as leader of the Labor party.

Labor has instead put forward 4 key polices, which include the support of the expansion of coal fired power stations, continued support for Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, supporting renewable energy with the continuation of the "enhanced" Renewable Energy Target and subsidy of upgrading of the transmission network, improving emissions from cars including a cash for clunkers scheme that some claim will cost $400 for tonne of abatement to implement, and tax breaks for business to green their buildings.

There are no strong targets, no short term carbon price, no major public transport initiatives, no tackling of emissions from agriculture or forestry, no support for low income earners to pay for energy efficiency upgrades for their home unless they happen to be sleeping in their car.

Labor must also be judged on its term in office. The failure to go to a double dissolution on the issues of carbon trading; the deaths, fires and ripoffs that resulted from the failed home insulation scheme; the failed greenloans scheme; the low income retrofit scheme that was cancelled as it went out to tender; the changes to the renewable energy target that has and continues to turn thousands of small scale renewables into the most carbon intense power plants in the world (see theTarget 300 report) and almost collapsed our large scale renewable industry; the failure to ensure a national housing standard of 6 star or better for Australia homes; and finally the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme with its meaningless targets and its billions of dollar going to reward the worst polluters all point to Labor's dismal failure on climate change policy in their last term.

A party without a climate policy running Australia? Probably not a good idea.

Liberal
Strange as it may seem, the Liberal's climate policy more closely reflects a climate emergency response than Labor, as it has no future plan for a policy based on market mechanisms and a carbon price but directed government led action. Their decision to use soil carbon is innovative and clearly design to appeal to regional and rural voters, however sequestration of CO2 in soil carbon should be used to remove CO2 already in the atmosphere not offset current emissions.

The Liberal's logic around criticism of Labor's policy on cost is largely flawed. The Liberals claim they will be able to achieve their 5% reduction through the "emission reduction fund" at no cost to the public while Labors 5% reduction through the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is a "big new tax". Cleaning up power plants and putting carbon back in the soil doesn't come for free, but perhaps the savings are that the Liberals wont be paying the big polluter billions of dollars as Labor is proposing to do, or is it that the workers/conscripts of Liberals "Green Army" will be used to lend a helping hand?

One very good Liberal policy is returning to direct funding of small scale renewables, which would solve many of the problems associated with Labor's tampering of the Renewable Energy Target.

However, it must be remembered this Liberal opposition and its leader are dominated by climate change deniers, who have ousted their former leader for supporting a price on carbon. Interestingly the big carbon polluters must have been kicking them selves when the Liberals failed to support Labor's CRPS as the big polluters stood to be given billions.

Their continued denial is evident in the scare campaign they are running on a the issue of a price on carbon. Any meaningful action on climate change will require massive spending and restructuring of most sectors of our economy. Some actions will even save money, for example upgrading a 1 or 2 star energy rating home to 4 or 5 start will save around 50% or more of the power bills, more than offsetting the cost of transitioning to 100% renewable powered grid. The Liberals either don't understand this or intend to take no action on climate change.

A party controlled by climate change deniers running Australia? Probably not a good idea.

The Greens
The Greens are no longer the party they were in the 90s, when they were a party of principle, truth and grassroots politics; instead it has become a party of pragmatism and political opportunity.

Most Greens know how bad climate change is yet their party, candidates and elected representatives still advocate policy that, though stronger than Liberal or Labor, will not prevent a runaway climate change event. Excuses range from that they can't move ahead of the mainstream environment movement, whose lack of vision is another sad story, to they don't want to scare people. I suspect it has much more to do with the Greens wishing to not be seen to be too radical in order to ensure they gain control of the senate and become the new Democrats and secondly the influence of a changing demographic in the Greens membership with a reduction in the relative influence and numbers of environmentalists within the party.

As all Greens parliamentarians have the right to a conscious vote (except those from NSW for some reason) individual elected Greens have no excuse to run or support weak climate policy that will doom our planet. I hope history judges then appropriately for their failure of leadership over these past few years.

Their policy has improved with the work of groups such as Beyond Zero Emissions and the Green Leap Strategic Institute paving the way.

The Democrats
Still hanging in there despite disappearing from federal politics at the last election. Reasonable climate policies but not as strong as the Greens, though they have removed all references to targets. Also good polices on forests and oil peak.

Family First
Family First Senator Steve Fielding has been a vocal critic of established climate science during his term a senator in the Australian parliament, questioning its validity and attending a climate denier conference in the US. They have no separate climate change policy, incorporating the issue into a general environment and climate policy. This policy does not accept the global scientific consensus on human forced climate change; it calls Australia to wait for global agreement before responding with a carbon trading scheme, while being completely vague on its support or otherwise for nuclear and renewable energy, for example calling for renewable research rather than installation.

Christian Democratic Party
As at 28/7 the CPD still had not released its 2010 federal election policy, instead directing observers to the 2007 policies. Their policies falsely claim their is still debate between credible scientists on the basics facts around human forced climate change and that the media does not give fair treatment to the climate deniers. They do not support the UN Kyoto process, carbon trading, or any action on climate change that impacts on the economy.

Climate Sceptics
Actually Climate Deniers. Real skeptics, such Australian Skeptical Society base their analysis on a "responsible scientific viewpoint" and they say that in relation to human forced climate change, the science is not in doubt, and humans are the key problem.

Stable Population Party
A group focusing on stabilising Australia's population at 23-26 million through to 2050.

Sex Party
Not many climate related policies here but at least they advocate safe sex which will help keep the population down.