The Great Barrier Reef is almost certainly going to suffer permanent damage due to coral bleaching if countries do not act to reduce carbon emissions, the Fifth Assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said on March 31.
Gemma Weedall from Climate Emergency Action Network (CLEAN) and Socialist Alliance shares her insights into the early days of the campaign that won solar thermal for Port Augusta.
The Australian Climate Commission says this is the “critical decade” to cut emissions. The Socialist Alliance says Australia’s climate response must be based on the climate science, which says we cannot delay action.
For serious climate action to be a reality we need a society where the majority of people — workers, farmers, students, the poor, First Nations people and refugees, the victims of climate change — are making decisions in the interests of our collective future.
A primary purpose of its energy policy is to strengthen the broad climate change movement. In particular, the Alliance commits itself towards encouraging the trade union movement to support and adopt adequate climate change and alternative energy plans.
Finance minister Mathias Cormann has threatened the opposition parties that if they continue to block key budget measures — such as the demolition of universal health care and welfare, the deregulation of university fees, and the hike in the interest rate on student HECS debts — then the government would be forced to look at raising taxes.
And so it begins — an offensive, on behalf of the Australian ruling class and corporate interests, to steal the future from the majority of Australians, to dismantle what remains of our social welfare system, in order to carry out, in the words of Treasurer Joe Hockey, "the government's solemn duty ... to build a stronger Australia".
We can’t rely on the fossil fools in parliament. It is going to take people power to stop Adani once and for all, and to move to a safe climate future.
The Socialist Alliance is using the federal election to popularise the idea that we need bring mines, banks and power companies into democratic public ownership. Here are five reasons why this is a good idea.
There is ample evidence that people across Australia want a transition to renewable energy. But if we are serious about taking action on climate change and swiftly moving to 100% renewables, we need to take the banks and energy sector into public ownership.
Scientists are telling us we must phase out coal quickly or risk an uninhabitable planet. Coal burning now accounts for around 36% of Australia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; mining and handling coal adds even more — all subsidies to the coal industry must end.