The Daily Telegraph
By: Simon Benson and Malcolm Farr
More than 80 per cent of people in NSW want the Federal Government to act on climate change now, according to an exclusive poll suggesting major parties have misread the electoral mood.
The findings revealed a large majority of people want immediate action on climate change, with only 10 per cent believing Australia should wait for the rest of the world to act. Less than 8 per cent supported doing nothing.
The national poll of 1000 people at the weekend by online polling company Pureprofile, commissioned by lobbyist firm Parker and Partners, revealed 82 per cent of people wanted either strong or moderate action immediately.
In the key election battlegrounds of NSW and Queensland, four out of five people wanted action taken now.
Labor has yet to release a climate change policy. Prime Minister Julia Gillard, however, has said she would not act on an emissions trading scheme without community consensus.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has ruled out a carbon price under a Coalition government.
"Both the Federal Government and the Opposition have misread the level of ongoing community concern," Parker and Partners CEO Sarah Cruickshank said.
"It directly challenges the notion that Australians want to wait until the rest of the world acts.
"It also challenges the notion that action on climate change is confined to inner-city trendies.
"These results show concern about the need to take action on climate change is just as strong in regional Australia.
"Whichever major party can demonstrate to the electorate that it will take meaningful action to address climate change will benefit from increased popular support."
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott yesterday said he would prune many of former opponent Kevin Rudd's favourite projects to help get $46 billion in spending cuts.
Proposed casualties included the petrol price tsar ($4 million over four years); the bid for a seat on the UN Security Council ($5.7 million over four years); community cabinet meetings ($10 million a year); and most state and federal government summits ($300,000).
The Liberals also want to abolish climate change measures including the $300 million bid to develop "clean coal" processes, and the $40 million Retooling For Climate Change Initiative.
Added to previously announced cuts, the Opposition would hack back spending by $45.8 billion.
Claims of waste and the need for reduced spending will be a major theme of the Coalition's campaign.
This was reinforced last night by a new Liberal advertisement accusing Labor of "trying to escape their record of three years of debt, waste and mismanagement".
"Debt and deficit is probably the critical issue of this campaign," Mr Abbott said yesterday.
"Getting debt and deficit under control is the most important contribution that the Government can make to economic reform."
The Liberal leader said his proposed cuts would reduce costs and not services, but Labor leader Julia Gillard disagreed.
"My understanding is that the list of cuts he announced includes cuts to infrastructure which would ease congestion, cuts to the kind of productive investments that help keep upward pressure off interest rates," Ms Gillard said.
Labor, which is promising to get the Budget back to surplus by 2013, has pledged any spending it announces during the campaign will be off-set by cuts in other areas.
Other programs Mr Abbott yesterday said he would slash included $18.3 million over four years for the Human Rights Framework, a body promoting interest in human rights.
He also would block $400 million the Government wants to add to a State Infrastructure Fund over four years, and save $100 million which was to be spent on retraining and redeploying Telstra staff.