Australians go to the polls on July 2nd in a rare double dissolution national election. Every one of 226 political jobs across both Houses of Parliament is up for grabs. Whoever wins, the outcome is critical for how climate change features on the nation’s policy agenda to 2030 and beyond.
On Tuesday the 21st of June, just 11 nights out from the big vote, The Greenhouseis exploring the biggest election issue of all – Australia’s political response to the global climate crisis. What choices will we (and the government that we elect) make about reducing our carbon emissions, expanding our clean energy production and adapting our communities to a warming world?
Join our speaker panel of politically engaged experts as we critically examine a decade of turbulent policy, public debate and tentative hope for the future. In order to keep discussion relatively non-partisan, this event will not feature any current politicians pleading for your vote.
Speakers & Guests: (to be finalised)
Speakers
Moderators
Musical Performance:
- TBC - curated by students from Newtown School for Performing Arts
Program Overview
Lightning Talks – Aussie Climate Policy 101
Join our four top commentators as we set the scene for discussion with a four-part crash course in Australian climate policy:
- What has happened over the past ten years?
- Where are we now?
- What is the rest of the world up to?
- How is the Australian community responding?
Expect plain language and clear explanations that will bring you up to speed on the most important electoral issue of 2016.
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Join our speakers for a panel discussion as we unpack the power and politics of climate.
- From business to the media to civil society to the entrenched political establishment, what are the different interests in play here?
- What’s going on with this whole culture war thing and why is climate such a partisan issue in Australia?
- Has the environment movement failed to set the agenda?
- And most importantly, how can Australia shift to significant climate action for the next decade and cast aside the lost years of the past one?
60 Second Soap Box
Hear snapshots from some of the organisations working for progressive change on the climate.
More on our Speakers
Murray Hogarth Murray is Senior Advisor to Total Environment Centre public programs and author of The 3rd Degree: Frontline in Australia’s Climate War. He was previously environment editor for the Sydney Morning Herald and reporter for Four Corners and the Canberra press gallery
Murray will begin the evening with a rapid recap of the highs and lows of Australian climate policy over the past decade from the hopeful bipartisanship of 2007, through the rise and fall of the ‘carbon tax’, to the now heavily contested political battleground of climate and energy.
John ConnorJohn is CEO of the Climate Institute, a Sydney-based policy think-tank established in 2005 to encourage progressive policies for managing climate change in Australia.
John will explain what is on offer from the major parties on climate change this election - an update on who’s promising what, by when, and how they plan to get there. If you are unsure of what direct action is or how an emissions trading scheme works then you need to hear this.
Miriam Lyons Miriam is an Australian policy analyst, writer and commentator, currently working as a Senior Campaigner for GetUp! She was previously the founding Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Development.
From California to Germany, Scotland to New Zealand, Miriam will look at how other globally significant economies have done much better than Australia on climate policy. How were these successes achieved and what can we learn from them?
Claire O’RourkeClaire is National Director of Solar Citizens, an independent community-based organisation working to protect and grow solar in Australia and give a political voice to millions of solar owners and supporters.
Claire will explain how community support for climate leadership, combined with mass uptake of clean energy technologies, has become a significant force in shaping Australia’s environment policy, for the 2016 election and beyond.
How you vote is up to you. But engage and get better informed at VOTE 1 The Climate
SHARE YOUR ELECTION POSITION: Election candidates, political parties, industry lobbies and community groups are invited to attend as paying guests and participate in the general Q&A, network with other attendees, and provide relevant promotional materials on the ‘open table’ provided. You will not be allowed a speaker or panel role, and you should take any undistributed materials with you when you leave.
CLIMATE DENIERS NEED NOT APPLY: Please don’t come to this forum expecting to debate or refute the science of climate change, or to challenge the need for decisive policy action to end the fossil fuel era. It’s just not that kind of crowd!
Responsibility for election comment in this communication and for the event is accepted by A. Tovey, B. Ward and M. Hogarth, Sydney.
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