Friday, 15 May
The WA Greens have condemned the government for its continued lack of leadership and inability to take responsibility for addressing climate change in this state.
Neither the 2015 State Budget nor the forward estimates include any money for the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Scheme, of which only $40,000 was allocated in the 2013-2014 state budget.
A simple search of the budget papers reveals no mention at all of global warming, sea level rising, climate change mitigation or adaptation.
WA Greens spokesperson on Climate Change Robin Chapple MLC said the 2015 state budget was a climate deficient budget from a gutless government bluntly refusing to accept any responsibility for an issue to which it was a significant contributor.
“This government are like a flock of ostriches standing around with their collective heads in the sand,” Mr Chapple said.
“They have abdicated all responsibility for addressing the elephant in the room that is climate change to the federal government, who are subsequently equally hard at work being idle.
“Western Australia is on target to triple its emissions; we continue to provide outrageous subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and lucrative contracts to ensure they stay in business for decades to come.
“The Premier is proposing to borrow a further $8 billion to cover WA’s spiralling debt yet for example almost $10 million will be spent on grants and subsidies for mining exploration in the next fiscal year alone; this just does not stack up.”
Mr Chapple said the lengths to which the Government of Western Australia would go to palm off accountability on climate change were outright embarrassing.
“Western Australia was the only state not to send representatives to meet with Executive Secretary to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Christiana Figueres in South Australia earlier this month,” he said.
“This was an opportunity to be a part of an international discussion on how to tackle climate change as a nation and we believe is not an accurate representation of how the people of WA feel we should be approaching this monumental problem.
“What actions like these say to the rest of Australia, and to the rest of the world, is that Western Australia does not accept that climate change is an issue worth addressing nor is it an issue that we need to accept responsibility for.
“This is frankly ridiculous; per capita we have some of the highest pollution levels in the world and it is simply not acceptable for our government to continue treating what is the greatest issue of this generation as a low priority.”
For comment please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.
Media liaison: Tim Oliver // 0431 9696 25
