February 8th 2010
Media Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
ONLY 33% OF AUSTRALIANS SUPPORT AN ETS
Australian Climate Science Coalition (ACSC) Executive Director Max Rheese today called on the
Federal Government to abandon the
“Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme” (CPRS) and
investigate alternative measures for dealing with climate variability.
“According to new research only 33 per cent of Australians support the CPRS while 51 per cent
oppose it. This is a substantial decline since October last year when support was at 40 per cent
and opposition at 42 per cent.”
“The federal government is losing the political high ground on global warming as the public
deserts the ‘Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme’. It is in the national
interest to find alternative
policies which will have public support,” Mr Rheese said.
New research
commissioned by the ACSC shows
that public perceptions had changed
significantly over the last six
months. The ACSC supports a national climate policy, geared to
adaption, rather than the current ‘global warming policy’.
Separate polling for BBC News released on Friday, shows that only 26 per cent of those in the
UK believe in the theory of global warming caused by man. This is a massive collapse in support
of 15 per cent since November 2009.
“The debacle in Copenhagen demonstrated the futility of Australia adopting a ‘go-it-alone’
strategy. It also demonstrated that the government’s catastrophic view of climate change was not
shared by the large emitting nations.
“Public faith has also been shaken in the IPCC’s version of the science with the release of the
‘Climategate’ emails showing key climate researchers manipulating data, breaking the law by
refusing FOI requests, and standing-over colleagues who questioned their research outcomes or
methodology.
“In addition a number of other dubious claims have been shown to have been incorporated in
IPCC reports sourced from green lobbyists, newspaper reports and even in one case a student
essay.”
Mr Rheese said that the public was also becoming better educated about the long-term variability
and nature of climate through works by sceptical scientists like Professor Ian Plimer, and the
current tour by British peer Christopher Monckton.
“The Australian Climate Science Coalition believes that climate always changes and government
policies should be robust enough to deal with issues of warming and cooling, to focus on areas
where they can make a significant difference to the lives of individual Australians.
“The CPRS is a complicated financial scheme that will tax all Australians, achieve no reductions
in CO2 emissions and send Australian jobs overseas.”
Key points in the research were:
33% support the CPRS, down from 40% last October, and 51% now oppose, compared to
42% last year.
47% of voters are not prepared to pay any more for electricity because of climate change,
mostly because they do not believe climate change poses a substantial risk.
Only 30% of voters were prepared to pay more than $20 per month for electricity to avoid
climate change.
In January this year 57% of Australians believed CO2 is a greenhouse gas and 23%
disagree. In October last year the figures were 62% and 23%.
54% of Australians agreed in January this year that manmade emissions were contributing
to global warming, while 29% disagreed.
49% of Australians agree now that there is a risk of catastrophic climate change, down from
55% in October last year. Those who disagree are currently at 33%, up from 31% last year.
51% believe Australia should take unilateral action on climate change and 42% do not.
The research was conducted by The National Forum, drawing on data from their regular quarterly
BBC News climate change poll Feb 2010
-
ENDS -
The Australian Climate Science Coalition, is an affiliate of
the International Climate Science
Coalition
and was formed by a group of scientists and professional people interested in
encouraging continued scientific research into the world’s climate and in particular into the effects
of increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The mission of the ACSC is to
promote open scientific debate on the causes of climate change. ACSC is an apolitical, not for
profit, science advisory group. For more information about the ACSC, visit www.auscsc.org.au
ACSC Executive Director: Max Rheese 0428 621 320 Email: info@auscsc.org.au
NEWS 
