Climate change has been a major issue generating a multitude of opinions this election, and the major parties have been keen to appear to be taking it seriously.

Finding solutions to global warming has become a cause supported by people from a variety of political persuasions. 

Not satisfied with the plans of the ALP, the Coalition and the Greens, two new parties - the Conservatives for Climate and Environment and the Climate Change Coalition - are advocating other possibilities.  

“We believe in a strong economy, we probably most of us would have otherwise voted Liberal but the government's not doing very well on environment,” says Richard Mc Neall, NSW Senate candidate for Conservatives for Climate and Environment. 

McNeall's party supports the Greens' efforts on Climate Change but differs from them on social and economic matters. “The people in our party are perhaps more business oriented people and we see that economic methods are the prime ones that are going to drive [solutions to Climate Change].” 

Conservatives for Climate and Environment are entering six candidates for the Senate and four for the House of Representatives. 

The Conservatives for Climate and Environment's major policies are to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, to put in place a carbon tax and to provide “a strong incentive for people to reduce their consumption and a strong incentive for renewable energy,” says Mc Neall.  

But Jeff Angel, Director of the Total Environment Centre, says a carbon tax would be too narrow and ineffective to create any real change.  

“I've never supported a carbon tax because it doesn't ensure that the funds that are raised are sent directly to carbon abatement strategies or industries,” he says. The tax would only target energy consumption, he adds, neglecting other important aspects such as the waste sector and the transport sector. 

In terms of making an impact, Angel believes that although these two minor parties may have no direct impact on policy change, they are able to raise awareness. “Their main benefit is being able to get publicity and to advocate for substatnital climate change policies,” he says.  

Skye Laris, from the Climate Institute, says that if the government was to use a carbon tax, “one of the key things for Australia will be whether or not it can be built on and made compatible with an international trading scheme.” 

The Climate Change Coalition is entering eleven candidates for the Senate, including Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, and seven for the House of Representatives. Their major policy focus, according to their website, is to scrutinise every piece of legislation for its impacts on climate change. 

The party's Wentworth Candidate, Dixie Coulton, recently told electiontracker she’d like to see a Australia ratify the Kyoto protocol, no newcoal stations, mandatory emission reduction targets to return emission rates to 1990 levels, the creation of a market-based carbon trading system, and a shift to renewable energy.

The emergence of the two new parties is a sign, according to Laris, of the public placing an increasing amount of importance on tackling climate change. According to recent polling by the Climate Institute, 73 per cent of people in marginal seats said climate change would impact their votes. 

“So that does create a place for people from a range of views, from other political areas, they may be conservative basically in their views, they may be progressive, but climate change is the top issues for a great many of them regardless of what some of the other issues might be,” says Laris.

Nidhi Prakash is studying Journalism and International Studies the University of Technology, Sydney. 

Photo: Michael Miner