The Australian Electoral Commission has today announced its final federal electoral boundaries in Victoria. The changes put pressure on both major parties to step up on climate action to secure marginal seats where climate change is a high ranking issue.
The margin in the inner Melbourne seat of Wills has halved from 8% to 4% between the sitting Labor MP Peter Khalil and The Greens. Climate policy - and specifically the phase out of coal and gas - will be a key issue in Wills at the next federal election with more than half (57%) of voters saying they would be less likely to support an MP who didn’t take strong enough action on climate change.
“Our seat-by-seat polling following the 2022 election[1] showed 50% of voters in Wills ranked climate change in their top three policy concerns and 81% wanted a stronger emissions target of 50% reduction by 2030, compared to the Labor Government’s target of 43%,” said Elly Baxter, Senior Campaigner at Solutions for Climate Australia.
The suburban Melbourne seat of Menzies is now notionally Labor with a margin of 0.4% from the sitting Liberal MP Keith Wolahan.
“For the Liberals to retain Menzies, they will need to consider the 72% of voters in the seat who support an emissions reduction target of 50% by 2030, when the Coalition has refused to set a 2030 target. 44% of voters said they would be less likely to vote for an MP who didn’t address climate change. That’s a huge challenge for the Liberal member as the Coalition has walked back support for emissions reduction, renewable energy. Their scheme for nuclear reactors will also be a cause of concern for these voters as it would see at least two billion tonnes of additional climate pollution between now and 2050[2],” said Baxter.
Finalised electoral boundaries in New South Wales are expected next week, with draft redistributions indicating similar trends towards climate as a key issue in marginal seats.
ENDS
For interview:
Senior Campaigner at Solutions for Climate Australia Elly Baxter: 0407 163 921
Local climate campaigners in Wills and Menzies available on request
Notes for Editors
[1] Solutions for Climate Australia commissioned seat-by-seat polling following the 2022 federal election which was conducted by YouGov. YouGov interviewed 9,468 Australians who voted in the 2022 Federal Election between 13/05/2022 to 23/05/2022. Interviews were only conducted after the respondent had already voted. The results have been weighted to age x gender, gender x location, region and the current primary vote results. The methodology used is compliant with the Australian Polling Council Code and a methodology statement is available upon request.
[2] Solutions for Climate Australia analysis showed the Coalitions plan for nuclear reactors would at least 2.3 billion tonnes of additional carbon emissions compared to the Integrated Scenario Plan Step Change scenario https://www.solutionsforaustralia.net/news/nuclear-reactors-a-disaster-for-climate