Parents for Climate said the results of a candidate pledge, circulated in the lead up to the election, show the Coalition as disappointingly weak on its support for solar and home batteries - hugely popular policies supported by the Senate Residential Electrification Inquiry.
The pledge was sent to all candidates in the weeks prior to polling. It reads, “If elected, I will work to reduce the cost of energy and protect homes, schools and early childhood centres from extreme heat by supporting access to cheap energy powered by solar and batteries.”
At the time of writing, only two Liberal party candidates had pledged, compared to eight from right-wing party Trumpet of Patriots.
CEO Nic Seton said Parents for Climate always tried hard to work with all sides of politics, and had hoped more Coalition candidates would have pledged their support for more permanent cost saving energy solutions.
“It’s in families’ interests that there’s bipartisan support for common-sense solutions like rooftop solar and batteries that cut living costs, because we don’t want support to chop and change with every election. We’ve secured support from almost 400 candidates, but we’re left wondering what happened to the Coalition's household energy plans.
“It’s no surprise that Greens, Labor and independents have backed our pledge.
But it is surprising that more candidates further to the right of the Coalition have pledged support for household solar and batteries than candidates from the Coalition itself.”
“The Coalition promised support for home batteries, assuring us they’d announce a competing policy soon. We took that in good faith, but with only days left before polling day, where is the policy?”
Currently 398 candidates from a total of 19 political parties have pledged their support for increasing access to rooftop solar and home batteries to cut the cost of living.
ENDS
Media contacts:
Nic Seton, CEO Parents for Climate: 0407 638 973, [email protected]
BACKGROUND
* Parents for Climate candidate pledge:
https://www.parentsforclimate.org/candidate_pledge