Urgent: Does this sound renewable to you? get up

It was the comment that got everyone talking. On Thursday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott used primetime radio to boast about cutting clean energy, calling wind farms “visually awful” and arguing “I would frankly have liked to have reduced the number a lot more”. ¹

Now, his government is kicking straight into action by rescheduling a parliamentary vote for Monday morning to slash jobs and investment for Renewable Energy Target (RET).

But here’s the kicker: Monday’s proposed legislation won’t just cut investment in clean energy. The Abbott Government wants to redefine ‘clean energy’ altogether, by including burning native forests in the Renewable Energy Target. A move like this could see the open slather logging of forests that our Australian wildlife depend on for survival. Just as terrible: every native forest cut down and burnt for electricity takes away from capacity and more investment in the clean energy of the future – like solar.

The Senate is our last chance to stop this. Key Senators have already been getting hundreds of calls from GetUp members, and reports are they are seriously considering their position in the face of the public pressure. We’ve got just one last shot – on Monday morning – to make a final impression, and that’s to show how thousands of Australians cared enough to open their wallets to put this ad in the paper before this critical vote.

Chip in now to put this full page ad in the Canberra Times on Monday morning

Join the calls to save our forests and clean energy industry.

When Senators and their staff open the paper on Monday morning, we need to make sure that the dangers of this legislation are front and centre.

They have the power to stop it. Let’s make sure they have the facts when this comes to a vote.

Thanks for all you do,
Paul and Jess for the GetUp team.

[1] ‘Awful and noisy’: Tony Abbott slams wind farms during interview with Alan Jones. Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June 2015.