It is now taking aim at the Renewable Energy Target (RET), despite previously expressing support for it, but that support was shown to be a sham the moment it appointed fossil fuel industry supporter and climate denialist Dick Warburton to head the RET review.

The community is not taking this attack on renewables lying down, and the Australian Solar Council is holding public meetings in every marginal seat in the country following the government’s review of the RET. On Wednesday night they were in Queanbeyan, Eden-Monaro. You would think that a meeting about the RET and implications of the government’s review into it would be attended by an electorate’s local member, but no, Peter Hendy’s chair, was vacant.

This was a community meeting organised by a peak body and attended by several hundred voters. It was evident from the mood in the packed auditorium that there has been a shift in how people are viewing the actions of the government and how willing they are to mobilise.

We need to change the way we do politics, and part of that is adopting a set of firm principles on which to base important decisions about the future viability of a country and its communities. The Australian people deserve better than a government that is willing to gamble with their future social, economic and environmental health through its support for an outdated and polluting fossil fuel industry and its obvious hatred of anything even remotely connected with The Greens.

Catherine Moore

The Greens Party