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Independent Member for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, will today present a petition in Federal Parliament calling on the Government to abandon its dangerous and short-sighted plan for a gas-led recovery from the pandemic-induced economic downturn.

“Today I’m presenting a petition from the People’s Climate Assembly, calling on the Government to abandon its dangerous and short-sighted plan for a gas-led recovery from the recent economic downturn.

“If it weren’t so tragic it would be laughable, because science tells us that no developed country has more to lose from climate change-fuelled extreme weather than Australia. But nonetheless our Government continues to press on with its archaic plan to expand gas production across the country, at the taxpayer’s expense, even though gas is obviously a fossil fuel, and that resorting to it will lock in emissions for decades with catastrophic consequences.

“Already we’ve seen bushfires, heatwaves and floods destroying homes and livelihoods. And all the while the Government squabbles internally over a 2050 net zero thought bubble and the delusion of “low emissions coal”. And frankly the Opposition isn’t much better, the community being left to ask of Labor “so what’s your plan?”

“But it doesn’t have to be like this, because we could accept the inevitable shift to renewable energy, support our transitioning industries, create green jobs, lead the way in community owned energy and storage, and take advantage of Australia’s abundant renewable resources.”

A copy of the petition can be found at https://www.aph.gov.au/petition_list?id=EN2239