Vote Compass: Australians Back Carbon Pricing, Want More Action On Climate Change

ABC News - Jake Sturmer | Clare Blumer

John Hewson says Tony Abbott did not win the last election by trashing the carbon tax.

Three years on from Tony Abbott's successful campaign to "axe" the carbon tax, new figures show a significant majority of Australians now support putting a price on carbon emissions.
The data has prompted former Liberal leader John Hewson to cast doubt on the political truism that former Liberal leader Tony Abbott's campaign to "axe" the carbon tax won him the last election.
Data from the ABC's Vote Compass shows 63 per cent of Australians support a price on carbon emissions, up from 50 per cent during the 2013 election.
The results also show three-quarters of Australians want the government to do more to tackle climate change.
Mr Hewson, who broke ranks with his party in 2011 by

Key points 63 per cent of Australians want carbon pricing back. 74 per cent support more government action on climate change. Coalition voters remain split on carbon pricing.

supporting an emissions trading scheme, said the electorate had been ahead of government positions on climate change for 15 years.
"I know the party feels they won the last election on the carbon tax but the bottom line to me is they won the election as a vote against the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government," Mr Hewson told the ABC.
"Abbott just ran a massive scare campaign on the carbon tax and he was helped in that ...
"[Labor] never tried to counteract that at all, they never tried to market why they were doing it and linking it with the science and trying to educate the electorate."

Rural communities back more action

Vote Compass found 70 per cent of people in rural communities wanted to see the government take more action on climate change, while rural support for carbon pricing was at 57 per cent.
"Traditionally those [rural] communities have been very sceptical about climate change but some of the things happening in those regional communities in terms of extreme temperatures, in terms of drought and in terms of a
range of other phenomena have really confronted people," Centre of Excellence for Climate Science director Andy Pitman said.
Mr Hewson said urban and rural voters alike now understood climate change was real and wanted action.
"I notice that recent feature [article] of [Nationals leader] Barnaby Joyce, where he looked down at a creek and said, 'maybe climate change is real'," Mr Hewson said.
"I think the rural community understand these issues. They understand climate perhaps better than some people in the city."

Coalition split evident on carbon pricing
Coalition voters remained divided on carbon pricing, although support was up 13 per cent compared to 2013 when Mr Abbott campaigned almost daily against the carbon tax.

These findings are based on 252,309 respondents to the carbon pricing question, and 20,703 respondents to the climate change question, who participated in Vote Compass from May 8 to May 31, 2016. The data has been weighted to ensure the sample reflects the Australian population. [Read the Vote Compass data FAQ]

Climate Change         View more policies
Coalition     »		Labor     »		Greens     »
A 28 per cent reduction on 2005 levels by 2030; continue $2.55 billion in Emissions Reduction Fund to encourage companies to reduce emissions.		Introduce two emissions trading schemes: one for the electricity sector and one for other large emitters; a 45 percent drop in carbon emissions on 2005 level by 2030.		Put a price on carbon and a levy on coal exports; no Australian greenhouse gas emissions within a decade; no new coal-fired power stations or coal mines.

Links

• Vote Compass carbon price results
• Vote Compass climate change results
• Vote Compass Coalition carbon pricing results