Cars were honking along High Street in Wodonga on Wednesday afternoon, as a group of concerned residents raised their worries about a lack of action on climate change.
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After the National Energy Guarantee was cut back and Peter Dutton challenged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the Liberal leadership this week, they were worried climate change was not being taken seriously in Canberra.
The group gathered outside of Indi MP Cathy McGowan’s office to make their point.
Plasticwise Wodonga member Elizabeth Malone said Mr Dutton had expressed even less interest than the current leadership.
“We’re here to tell Cathy McGowan that we don’t want her to guarantee supply to Dutton unless he commits to the Paris agreement reductions,” she said.
“There doesn’t seem to be a sense of urgency.
“We’ve got lots of little kids here, it’s going to be their planet in the future and they feel the urgency and we feel the urgency for them.”
The Coalition’s balance of power is dependent on Ms McGowan’s vote as one of the independents in Parliament.
The group at yesterday’s demonstration wanted to make the point that climate change was the number one priority for many of her constituents, who considered themselves more “normal” and “reasonable” than Mr Dutton.
Children helped make the posters with words such as “our planet” and “honk for the planet”.
Ms Malone said politicians were “hijacking the conversation” by making leadership the focus when it came to debate around the environment.
Mr Turnbull this week said NEG legislation would not be introduced until it had party support and he shelved plans to implement a 26 per cent reduction in emissions.
"We are not going to propose legislation purely for the purpose of it being defeated," he said.
