Australian Democrats Global Climate policy
OBJECTIVES
To protect human and environmental health, together with quality of life, by minimising and preventing the contamination of the air commons; to prevent climate change by substantially reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and ozone depleting substances; and ensuring Australia anticipates and is prepared for the social, ecological and economic consequences of rapid global climate change.
PRINCIPLES
1. The urgent introduction of legislation to improve the detail of emissions inventories in Australian cities and towns and guarantee community access to the data;
2. Adoption of the world’s highest ambient air quality standards and corresponding agreed measures for maintaining satisfactory air quality, and ensuring all pollution control legislation and policy acknowledges international guidelines and agreements to which Australia is a signatory.
3. Fostering better understanding of and protection for native wildlife and plants from the effects of air pollution.
4. Introduction of community air quality and climate change education programs with special program targeting of public agencies, politicians, industries by sector and the broader community.
5. Introduction of incentives to reduce air pollution including tax concessions, full cost pricing of products, favoured government contracts, rate reductions, eligibility for grants and government subsidies.
6. Introduction of effective penalties for polluters including clean-up costs, implementation of environmental management plans, compensation to affected parties (including legal aid), financial penalties, restitution and gaol.
7. Applying the precautionary principle of withholding licensing of emissions and industrial developments until all health effects are accurately identified and found to be acceptable to the community.
8. Community access to comprehensive air quality data from all sources including monitoring, self-reporting and modelling, and supporting the right of community members to report and trigger investigations, restraint orders and independent, public inquiries where guidelines or legislation are clearly breached with adequate legal and technical assistance.
9. Improved monitoring of pollution by independent agencies, and the development and implementation of regional air quality strategies for all urban air sheds, with full, fair and adequately resourced community participation in the policy making process.
10. The inclusion of air quality strategies in urban transport management policies and projects, mandatory emissions standards for new vehicles and otherwise reducing private motor vehicle dependence.
11. Annual vehicle emissions testing of private and publicly owned car fleets, buses and heavy vehicles with means tested economic assistance to reduce vehicle emissions.
12. The introduction of air quality alerts on days of potentially or actually high ground-level ozone and particulate levels.
13. Ensuring better understanding and community awareness of indoor air quality and pollutants such as house-dust mites, tobacco smoke, Legionella, asbestos, etc and developing clean air building standards and other preventative and protective measures, together with wider community health reforms.
14. Progressively reducing national and per capita greenhouse gas emission levels and reliance on fossil fuels to well below current levels and across all sectors.
15. Introducing régimes of tradeable greenhouse gas emission rights as an interim measure only and only where these are based on good science, genuine environmental efficiency and developed by thorough public consultation.
16. Supporting an international framework for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions with targets binding on all industrialised countries, and developing patterns and mechanisms of international aid and exchange to allow newly industrialising countries to reduce their emissions.
17. The strategic removal of direct and indirect public subsidies to inefficient and non-renewable industries.
18. The use of taxes, levies and ‘polluter-pays’ instruments designed to reduce and limit greenhouse gas emissions, as well as encourage business innovation in environmental efficiency.
19. Ensuring the replacement or complete containment of substances that are known, to or suspected of, depleting stratospheric ozone through a range of industrial and production reforms.
20. Ensuring technologies and methods of replacing and containing ozone-depleting substances are made available to industrialising countries and supporting an international framework of containment.
21. Supporting a global ban on the test-detonation of nuclear and thermonuclear devices and the removal of the threat of (even limited) nuclear conflict, and seeking ways of minimising the damage to the stratospheric ozone layer from space vehicle launches.
22. Developing a national strategy that prepares Australia for anticipated changes in climate, weather and sea levels, as well the regional economic and social consequences of rapid global climate change.
23. Assisting small island states and other areas deemed to be especially prone to global warming-induced changes to sea level, weather patterns, disease and agriculture. This will include accepting environmental refugees as required.
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