Young Voters Want Climate Change Action, But Neither Party Seems Willing

Australians, especially young Australians, are more likely than ever to be aware of climate change and dissatisfied with what the government is doing about it.

In the lead up to the election, a recent report from Galaxy polling by the Climate Institute showed that 70 percent of Australians believe climate change is occurring, up from 64 percent in 2012. Those who believe that the human impact is the main cause is also up from 20 percent in 2012 to 41 percent today.

The findings also show that many are uncertain about which party to vote for because the majority of people don't think that either major party has a credible plan to reduce carbon emissions. Only eight percent of people think that ignoring climate change is a legitimate course of action, but every other voter is clearly unhappy. CEO of The Climate Institute, John Connor, said that "Our main political parties urgently need to catch up."

The institute put together a table that show how Australia will rank compared to the rest of the world in terms of G20 goals under the plans of Coalition, Labor, NXT, the Greens and GLT.

The Liberal Government promised to cut emissions by 2030 by 26 percent while Labor has promised a 45 percent cut.

Under the Liberal Government, this would rank Australia 18th in the world–next to Saudi Arabia–and 15th under –next to South Africa and Turkey–despite two thirds of Australians who expect the country to be a world leader in climate change action.

But it's young people who are expecting action on climate change the most.

People aged 18-34 are more likely to believe that climate change is occurring (78 percent), that the government needs to take the issue more seriously (70 percent) and that ignoring climate change will make matters worse (76 percent.) This is in comparison to the 38 percent of people over 55 who believe that climate change is exaggerated, and the 42 percent who say they wouldn't vote for a party that would bring back the carbon tax.

The Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth survey also showed that young people rank climate change as one of the top three issues in the election–alongside asylum seekers and same-sex marriage.

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