Australians give leaders 1,000 reasons to say ‘yes’

Say Yes Australia is today taking the voices of the community to Canberra with messages of support from across the country urging Members of Parliament to vote ‘yes’ to historic bills to price carbon pollution.







As part of a people-powered campaign that has engaged the Australian community, Say Yes Australia has collected thousands of messages from people of all walks of life – teachers, nurses, scientists, economists, mums, students, retirees – sharing the reasons they want action on climate change.

One thousand of these messages will be planted on the lawns of Parliament House, the placards acting as a reminder to Australian leaders of the reasons to say yes to pricing carbon pollution. The messages have also been compiled into books to be presented to Members of Parliament in Canberra today.

“The messages on these placards represent the voices of many more thousands in the community, young and old, calling for urgent action on climate change and reminding our leaders why it is so important,” said Ellen Sandell, Australian Youth Climate Coalition National Director.

“Tomorrow our leaders will vote on one of the most important pieces of legislation ever tabled in Australia, for our economic prosperity, our precious species and places, and the future for our children,” said Kellie Caught, WWF-Australia’s Head of Climate Change.

“We are urging all politicians to vote ‘yes’ to this important first step to help deliver new investment in clean energy, help take up to a billion tonnes of pollution out of our skies and begin to tackle climate change,” said Dae Levine, Acting CEO of Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

Alongside voices from the community, there will be messages on the lawns of Parliament from prominent Australians, including former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who have joined with Say Yes Australia to remind leaders why the carbon price is an important reform for all Australians.

“Today I say yes to a carbon price because my experience as Prime Minister tells me that, quite often, what seem like tough decisions must be made if we are properly to discharge our responsibilities to future generations,” said former Prime Minister Bob Hawke in a message of support.

In support of the Say Yes campaign, former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser said “the overwhelming body of scientific evidence supports the need for change. Many countries are well ahead of Australia. We need to act or we will fall further behind.”

"Climate change hits the poor in developing nations the hardest. We Aussies can show real leadership and act now. That's why I say yes to a different future for the poorest of the poor,” said David Pocock, Australian Wallabies and Western Force Rugby union player.

“I say yes because this is the most important thing we can do for our nation this century,” said John Hewson, former Leader of the Liberal Party.

“I say yes because life on this planet is going to be comprehensively degraded if humanity doesn’t curb the excessive use of carbon which is altering the way nature functions,” said Bob Carr, former Premier of NSW.
“We are perilously close to the two degrees warming that will cause dire consequences for human beings and their environment.”

Posted in: Australia, Detox, English, Oceania, WWF's