Speak Out

Speak Out is your space to have your voice heard. Write a letter to the editor, or the Minister responsible for an area. Click here for listings of Talkback Radio Stations in your area.

Demand science-based targets from your Government

With the Rudd Government's failure of an emissions trading scheme returning to the Senate on Tuesday, we Greens have been working hard to convince them to green it up.

To be environmentally and economically credible, the scheme needs ambitious emissions reduction targets and the array of design flaws that pay polluters to keep polluting and lock in failure need to be fixed.

Unfortunately, Minister Wong has told Bob Brown and Christine Milne that she would only discuss the Greens' proposed amendments if they first signed up to her woefully inadequate 5-25% targets. Obviously Minister Wong's demand that the Greens abandon both the science and any hope of a meaningful global agreement is unacceptable, and Bob and Christine have written to her urging her to reconsider.

Please tell Penny Wong that you want her to talk to the Greens and open her mind to meaningful, science-based emissions targets.

Remember, the letter will be more powerful if you write it yoursefl, but we have given you some pointers with the text below.

Go to form

Didn't we vote the Howard Government out? Remind Rudd and Turnbull why.

With Kevin Rudd talking tough about the desperate people he calls "illegal immigrants", I've had to remind myself several times recently that Australia voted out the Howard Government.

We still have an excision zone, we still have mandatory detention, and now we even have a Prime Minister trying to convince our neighbours in Indonesia to take the 'problem' off his hands. All the while, Malcolm Turnbull and his colleagues are baying for even harsher treatment.

When people flee persecution, they deserve to be treated fairly and have their human rights upheld. The Greens will always stand up for human rights, and we will continue to fight for these people to be brought to mainland Australia so their applications for asylum can be processed quickly and fairly.

You can email Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull and remind them that Australia rejected the politics of fear and hate.

Go to form

A message in a bottle to the Minister

It is time to put pressure on Australia's Environment Ministers to take the long overdue steps to establish a container deposit scheme.

Every year, Australians use and throw about 11 billion drink containers.

A 10 cent levy on all recyclable containers will be good for the environment and the economy

Go to form

Make your voice heard on Youth Allowance

In June of this year, the Rudd Government broke faith with tens of thousands of aspiring university students by making unfair changes to Youth Allowance in the May Budget. Now, the Deputy Prime Minister has announced that her Government is backing down on its start date for this change to Youth Allowance eligibility, to accommodate current gap year students. This backdown is your win.

You can have your say on what should happen next.

Go to form

Help keep WA GE free

The Western Australian Government is currently reviewing its Genetically Modified Crops Free Areas Act. WA is the biggest source of non-GE canola in Australia and it is vitally important that the state remains GE free.

Support the Greens' campaign for effective climate change action

Australia needs real domestic action on climate change. Unfortunately, the Rudd government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is deeply flawed.

The Government has announced that it will delay the scheme by one year and deliver another $2.2 billion in compensation to Australia’s biggest polluters—in addition to $7.4 billion the polluters are already getting.

The Greens are prepared to support a minimum unconditional 25% target – the bare minimum required by science and the global community – to end 12 years of climate inaction. And Treasury modelling shows it is affordable; by 2020 Australia’s GDP will be roughly three times the size it is today whether we have a ‘worse than useless’ 5% target or the minimum effective 25% target.

Now the Prime Minister faces a climate test. Will Kevin Rudd brown-down the CPRS by negotiating with the Coalition, or will he green up the CPRS by negotiating with the Greens?

You can support the Greens by showing the Prime Minister that Australians support an emissions trading scheme that protects the environment, not polluters.

Go to form

Write a Letter to the Editor

Make your voice heard!

Do you have something to say? Feel like your Government is not listening to your concerns? Then use our letter writing facility to get your point across. Send a letter to all the major media outlets in Australia by filling in the fields below.