Please use this guidance to support and represent Australian Parents for Climate Action at polling booths. See the quick summary table and QandA below.

QandA

Australian Parents for Climate Action has called on the Federal Government to help families struggling with cost of living pressures, by providing more affordable access to electric vehicles and installation of solar panels to their homes.

While the temporary, one off tax cuts announced in yesterday’s Federal Budget will help alleviate some of the financial burdens families face today, a permanent solution is needed. Investment in renewable energy for households across Australia would help make painful price surges in fuel and energy a thing of the past.

“Cost of living is a huge issue for Australian parents who are struggling with rising fuel prices and stagnant wages,” said Nic Seton, CEO of Parents for Climate Action. “If the Federal Government invested more in renewable energy our weekly bills would fall, our carbon emissions would drop, and we would be creating jobs.”

Mother of three, Julia Jones, from Perth, has been able to afford solar panels and an electric vehicle. She said: “Our electricity bills now are as low as $30-$40 a month in Spring and Autumn, and this includes charging our car. On average, families in Western Australia spend $134 a month on petrol - and that was before the increase in petrol prices. We are lucky that we can afford to do this all upfront, and then save money in the long run. It should be much easier and more affordable for all Australian families to be able to get these weekly savings and reduce their cost of living.”

Palani Subramanian in Blacktown said: “Replacing gas for cooking & heating by electricity from solar panels will definitely be a win-win for my family, saving $1000 per year but also saving my family from respiratory diseases like asthma associated with gas use, and therefore also reduce health costs for the government.

“We have always managed with public transport with one child. However, after our second child it became impossible. While we wanted to buy an Electric Vehicle, the cost was at least three to four times more than a petrol car. If subsidies, tax exemptions & interest free loans were available for EVs, we could be saving at least $75 every week on today's high cost of living. And solar panels in my house can charge my EV instead of exporting energy to grid at one fourth the price of importing from the grid. “

Ends

For more information or interviews contact: Nic Seton on 0407 638 973 or Emily Watkins on 0420 622 408.

Responding to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s National Emergency Declaration announcement for the ongoing flooding, Australian Parents for Climate Action demands a more genuine response to increasingly frequent and severe climate disasters.

Australian Parents for Climate Action highlights the gravity and severity of the latest climate science report from the IPCC.

This report arrives while the people of South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales are being hit with extreme flooding. Climate change is affecting our water cycle - wet areas are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier. Rain is being experienced more in the form of intense downpours, leading to greater risk of floods.

Australian Parents for Climate Action welcomes Labor’s climate policy announcement today, including a target of a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030. The package is a positive step forward that will create jobs in renewable energy and see Australia move in the same direction as the rest of the world. 

But the 43% target is still behind our major allies and trading partners like the US and UK, and would keep Australia lagging in the race to prosper from clean economic development. 

Following the announcement, Australian Parents for Climate Action (AP4CA) CEO, Nic Seton, said, “Parents across Australia will be relieved to see Labor propose a cleaner and safer economic plan than the one currently on offer from the Morrison Government. This is welcome progress, but we’re left waiting for the real deal. The test for what’s needed to secure a safe climate is crystal clear: scientists have said the world must cut global emissions in half this decade.” 

“This needs to be seen as the opportunity it is and Australia needs to step up or risk missing out on the jobs and benefits of a low-carbon economy. We live in the sunniest and windiest place on earth. Our trading partners, the US, UK, EU, and Japan are way ahead in their plans. We’re in a race towards clean economic development and prosperity, but we’re lagging behind. We’ve got everything we need to be a world leader, so let’s get on with it.

“By going further than the Coalition, Labor is giving Australians more choice to support climate action in the upcoming election. But Australian families expect more from both major parties. Both the Labor and Coalition policies remain out of touch with the lived experience of Australians everywhere who understand the risks of slow climate action, in the form of worsening extreme weather events like floods, fires and heatwaves, versus the opportunities of seizing the economic advantage.”

-- ENDS--

To arrange interviews, please contact: 

Nic Seton, Australian Parent for Climate Action CEO - 0407 638 973

Or, Dylan Quinnell, Climate Media Centre - 0450 668 350

As a Parents for Climate volunteer you can develop valuable skills and experience, make a meaningful contribution to the climate movement, and join an organisation of like-minded people committed to securing a safe future for our children!

This Agreement is accepted online, and when you complete your contact details and tick the box, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to follow this Agreement. This Agreement is not intended to be a legally binding contract between us and it may be cancelled at any time by either us or you, and you are no longer a Parents for Climate volunteer if this is breached.

As a Parents for Climate volunteer you agree to the following:

Responsibilities 

Parents for Climate will:

• Introduce you to how we run and your role within the organisation.
• Explain your role and the tasks you are authorised to perform.
• Provide you with an induction and any other training necessary for your role.
• Assign you a manager who will be available to answer questions and provide feedback.
• Respect your privacy, including keeping your private information confidential.
• Stay in touch with you and seek feedback. 
• Apply our complaints procedure should the need arise.

As a Parents for Climate volunteer, you agree to:

• Abide by this Agreement and other policies and procedures.
• Act in the best interests of Parents for Climate
• Participate in any training required, only undertake duties you are authorised to perform, and follow reasonable directions and instructions that you are given.
• Inform your manager if you are unavailable or unable to carry out any specified duties.
• Discuss any variation of duties or the desire to move to other tasks with your manager.
• Comply with your obligations under the Work, Health and Safety Act.
• Notify Parents for Climate of any health and safety issues or potentially hazardous situations that may pose a risk to you or others, and report any accidents or incidents relating to staff, volunteers or the venue.
• Use any property or equipment safely and only for the purpose of volunteering and return it when you finish.
• Comply with the law.

Code of Conduct

As a Parents for Climate volunteer, you agree to:

• be positive, prompt, professional and polite;
• abide by our ethos;
• remember that our work is family-friendly and parent-focused;
• treat each other and the public with respect and kindness. Personal attacks or hateful comments (e.g. based on religion, culture, race, appearance, sexual orientation, gender, age, ableism, political beliefs or dietary choice, etc) are not acceptable and will not be tolerated; and
• remember that Parents for Climate supporters and community members may be suffering from climate grief, fear and trauma, and it is important to show compassion, understanding and kindness.

Ethos

It is vital that each Parents for Climate volunteer embodies our ethos: we are respectful, positive, professional, non-partisan, and focused on relationship building. Non-partisan means that we do not favour one party or candidate over another. We can however, critique ineffective policy and action, and support good policy and action.

Legal Protection 

Australia has laws that protect volunteers in community organisations from civil liability (i.e. legal action like a negligence claim) in specific circumstances. To be protected, you must perform voluntary community work that is directed or supervised by an incorporated community organisation, and not be affected by drugs or alcohol when you are volunteering.

As a Parents for Climate volunteer, you agree to:

• only perform the tasks as instructed by Parents for Climate;
• follow the instructions of your supervisor and Parents for Climate staff; and
• contact your Manager or contact person if you have questions or concerns about your role, if you are unsure whether a task or work is authorised, or if you are unable to meet your agreed commitments.

Work Health and Safety

Volunteer safety, and the safety of everyone involved with Parents for Climate is a priority. Australia’s states and territories have workplace health and safety laws that apply to many volunteers, and under these and other laws, Parents for Climate has a duty of care to minimise risks to everyone affected by its conduct including paid employees and volunteers.

As a Parents for Climate volunteer, you may have workplace health and safety duties, and you agree to:

• take reasonable care for your own health and safety;
• take reasonable care for the health and safety of others;
• comply with any reasonable instruction by Parents for Climate;
• let Parents for Climate know of any concerns you may have about safety and/or fitness in undertaking your role;
• co-operate with all reasonable AP4CA policies and procedures; and
• contact your manager or contact person if you have questions or concerns about your role, your health and safety, or if you need assistance to undertake your role.

Confidentiality and Privacy

As a Parents for Climate volunteer, you agree to follow confidentiality and privacy laws, including that you agree:

• to protect personal information and Parents for Climate or third party confidential information to which you have access in the course of your volunteer activities, from any unauthorised use or disclose third party confidential information, to any third party; 
• to only use and disclose personal information or confidential information as permitted by law, and if you are required to disclose personal information or confidential information by law, you will inform Parents for Climate prior to any disclosure; and
• if you become aware of personal information or confidential information that is lost, shared in an unauthorised way, or any other form of breach, you will notify your Manager or contact person immediately. 

Intellectual Property

In order for Parents for Climate to use and promote the things you create as a Parents for Climate volunteer, you agree:

• that all intellectual property rights and interests (including copyright) in any ideas or materials you create while providing services to Parents for Climate as a volunteer, are automatically assigned and transferred to Parents for Climate; 
• to consent to the use by Parents for Climate of such creations in a manner reasonably contemplated by the voluntary services provided under this Agreement; and
• not to bring any claim for infringement of your moral rights in respect of that use.

Thank you and welcome to Parents for Climate!