National Rally Reminds Politicians the Public Loves Solar
Thousands of renewable supporters have rallied at 30 locations across the country asking politicians to support the current 20% renewable energy target.
Organised by a number of renewable-conscious groups including the Clean Energy Council , Solar Energy Industries and Solar Citizens, the rally was intended to lend a voice to the overwhelming public majority that opposes cuts to the solar and wind industry in Australia.
High profile politicians like Liberal senator leader Eric Abertz, Joe Hockey, Julie Bishop and even the Prime Minister Tony Abbott found their offices flooded with pro-renewable supporters hoping to persuade the government to reverse their opposition to the RET in its current form.
Campaigns Manager at Solar Citizens, Claire O’Rourke, addressed the crowd outside Mr Abbott’s Manly office.
“The renewable energy target is predicted to create another 18 thousand solar jobs by 2020 and if the renewable energy target is cut it will see thousands of jobs lost right now and businesses close down,” she told reporters from SBS. “It will also be harder for Australians to put solar on their roof tops and get back in control of those skyrocketing power bills so what we’ve seen here is people stepping up today at rallies all around the nation to call on the government to get back to a bipartisan position on the renewable energy target which is what Australians want.”
Media outlets including the Murdoch and Fairfax newspapers, the Guardian and SBS provided press coverage of the rally capturing the passion and goodwill of the attendees.
The Clean Energy Council have created a page on their website to accommodate individuals who couldn’t attend the rally, helping them identify their local politician (via a postcode search) and generating an email expressing their support for renewable energy.
Solar Sunwerx attended the rally at Minister Andrew Robb’s office in Bentleigh. For a gallery of photos from the event visit our Facebook page.
