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17 October 2001

Environment Groups Release Interim Report Card

Australian Conservation Foundation, The Wilderness Society, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Total Environment Centre, Conservation Councils of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, ACT, WA, NT & SA

EMBARGOED UNTIL 1am Wednesday 17 October 2001

With four weeks to the federal election, a coalition of environment groups today released interim report cards on the four major political parties performance, policies and commitments to date. The groups will release a final card in the last two weeks of the campaign when policy positions are clearer.

The groups were pleased both Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition leader Kim Beazley stressed the importance of the environment in their opening comments on the election, but commented that their policies and performance need substantial improvement to get to the standards of the Australian Greens and the Democrats.

The groups have welcomed last week's statement by Labor on climate change and Monday's statement on salinity but say there remains many opportunities for both Labor and the Coalition to lift their environmental credibility.

Parties were graded under the five themes announced by the groups when they launched their election campaign two weeks ago, further details on how grades were determined are available at acfonline.org.au/election 2001.

The groups stressed that the report cards were an assessment against the comprehensive and positive vision for Australia provided by them to all political parties prior to the election. The groups noted that preference negotiations are a matter for political parties.

To see full party analysis click here

For further information:
Australian Conservation Foundation:
Don Henry 0418 501 395 or
John Connor 0409 935 044
Greenpeace: Peter Mullens, 0412 188 278
The Wilderness Society: Alec Marr 0417 229 670
Conservation councils: Kathy Ridge, 0438 899774
Email: ecnt@octa4.net.au

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