Environment groups promote green politics

Wildlife Queensland is part of a group of environmental non-governmental bodies (NGOs) in Queensland that have banded together to take a strategic approach to determine the environmental stance of the major political parties.

Aims of the group

The environmental NGOs aim to:

find out the positions of political parties on important environmental issues
influence political parties in their development of environmental policies well in advance of any future election campaigns.

Environmentally conscious voters might also be able to use the information to check the environmental policies of political parties before any election.

Membership

Queensland Conservation Council has convened the group, which includes:

Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF)
Australian Marine Conservation Society
Australian Rainforest Conservation Society
Cairns and Far North Environment Council
Friends of the Earth (FoE)

Geckos
National Parks Association of Queensland
The Wilderness Society
Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)
and Wildlife Queensland.

Each group will contribute according to its areas of expertise.

Target issues

The group has already agreed a draft list of priority environmental issues. This list includes general issues and regions that are environmentally significant and/or under threat from degradation:

Biodiversity
Cape York
Climate change
Coastal development
Forests
Good governance

Gulf Country
Indigenous input
National Parks/Protected areas
Sustainable Queensland
Water conservation
Wild rivers

Plans

A position paper will be researched and written for each issue to establish the group's position on that issue.
The position papers will be put together into an election document.
The group will then develop a strategic advocacy program to promote election priorities to the major political parties.

Wildlife Queensland's role

Wildlife Queensland had a preliminary role in suggesting the concept to QCC as part of their coordinating role and the first two meetings were held on Wildlife Queensland's CBD premises.

During the development of the election document, Wildlife Queensland have input into the position papers on Biodiversity, coastal development, National Parks, and forests.

For more information on Wildlife Queensland's activities, contact us by email or call +61 7 3221 0194

Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland

February 2006