Billions up in smoke

Feature story - May 21, 2009

Greenpeace beamed messages such as "Billions up in smoke" and "Time to Evolve" onto a cooling tower at Loy Yang A Power Station in Victoria's La Trobe Valley.

zoom

6 April 2009: Greenpeace activists project giant messages including "billions up in smoke" onto one of the cooling towers at 'Loy Yang A'- one of Victorias largest coal-fired power stations in a timely post-budget reminder that at least $7 billion of Australian taxpayer dollars are spent each year needlessly encouraging the use of fossil fuels. Greenpeace is calling on the Rudd Government to stop lining the pockets of the big polluters and invest in clean energy.

Over in Australia with the federal Treasurer preparing to deliver a $70 billion deficit in this year's budget, Greenpeace is sending the government a timely reminder that at least $7 billion could be saved each year by ending taxpayer handouts that drive fossil fuel use.

Greenpeace is calling on the Rudd Government to redirect these public funds towards programs that stimulate job creation and benefit the environment.

"We need to put public money towards the public interest in this year's budget, not into the already well-lined pockets of the big polluters," Greenpeace Head of Campaigns Steve Campbell said.

The few green elements of the stimulus package show how effective environmental programs can be in creating jobs. An example of this is the ceiling insulation measures, which the government expects to create 20,000 jobs.

"But such measures are few and far between. Australia is clinging onto the past like a toddler to their blankie," says Campbell. "We need to move on from fossil fuels and invest in clean renewable energy, creating hundreds of thousands of new 'green' jobs in the process."