Fears of climate misinformation in Bendigo as 2022 election looms

The recommendation comes as environmental groups prepare community information campaigns in the shadow of two years of debates over COVID-19 science.

It also comes after Labor party member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters expressed her own concerns about potential misinformation campaigns this election year.

More news: 15 things not to do when using a rapid antigen test

She believes Labor lost votes in Queensland at the 2019 federal election because of misleading advertisements on a number of election and policy issues, as well as "really nasty" social media campaigns.

"I'm hoping it will be a positive election in which we can have a genuine contest of ideas," Ms Chesters said during a one-on-one interview with the Bendigo Advertiser last December.

"I do worry about the nastiness that could come into the election based upon what has happened in other areas."

The government appears likely to call an election in the first half of 2022 and community-led Bendigo groups are preparing for it with information campaigns.

That includes an alliance called the Bendigo United Climate Challenge.

"The most important issue of this election is going to be truth and how people are going to get information," alliance member Elsie L'Huillier said when asked what the major environmental issues would be during the 2022 election.

"And underlining all of that is that climate change is clearly the biggest issue that humanity faces, with consequences that are really quite dire."

Related: Aussie auto revival dream too big, Bendigo company founder warns

Ms L'Huillier encouraged people to get in touch with the alliance and its member organisations - the Bendigo Sustainability Group, the Australian Conservation Foundation's Bendigo branch and the Bendigo District and Environmental Council - to get credible information on local issues before voting.

The alliance is planning a slew of election year activities likely to include public forums, information stalls and even street theatre, though it does not intend to endorse any political parties.

"Our thing would be to say that people should not rely on party political propaganda," Ms L'Huillier said.

Alliance members plan to meet with new political candidates across the political spectrum as they put themselves forward.

A number of candidates for Bendigo have declared themselves so far, including the Greens' Cate Sinclair and United Australia Party's Elijah Suares.

The Liberal Party is yet to declare its candidate but that person is likely to be incumbent Lisa Chesters' main 2022 election rival.

In the meantime, Ms Chesters has made climate change into an early election promise.

She appeared at Maldon several weeks ago alongside shadow minister for climate change and energy Chris Bowen to promise the town a community battery, given that so few solar panel owners in town have bought their own expensive batteries.

"For most families, a battery just isn't economic at this point," Mr Bowen said.

"That's putting pressure on the stability of the grid because people are generating a lot of energy during the day and none at night."

Maldon's battery would be one of 400 a Labor government would install nationwide and be part of a wider jobs and skills package designed to help Australia slash emissions by 43 per cent by 2030.

Labor's target is higher than the 26-28 per cent target the Coalition government has committed to but is still too low, Bendigo Sustainability Group president Colin Lambie said.

"We want more action than either of the major parties are proposing at the moment," he said.

"There's no way we can keep global warming under 1.5 degrees that both the majors are proposing."

Mr Lambie cautiously welcomed Labor's Maldon funding announcement but added that he wanted to know more details on how community batteries were being chosen.

"I'm part of a [separate] study into neighbourhood batteries myself and it is something that is needed," Mr Lambie said.

The Bendigo Sustainability Group hopes both major parties would improve plans for the transition to renewable energy if they form government over the next three to five years.

"South Australia's managing to get to 100 per cent renewables for several days in a row but that's not all year around ... for the whole country to transition to 100 per cent renewables it takes a national plan," Mr Lambie said.

"We don't have that."

Both major parties want to encourage more renewable energy over the coming decade.

The Liberal Party is investing in technology including through a $2 billion, 10-year plan it believes will underpin 160,000 jobs, as well as schemes like Snowy Hydro 2.0.

Labor says six out of 10 jobs its energy plan would create would be in rural and regional Australia.

Mr Bowen acknowledged many of those jobs would not be in places like central Victoria, during an interview during his recent visit to the region.

"There will be a spread but yes, those areas that already generate much of our electricity will be front and centre," he said.

That includes in places like Gippsland and the Hunter Valley, where economies rely on coal mining and non-renewable energy generation.

"But areas like Bendigo will also be beneficiaries, to a degree. There is space in Bendigo for things like solar arrays and batteries."

The city also had an industrial base that could benefit from the transition to technology like electric vehicles, Mr Bowen said.

For many Bendigo environmentalists, the challenge of transition is not just about technology and jobs.

It is also about people changing their behaviour, they say.

"Of course renewables and technology are important, but they alone won't solve it," the Bendigo United Climate Challenge's Ms L'Huillier said.

"What we need to do here locally is look at how we live. How do we use public transport? How do we think about new housing? We need to consume less, be mindful of not supporting over production, buy and make things locally, plus make an impact on our own energy use.

"We're the people who can change that."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: