The Australian public has shown their support and interest in information on climate change science by crowd-funding the Climate Council, an independent not-for-profit organization (http://www.climatecouncil.org.au) launched in September of this year by members of the abolished, government-funded Climate Commission. The Council will be “communicating the facts on climate change, on the science, on international action and so on, but being apolitical and unbiased”, according to Councillor Will Steffen.
The election of the Tony Abbott-led Liberal–National coalition this September saw the Commission abolished as a cost-cutting and streamlining measure. This was in line with their pre-election promise. The new Climate Council was announced less than a week later on 23 September. “What really motivated the Climate Councillors was the outpouring of public support ... that was quite overwhelming actually, in that people were feeling that this was a service that the community needed and that they really appreciated” said Amanda McKenzie, the CEO of the Climate Council. Five of the Climate Commissioners formed the new Council, Lesley Hughes explains: “We were really proud of what we'd done on the Commission, we were enjoying it and all felt that we had more to offer and that we hadn't completed the job by any means.”
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