The Climate Change Coalition (CCC), briefly known as 4Change, was an Australian

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

, which was formed in 2007 with a view to accelerate action by politicians from all parties on

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

and

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Its position on working towards addressing climate change stressed cooperation with big business in order to achieve significant progress on the issue. The party therefore advocated a close working relationship between environmentalists and the business community. The CCC was registered as a political party with the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent statutory agency of the Australian Government responsible for the management and oversight of Australian federal elections, plebiscites, referendums and some trade union A ...

(AEC) on 4 September 2007 and deregistered on 25 March 2010.

2007 New South Wales state election

When it was first conceived and established in 2006, the Climate Change Coalition was not initially a political party, but rather a grouping of independents. The first election that it contested was the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

March 2007 state election. The CCC ran a group of 21 candidates (dubbed by detractors the "Gang of 21", an allusion to the

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...

) standing for the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

, the NSW Upper House of Parliament . Heading this group was

Patrice Newell Patrice Lesley Newell (born 2 September 1956) is an Australian former model, television presenter turned author, and biodynamic farmer. Career In 1980s Newell was in a high-profile career with the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and the Nin ...

, an author and

biodynamic Biodynamics may refer to: * Biodynamic agriculture, a method of farming based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner ** The Biodynamic Association, a United States–based company that promotes the Biodynamic agriculture system ** Biodynamic wine B ...

beef farmer. The CCC received criticism from some groups, for refusing to advocate

preferences In psychology, economics and philosophy, preference is a technical term usually used in relation to choosing between alternatives. For example, someone prefers A over B if they would rather choose A than B. Preferences are central to decision the ...

, under the Australian preferential voting system, to other political parties with strong environmental credentials. The group was not registered as a political party in NSW and so under NSW electoral law could not display a party name on the ballot paper at the top of the group column. The 21 "Group F" candidates polled 18,999 votes in total, or 0.50% of the total formal vote, and were therefore well short of the quota of 173,239 (4.55%) required for election of any candidate.

2007 Australian federal election

The Climate Change Coalition was registered as a political party by the AEC on 4 September 2007. The party announced it intended to run candidates for the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

in the 2007 federal election. The party's NSW Senate candidates were Patrice Newell and Dr

Karl Kruszelnicki Karl Sven Woytek Sas Konkovitch Matthew Kruszelnicki (born 1948), often referred to as Dr Karl, is an Australian science communicator and populariser, who is known as an author and a science commentator on Australian radio, television, and pod ...

, a well-known scientist and media personality. The party fielded candidates for the senate in each of the other states with the exception of

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, and also fielded a candidate in the ACT. The candidates were; in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Gary Warden, and Sarah Bishop; in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, Dr Colin Edean and Vidas Kublilus; in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Phil Johnson and Steven Posselt; and in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Ainslie Howard. The ACT senate candidate was Michael Fullam-Stone. With a favourable ballot paper placement (column E) and with the party's name shown on the ballot paper the party scored 0.83% of the vote in NSW (a 0.33% increase on its NSW state election result) but failed to secure the election of any of its candidates. Results in other states were in the range 0.27% (in Western Australia) to 0.78% (in Victoria). Nationwide the party received 78,710 votes (0.62%).

Preferences

During the 2007 Federal election, the Climate Change Coalition was criticised for the way it distributed its preferences, with some parties antithetical to the policies of the Climate Change Coalition placed higher on Senate group voting tickets than others with more similar positions on the issue. Political journalist

Malcolm Farr Malcolm Farr (born 2 August 1951 ) is a political journalist in the Canberra Press Gallery covering the Parliament of Australia in Canberra, Australia. Work Based in Canberra, Farr was the National Political Editor for News.com.au and contribu ...

observed that "

Hanson Hanson or Hansson may refer to: People * Hanson (surname) * Hansson (surname) * Hanson (wrestler) or Ivar (born 1984), American professional wrestler Musical groups * Hanson (band), an American pop rock band * Hanson (UK band), an English ...

, the

political relic standing for the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, has managed a preference deal with the snooty CCC...". The CCC preferenced the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter groups, it was Australia's lar ...

highest in all States and placed the Greens ahead of the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

and

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Parties in all States. The flow of preferences did not affect the election of the Greens' Scott Ludlam to the final Senate position in WA. According to the Party, the allocation of preferences was determined to give the greatest chance of electoral success, but may have worked to reduce its primary vote support.

Name change and Deregistration

On 24 December 2009, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) approved the Climate Change Coalition's application to change its name to "4Change".

Application to change name
/ref> The party was deregistered by the AEC in March, 2010, on the grounds of irregularities in its declarations on membership.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Climate Change Coalition Political parties established in 2007 Green political parties in Australia 2007 establishments in Australia 2010 disestablishments in Australia Defunct political parties in Australia Political parties disestablished in 2010