Mudgee District Environmental Group chairperson Bev Smiles said she didn’t believe the Coalition’s policy would work and she didn’t have faith in the ALP’s current scheme.

“I don’t think the Coalition’s policy will cut emissions, there is nothing in it that shows major polluters are going to restrict their emissions.”

“The ALP’s current scheme also has a problem in that tax payers are likely to have to pay compensation in the future is the carbon emission target changes, and that is a major problem,” she said.

“The ALP’s flaw is that it could possibly cost them a lot more than anticipated and the Coalition is that it is not clear on how they plan to reduce emissions.”

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton has welcomed the announcement for the new policy saying it would improve the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through direct action and practical, local measures.

“The Coalition’s climate change policy does not include any new or increased taxes, and takes advantage of Australia’s natural comparable advantages: soil and sun.

“Our direct action plan is careful, costed and capped - reducing emissions and improving the environment without a great big new tax on everything,” Mr Coulton said.

The Coalitions policy relies on polluters willingly cutting emissions in return for handouts from an emissions reduction fund, worth $2.6 billion over four years.

It also promises to plant an extra 20 million trees, mainly in cities and $1000 subsidies to put solar energy cells on an additional one million homes.

The policy expects to reduce emissions by five per cent by 2020.

Ms Smiles said the easiest way would be a straight tax on the industries that are polluting.

“The easy way to solve it is a tax on the industry and then it would cause other forms of energy production to be more competitive,” Ms Smiles said.

She said Mudgee was a prime problem area for carbon emissions because of the number of coal mines in the region.

She said the state government was developing the Cobbora Mine near Dubbo, but the money would be better invested into solar or thermal energy projects as proposed by the group.