A petition calling for urgent and decisive action on climate change and carrying some 12,500 signatures has today been handed to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, at Parliament House in Canberra.

A delegation led by the President of the ACTU, Ged Kearney, and WWF Australia Head of Climate Change, Kellie Caught, delivered the community petition. The delegation included five union members from the nursing, metal, mining and Occupational Health and Safety sectors.

"This petition, with more than 12,500 signatures, demonstrates that Tony Abbott's scare campaign, and his refusal to take a firm and consistent position on climate science and the need to act, is not an acceptable contribution to the public debate we need to have," Mr Combet said.

"This follows an 8000-strong protest in favour of action on climate change in Melbourne on March 12, 2011."

The petition describes climate change as a pressing economic, social and environmental challenge and calls for urgent and decisive action to reduce carbon pollution, improve energy efficiency and support the transition to a low-pollution economy.

"This community petition calls for action to take advantage of the economic opportunities presented by a low carbon future. The Gillard Government is already showing leadership on this, by ensuring that workers and their families would not be disadvantaged by the cost of taking action on climate change," Mr Combet said.

The Government has committed that every cent raised by the carbon price would be spent on supporting families, jobs, and tackling climate change.

Some 12,000 signatures were collected across just two weeks, a sign of how strong many people feel about the need to take action to reduce carbon pollution, he said.

"We need to tackle climate change, reduce carbon pollution and drive investment in clean energy because it's the right thing to do for our nation’s future," Mr Combet said.