“Over the past three months, volunteers from our group held street stalls, visited markets, knocked on doors and approached people in towns from Springwood to Blackheath to talk, listen to and record what they think about renewable energy,” said group spokeswoman Sue Morrison.

“Ninety-six per cent of the people we spoke to want strong policies to support new jobs and investment in renewable energy and a remarkable 88 per cent want Australia to develop a plan to move to 100 per cent renewable energy.

“What we find when we talk to people and share information is that Blue Mountains residents overwhelmingly want to talk about solutions,” said Ms Morrison.

“They want to get behind a positive vision.

“They are tired of the negativity and bickering by politicians and just want our elected representatives to get on and do something.”

Katoomba Area Climate Change volunteer Erland Howden said the federal coalition “seems to keep just saying no to action on climate change and renewable energy”.

“They seem more interested in blocking things than pushing for the investment in renewable energy that people in our area are calling for”.

But Louise Markus said the coalition was “absolutely committed to action” on climate change.

“A coalition government will implement a climate change strategy based on direct action to reduce emissions by five per cent by 2020 and improve the environment.

“Direct action on soil carbons is a major part of our strategy supported by other measures such as planting 20 million trees in available public spaces and supporting emerging technologies such as solar fields, geothermal projects or tidal and wave projects that will reduce CO2 emissions and deliver significant environmental outcomes without a new tax burdening everyday Australians.”