West Australians don’t care about the cost of action on climate change, they just want something done about it, an exclusive poll for The Weekend West reveals.

Voters in three of WA’s most marginal electorates overwhelmingly think it is more important for a future government to do something about climate change rather than knowing the full cost of the policy prior to an election.

Camera Icon Jude Shapiro, 15, is demanding politicians take bolder action on climate change. Credit: Danella Bevis

At a fiery leaders’ debate last night in Brisbane Opposition Leader Bill Shorten accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of making Australia “the laughing stock of the world” on climate action — and it seems voters agree.

More than half — 53 per cent — of voters in the Liberal-held electorate of Pearce believe action on climate change is more important than costings. This trend also emerged in Labor-held Cowan (52 per cent) and Liberal-held Swan (49 per cent).

This compares to just 38 per cent of voters in Cowan who want to see some costings first, 42 per cent in Pearce and 38 per cent in Swan.

All three seats are on a knife-edge and will be key to who emerges victorious on May 18. Pearce is held by Attorney-General Christian Porter on a margin of 3.7 per cent, Cowan by Labor’s Anne Aly on 0.7 per cent and Swan by Liberal MP Steve Irons by 3.6 per cent.

The survey was conducted for The Weekend West by YouGov Galaxy on the evening of May 1. The results are based on the opinions of 506 voters in Cowan, 525 voters in Pearce and 504 voters in Swan.

Video The two candidates have stepped down following controversial social media posts.

It shows Mr Shorten has been successful in persuading voters of the need to take urgent action to tackle climate change and worry about the cost down the track.

And the Coalition’s campaign to pressure Labor to reveal the full cost to the economy and jobs of its plan to cut emissions by 45 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 is not playing well with voters.

“Voters seem to attach more importance on the government doing something about climate change than the financial consequences of that action on the economy,” YouGov Galaxy managing director David Briggs said.

The West Australian this week revealed 32,000 jobs could be axed and up to $76 billion wiped from the State economy as a result of Labor’s climate policies based on modelling from economist Brian Fisher.

Video And climate change has put more heat into the fight for Tony Abbott's battleground seat of Warringah.

The overall impact to the national economy could be up to 333,000 job losses, with $542 billion wiped from GDP. For a full-time worker earning $106,000, $11,660 could be lost in wages.

And Labor was battling internal divisions over the matter with some MPs calling for the party to properly analyse the impact of the target prior to the election. But energy spokesman Mark Butler and Mr Shorten brushed off such suggestions, saying the cost of not acting would be greater.

Mr Shorten last night traded blows with Mr Morrison over climate action at the second leaders’ debate of the election campaign hosted by Sky News in Brisbane.

Mr Morrison said he did have a plan to act on climate change but, unlike Mr Shorten his plan would not cost jobs.

Camera Icon Police at the Perth student rally for climate change. Credit: Danella Bevis

“We do need to take action on climate change, it is not an option not to,” Mr Morrison said. “And it is not that either party is not going to take action.

“What we don’t agree with them is the target.”

Mr Shorten joked that Mr Morrison’s targets to cut emissions by 26 per cent by 2030 and meet the Kyoto targets was akin to a doctor saying “the operation was a success but the patient died”.

Labor’s emission’s reduction target of 45 per cent by 2030 is “more ambitious” but was necessary to the future of the country.

“If you think this Government is going to do something on climate change, Malcolm Turnbull would still be the prime minister,” he said. “The Prime Minister has spoken a lot of rubbish ... they are selling out the future and making us the laughing stock of the world.”

He said working out the potential job losses to the economy was akin to saying to a firefighter “why don’t you work out the cost of the water in the hose” as they put out a fire.

Labor will today continue its green offensive with a $1 billion plan to protect the environment, including $100 million to protect threatened species and $62 million to clean up beaches and act on coastal erosion.