This has to be the last election where the environment is used as a political football. It’s been building for a long time but the release of the United Nation’s extinction report must now be the line in the sand.

For too long political insiders have interpreted the natural environment as an issue that only matters for inner-city seats and that the wider public doesn’t care. It’s a view that I have repeatedly heard from political insiders in my 25 years working as an environment advocate but it’s a view that is not matched by any reputable polling or survey on Australian values.

The largest remaining population of endangered Australian sea lions fishes the waters of the Great Australian Bight. Credit:Jon Shaw

Caring for the environment is an almost universal Australian value. I know it from the social research from experts like Rebecca Huntley; I know it from our own analysis of the Australian Election Study data; I know it from pounding the concrete and banging on doors in outer-suburban Brisbane in far too many election campaigns.

Our analysis of the 2016 Australian Election Study data showed that there were about 3.2 million swinging voters who self-nominate the environment as something they thought about when they voted at that election.