A fascinating shift in Bali overnight, with the new Opposition Environment Spokes, Greg Hunt, giving the Government the ‘green light’, as he puts it, to sign up to the Bali agreement with the 2020 targets in!
This is a pretty swift turnaround from Nelson’s Howard-style scaremongering only a week ago. But Hunt has long been serious about climate change, and it appears he’s managed to convince his leader of the sense of this position that Christine has been advocating all along - that there is nothing inconsistent in backing a 2020 negotiating range and holding off on setting domestic targets.
Hunt told ABC’s Sarah Clarke that the Opposition doesn’t see signing on to the Bali agreement as binding Australia to any targets, but that it would be “constructive” to sign on.
We want to be constructive, we can be constructive. We choose to lead and not to follow… We are happy to give the Government the green light for this Bali roadmap.
Here is Rudd’s big chance. If he was concerned at being attacked at home for preempting Garnaut, the Opposition’s decision has effectively neutered any real chance of that. Surely there is nothing to stop him signing up now and putting tremendous pressure on the few remaining hold-outs. Maybe the US still wouldn’t sign up, but there’s not point bloacking action from everyone else now when the Bush Administration has less than 13 months in power remaining and whoever comes next, pretty much, will be far more willing to move.
Here is what Christine said:
Australian Greens climate change spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today welcomed Opposition Environment Spokesperson Greg Hunt embracing the Greens’ position that Australia should sign up to the Bali targets as a negotiating range, creating the space for Kevin Rudd’s team to move decisively in the final hours of the Bali Conference.
Senator Milne, at the Bali climate conference in her capacity as Vice President of the World Conservation Union, said “The truism that a week is a long time in politics has been demonstrated again with climate politics.
“Just a few days ago, Kevin Rudd was warmly welcomed in Bali, signalling a change of Australia’s position from pariah to player. The Federal Opposition at the same time positioned itself as a fossil of the carbon debate by clinging to John Howard’s long outdated prejudices on climate action.
“Now the tables are turned. While Kevin Rudd is facing strong criticism from the progressive players at the Conference, Greg Hunt has come on board with the Greens, the EU and the science community, calling for 25-40% reductions by 2020 to be included in the Bali agreement as a basis for negotiation.
“It is now the Opposition leading and the Government on the back foot.
“Prime Minister Rudd, with his careful approach, would have been afraid to take bold action as long as the Opposition clung to Howard’s position. But his insistence that we must keep ‘Waiting for Garnaut’ before accepting a negotiating range for 2020 targets makes no logical or political sense.
“As Greg Hunt has acknowledged, there is absolutely nothing inconsistent about agreeing to a science-based global negotiating range now, and developing a national position within, or beyond, that range in the following months or years. Indeed, that is what these negotiations are about. If every country had set its own domestic emissions target before beginning global negotiations on setting targets, there would be no reason to negotiate!
“Now that Greg Hunt has created the space, Kevin Rudd must embrace the opportunity and instruct his team to put Australia into a real leadership position by not only ratifying Kyoto, but following through by lending Australia’s weight to the efforts to put science-based targets at the heart of the negotiating process.
“If Australia moves, Japan will, too. The pressure on the USA and Canada to do the right thing by the climate will be immense. That ball is now in Kevin Rudd’s court.”
Politics never ceases to amaze me.
_People_ never cease to amaze me.
I just love it when ‘tables are turned’
It’s a great move by Greg Hunt. The motives of the Liberal party I’m less clear about, do they really want climate action that will impact on industry, or do they feel that future pain in reaching such targets will give them a better chance of returning to government. Perhaps both.
I suppose it doesn’t really matter which of the major political parties it helps or hinders, when the planet is the clear winner.
Greg Hunt had been way ahead of the Lib pack on climate change for a while now…what a great issue to have a bipartisan approach on!
I have been looking at some international media and it seems reduction targets (negotiating frameworks) have not been the only sticking point at Bali. Technology transfer to the developing nations has apparentlly been the focus of much conflict but I have not yet seen this reported in Australia.
The position of the developing nations on technology transfer represented by the G77 and China has been dismissed by the rich world who want to control the whole process while not taking it very seriously - with the EU lining up with the US, Canada and Japan in contrast to the emission target controversy.
Tim, how has this issue been finalised? What is/was Australia’s position on it? (I assume it was also waiting for Garnaut, therefore dismissing the issue).
It seems to me technology transfer to the developing nations is a very urgent priority, even without rich nation reduction frameworks.
p.s. Greg Hunt’s statement is just tricky politicking. The opposition know Rudd cannot step out of line with the US and they are just exploiting the contradiction to make Rudd look weak. It is easy for the Libs to support a piece of paper with no binding action just as it was easy for Rudd to belatedly sign Kyoto (or even sign this new agreement when it has been gutted to conform to the US agenda).
Hunt, Turnbull, Rudd, Wong and Garrett can all chant platitudes together but they all know that the radical and huge changes to the economy that is needed to realistically tackle climate change must be resisted to maintain the economic status-quo, especially the relationship between rich and poor nations.
John, it hasn’t been finalised. Nothing has been, yet. Still going. As for where Australia stands? Firmly within the developed countries bloc. That’s an issue which has split north south.
[...] Australia got off the fence and supported the 25-40% cuts. As reported at GreensBlog this may have been due to the Opposition’s Greg Hunt giving them the green light. Wonders will [...]