Saturday, November 18, 2006

Australia's Nairobi spectator status tragic: Opposion

It's the biggest game in town, but - like the United States - Australia has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, so was given only observer status at the high-level talks in Nairobi which ended this week. :::[News]

It is a tragedy that Australia could not fully participate in the UN's Climate Change Conference in Kenya, opposition environment spokesman Anthony Albanese said today.

He described the Howard Government's postition as "all over the shop" on climate change and said we could never be a world leader on the issue until it signed up to the Kyoto agreement.

"Australia should ratify the Kyoto Protocol and never again should the world meet without Australia having a seat at the table to determine the way forward.

"It is quite clear that Kyoto, whilst not perfect, is the vehicle which the world will move forward on post-2012."


The Howard government seems set on delaying the inevitable for as long as possible.

Australian Environment Minister Ian Campbell, who along with many of his counterparts from rich nations called for a review of the Kyoto Protocol at the two-week summit in Nairobi, acknowledged the slow progress of the talks.

"My own sense is that none of the action or activity is at the sort of pace the world needs, but momentum is probably building," Senator Campbell told Reuters.


It's all he can say. My own sense is that Ian Campbell's paucity of contribution gives truth to Albenese's claims.

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