Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Address To The UN Bali Conference On Climate Change

Dec 12, 2007

Australia now stands ready to assume its responsibility in responding to the challenge of climate change, according to the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

Addressing the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bali, Rudd said his first act as Prime Minister had been to sign the formal instrument for Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. This was because “we believe that climate change represents one of the greatest moral, economic and environmental challenges of our age”.

Rudd reiterated his government’s decision to await the Garnaut Review in mid-2008 before deciding on short and medium term targets for reducing greenhouse emissions.

Click the play button to listen to Kevin Rudd’s Address to the Bali Conference:

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This is the full text of Kevin Rudd’s Address to the Conference on Climate Change, in Bali.

His Excellency, the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, His Excellency, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, fellow national Leaders, Ministers, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and all people of goodwill committed to the future of our planet.

I join with the Secretary-General and with the President of the Indonesian Republic in expressing our combined condemnation of this obscene terrorist attack in Algiers. An attack on innocent civilians, an attack on the agents of peace, those working for the United Nations, and therefore, an attack on us all. And I join with them in extending our thoughts and our prayers to those directly affected by this obscene attack.

A little over a week ago I had the honour of being elected as Australia’s 26th Prime Minister. In my first act as Prime Minister, I signed the formal instrument for Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. And just a few moments ago I handed, personally, that instrument of ratification to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

I did so, and my Government has done so, because we believe that climate change represents one of the greatest moral, economic and environmental challenges of our age.

Australia now stands ready to assume its responsibility in responding to this challenge – both at home and in the complex negotiations which lie ahead across the community of nations.

For Australians, climate change is no longer a distant threat. It is no longer a scientific theory. It is an emerging reality. In fact, what we see today is a portent of things to come.

In Australia, our inland rivers are dying; bushfires are becoming more ferocious, and more frequent; and our unique natural wonders – the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, our rainforests – are now at risk.

This will sound familiar to many of our Pacific neighbours who are experiencing the impacts of rising sea levels, more frequent severe weather events and diminishing access to fresh water. And regrettably it is now an increasingly familiar story across the globe, as reflected in the critical conclusions of the Fourth IPCC Report released last month.

Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation. Our choice will impact all future generations. This is, therefore, a problem which requires a global solution. It requires a multilateral solution. Unilateral action is not enough. We must all share the burden.

Australia has a long tradition of multilateral engagement: Australia was a founding state of the United Nations at San Francisco in 1945; the Cambodian Peace Settlement; the Chemical Weapons Convention; and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Australia was, in fact, among the first to sign the Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992.

In the past we have been willing to put our shoulder to the wheel. And what I say to this conference today is that under the Government I lead, we are doing so again.

For too long sceptics have warned of the costs of taking action on climate change. But the costs of action are far less than the costs of inaction.

We must lift our national and international gaze beyond the immediate horizon – to comprehend the magnitude of the economic and environmental challenge that is unfolding before us.

Action to tackle climate change will not be easy. It will require tough choices. And some of these will come at a political price. But unless we act, the long-term costs will threaten the security and the stability of us all.

The truth is that we – the community of nations – are in this together. The truth is that this challenge of climate change transcends the old ideological, political and developmental divide.

As our host, President Yudhoyono, said to me when we met yesterday, there can be no North or South, given the dimensions of this challenge. Together we are custodians of the planet. Together we are custodians of the planet’s future.

That’s why these deliberations here are so important. That is why climate change is a top priority of the new Australian Government.

We have embraced a comprehensive plan of action. The Government has committed to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050.

Last year – when my party was not in government – we commissioned a major study to help us to set shorter term targets along the way. This study, the Garnaut Review, will report in mid 2008.

Together with modelling underway in the Australian Treasury, and also critically, informed by the science, this review will drive our decisions on short and medium term targets.

These will be real targets. These will be robust targets. And they will be targets fully cognisant of the science. And they will set Australia firmly on the path to achieving our commitment of a 60 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050.

But it is not enough just to have targets. We have to be prepared to back them with sustained action – because targets must be, must be translated into reality.

Australia will implement a comprehensive emissions trading scheme by 2010 to deliver these targets. We will increase the proportion of renewable energy to 20 per cent of our national electricity supply by 2020. We will invest in research and development to deliver transforming technologies.

But whatever one country does alone, it will not be enough. This conference must agree to work together on a shared global emissions goal. A goal that, on the best advice available, recognises the core reality that we must avoid dangerous climate change.

We must now move forward as a truly ‘United Nations’ with developed and developing countries working in parallel.

We expect all developed countries to embrace a further set of binding emissions targets – and we need this meeting at Bali to map out the process and timeline in which this will happen.

And we need developing countries to play their part – with specific commitments to action.

And we need all developed nations, all developed nations – those within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, and those outside the framework – to embrace comparable efforts in order to bring about the global outcomes the people of the world now expect of us.

The approach we take must be comprehensive and must incorporate critical challenges, including deforestation.

Australia believes that action on climate change and action on development must proceed in tandem.

We understand that development is a top priority. We strongly support the Millennium Development Goals, reinforced by our policy as a new Government of Australia, to increase our level of ODA from current levels to 0.5 of GNI by 2015.

We must all respect the aspiration of developing nations to secure their economic development and deliver rising living standards for their people. But failure to act on climate change will make the development goal even harder to achieve.

Australia recognises the particular responsibility of the developed countries to assist developing nations in this process of transition: in the form of technology transfer; in the form of financial incentives; and in the form of support for adaptation.

Around the world, great steps forward are being taken by individuals, by households, businesses, communities, organisations, scientists and governments. But the effectiveness of all those efforts rests on the negotiations that begin here.

As we work towards achieving a new global compact in 2009, Australia is committed to working hard to build bridges between nations with differing circumstances and differing outlooks.

The world expects us to deliver binding targets. The world expects us to deliver specific commitments. It expects us all to pull together and for us all to do our fair share.

The Government I lead is only 10 days old. It is a Government that is realistic about the difficult challenges ahead, particularly in the two years leading up to the Copenhagen conference. It is a Government now prepared to take on the challenge, to do the hard work now and to deliver a sustainable future.

The community of nations must reach agreement. There is no Plan B. There is no other planet that we can escape to. We only have this one. And none of us can do it alone. So let’s get it right.

The generations of the future will judge us harshly if we fail.

But I am optimistic that with clarity of purpose, clear-sightedness, courage and commitment we can prevail in this great task of working together to save our common planet.

I thank you.

Filed Under: A.L.P., Audio, Climate Change, Rudd Government, Treaties Tagged With: , , , ,

Rudd Government Ratifies Kyoto Protocol: First Official Decision

Dec 03, 2007

In its first official act, hours after being sworn into office, the Rudd Labor Government has ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

This significant practical and symbolic decision draws another line under the Howard era.

This is the text of a media statement from the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of AustraliaToday I have signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol. This is the first official act of the new Australian Government, demonstrating my Government’s commitment to tackling climate change.

Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol was considered and approved by the first Executive Council meeting of the Government this morning. The Governor-General has granted his approval for Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol at my request.

Under United Nations guidelines, ratification of the Kyoto Protocol enters into force 90 days after the Instrument of Ratification is received by the United Nations. Australia will become a full member of the Kyoto Protocol before the end of March 2008.

The Kyoto Protocol is considered to be the most far-reaching agreement on environment and sustainable development ever adopted.

Australia’s official declaration today that we will become a member of the Kyoto Protocol is a significant step forward in our country’s efforts to fight climate change domestically – and with the international community.

My Government will do everything in its power to help Australia meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations. This will include:

  • Setting a target to reduce emissions by 60 per cent on 2000 levels by 2050.
  • Establishing a national emissions trading scheme by 2010.
  • Setting a 20 per cent target for renewable energy by 2020 to dramatically expand the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

I will also lead the Australian delegation at the opening of the High Level Segment of the United Nations conference on climate change in Bali next week. The conference – which starts today – will set out the “Bali Roadmap” to begin negotiations for the next round of international action against climate change when the first round of targets under the Kyoto Protocol expire in 2012.

Background on Kyoto ratification

Source: www.unfccc.int

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Convention was a major step forward in tackling the problem of global warming and was adopted in 1994. Australia ratified the Convention in 1992.

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted at the third Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP 3) in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997.

The Protocol shares the objective and institutions of the Convention, but while the Convention encouraged developed countries to stabilise emissions, the Protocol commits them to do so.

175 Parties have ratified the Protocol to date. Following ratification by Russia, the Kyoto Protocol entered into force on 16 February 2005.

The Protocol places a heavier burden on developed nations under the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities.” This has two main reasons. Firstly, those countries can more easily pay the cost of cutting emissions. Secondly, developed countries have historically contributed more to the problem by emitting larger amounts of greenhouse gases per person than in developing countries.

Under the Protocol, 36 countries and the EU are required to achieve greenhouse gas emission levels specified for each of them in the treaty. These targets add up to a total cut in greenhouse-gas emissions of at least 5 per cent from 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008-2012.

Australia’s target is to limit the growth in emissions to an 8 per cent increase above 1990 levels over the period from 2008-2012. On Government projections, we are on track to meet the target.

Mr Howard originally claimed the Kyoto Protocol was “a win for the environment and a win for Australian jobs” (ABC AM, Friday 19 Dec, 1997), and then refused to ratify the Protocol and instead undermined international efforts.

The Australian Government today completed the first four of six steps necessary to conclude Australia’s ratification.

  1. The Prime Minister signs an Executive Council minute recommending that the Governor approve ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
  2. The Executive Council meets to consider the Executive Council Minute and associated Explanatory Memorandum.
  3. The Governor General in Council approves ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
  4. The Prime Minister signs the Instrument of ratification.
  5. The Instrument of ratification is deposited with the United Nations.
  6. Ratification enters into force 90 days after the Instrument of Ratification is received by the United Nations.
Filed Under: A.L.P., Climate Change, Rudd Government, Treaties Tagged With: , , ,

Howard Government Announces 2020 Clean Energy Target

Sep 23, 2007

The Federal Government has announced a clean energy target of 30,000 gigawatt hours each year from low emissions sources by 2020.

The announcement comes amid continuing speculation about the timing of the 2007 election.

This is the text of a media release from the Prime Minister, John Howard.

National Clean Energy Target

The Australian Government will introduce a new national Clean Energy Target, requiring that 30,000 gigawatt hours each year come from low emissions sources by 2020.

Low emissions sources are those technologies that emit less than 200 kilograms of greenhouse gases per megawatt of electricity generated. This includes renewable energy, such as solar and wind, as well as fossil fuel fired electricity generation where carbon capture and storage is used.

Introduction of the CET is intended to replace existing and proposed state and territory schemes with a single national scheme. The CET is sufficient to absorb those schemes.

This will reduce costs for business, and ultimately for households. It will reduce the red tape from the current multitude of schemes, and ensure low emission technologies are developed in the lowest cost locations, without being restricted by state and territory boundaries.

The CET will drive additional investment in renewable and other low emissions electricity generation, as the Australian emissions trading scheme is introduced.

The CET will be based on the Government’s existing Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, which has already stimulated $3.5 billion of investment in renewable energy.

The Australian Government will consult with state and territory governments and industry in designing and implementing the CET. Our intention is for legislation to be introduced next year, and for the CET to come into effect no later than 1 January 2010.

The new CET is an integral part of the Australian Government’s comprehensive $3.5 billion climate change strategy, keeping Australia at the forefront of international efforts to address global warming.

Filed Under: 2007 Federal Election, Climate Change, Howard Government Tagged With: , ,

Howard Commits To Emissions Trading Scheme

Jul 17, 2007

The Prime Minister, John Howard, today committed his government to introducing an emissions trading scheme.

Howard said the government would set a long-term emissions target in 2008.

Addressing the Melbourne Press Club at the Hyatt Hotel, Howard also outlined a series of measures costing $627 million over the next five years “that reinforce our commitment to tackling global warming”.

Howard said: “Being among the first movers on carbon trading in this region will bring new opportunities and we intend to grasp them. The Government will examine how to ensure that Australia becomes a carbon trading hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Of course, an emissions trading scheme is only one part of a comprehensive long-term climate change policy framework. There is no magic green bullet. Low-carbon technologies remain the key to an effective response that minimises the costs of limiting emissions.”

This is the transcript of Prime Minister John Howard’s Address to the Melbourne Press Club.

Thank you very much Mr President, my ministerial and parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Today I want to address the issue of climate change in the hope of striking the right balance for Australia. Climate change is a large, complex and serious global challenge that will occupy the world for decades to come. Over time, the scientific evidence that the climate is warming has become quite compelling and the link between emissions of greenhouse gases from human activity and higher temperatures is also convincing.

Australia has long been an active player in the search for an efficient, effective and equitable solution to climate change. Today amongst other things I outline some new measures costing $627 million over the next five years that reinforce our commitment to tackling global warming. Of all the inhabited continents, Australia already has the driest and most variable climate. Climate change means our water security problems will likely intensify, which is why my Government has invested so heavily in national water reform. Our great and unique natural ecosystems, like the Great Barrier Reef, are potentially threatened and many of our major industries, not least agriculture, are highly sensitive to changes in the climate.

Because of our natural abundance of fossil fuels, Australia’s economic prosperity is also threatened if our response to climate change is misguided and driven by ideology. All the good intentions in the world are worthless if we wreck our economy for no environmental gain. With so much at stake, we must not confuse panic with virtue. Australia’s climate change policy must reflect our unique vulnerabilities and particular economic strengths. It needs to be global, regional, national and local. This challenge, I believe, is best met by a blend of prudent conservatism and economic liberalism. A prudent conservative knows we are but temporary stewards of the environment. The Burkean sentiment that society is a partnership between those who are living, those who are dead, and those yet to be born, is second nature to us.

In the face of risk, a prudent conservative takes insurance. We should, in the words of Rupert Murdoch, give the planet the benefit of the doubt, given the dangers of climate change. A blend of prudent conservatism and economic liberalism has other things going for it. It is realistic about human nature and the pursuit of national interests. It values the power of the market as well as the value of local decision-making, and it knows the limits of state planning and why flexibility must be built into policies and institutions. This mix of prudent conservatism and economic liberalism has steered Australia through more than a decade of successful reform.

Now we must position Australia for a low carbon future. We face a major new reform challenge in designing an emissions trading system and setting a long-term goal for reducing our emissions in the absence of a global carbon scheme. These decisions will be amongst the most important Australia takes in the next decade. They need to be taken carefully and rationally with a clear eye to maintaining our economic strength. Reducing carbon emissions will mean higher energy and petrol prices. Australians need to understand that. Glib calls for drastic, immediate cuts in Australia’s emissions might be easy rhetoric but they carry real and potentially large costs. The best way to combat global climate change is to progressively tighten the screws on emissions while encouraging clean technologies for an energy hungry world.

Notwithstanding some of the fear and loathing that has crept into this debate, four fundamental realities remain. First, climate change requires a truly global response. With Australia’s contribution to global emissions at less than 1.5 per cent and falling, nothing we do alone will materially affect our climate. Second, we must accommodate demands for economic development, energy security and environmental sustainability. Without all three you are left at best with a two legged stool. Third, different countries will choose different policy approaches. National diversity must be both respected and harnessed. And fourth, the Kyoto Protocol is not an effective blueprint for future action. It provides no pathway for meaningful commitments by the very countries which will account for the bulk of future greenhouse gas emissions. Without a framework that includes all major emitters, we lack a genuine global solution.

There is an acute irony here. The loudest voices on climate change, not least the Australian Labor Party, tend to be those who invest almost mystical powers in multilateral institutions. Yet on this issue they are wedded to an instrument, namely Kyoto, which only 36 of 175 nations are required to do anything to reduce emissions. Clearly, climate change is an immense international challenge. That is why Australia is leading on practical steps like our Global Forests Initiative and the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate. The good news is that mankind has powerful tools for the task ahead, none more so than the spirit of discovery inspired and channelled by rational science and free markets.

Australia brings formidable assets to this challenge: an educated, can-do and adaptable people a modern; flexible economy; world class scientific expertise; deep global engagement and an enviable reputation for institution-building and reform. We have mobilised these assets before and will do so again to help build a new global climate change framework and to facilitate Australia’s transition to lower carbon emissions. No great challenge has ever yielded to fear or guilt. Nor will this one. Human ingenuity, directed towards clean technology and wise institutional design, remain our best weapon. The false prophets are those preaching Malthusian pessimism or anti-capitalism. They are the real climate change deniers because they deny rational, realistic and sustainable policy solutions. The moralising tone of utopian internationalism is also not helpful. Institutions will only work and endure if they harness national interests. The world needs less Woodrow Wilson and more Adam Smith to effectively tackle climate change.

Let me remind you on this point that in 1997 the United States Senate voted unanimously 95 to nil against any treaty that did not include major emitting developing countries. Indeed, when the Clinton Administration signed the Kyoto Protocol, it was then Vice President Al Gore who said that the United States could only ratify once and I quote his words, key developing nations participate. The United States has never ratified because the Al Gore condition of that ratification has never been fulfilled. This is a global problem he said that will need a global solution. A decade later nothing has changed to alter that view. I believe that we have reached a new moment of opportunity in this debate after a decade of inflated rhetoric and modest results under the Kyoto protocol. There is now what I regard as an emerging pragmatic consensus on a way forward that includes all major emitters and Australia is helping to forge this consensus.

It is clear that the Kyoto model provides neither a global solution nor a lasting one and that is why Australia supports negotiations on a new global framework. A successful Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Bali, Indonesia in December, will be crucial. We also support international efforts to set by the end of next year a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is in line with our setting a long-term emissions reduction goal for Australia. We will continue to encourage all relevant international efforts to arrive at a lasting global solution. Last month I outlined Australia’s plan to use this year’s APEC Meeting in Sydney. I see APEC as a major opportunity to bridge continued gaps between developed and developing countries. A comprehensive global mechanism will take years to develop and Australia has decided not to wait for this to emerge and last month I announced that the Government will establish an emissions trading regime for Australia based on a cap and trade model. Our goal is to begin in 2011 subject to relevant design issues being properly completed. One of the first in the Asia-Pacific region, it will be world’s best practice.

Today I announce key design features and administrative arrangements for this crucial piece of national economic architecture. The scheme will include maximum practical coverage of emissions sources and sinks, and of all greenhouse gases, a mixture of free allocation and auctioning of single-year dated emissions permits, a safety valve emissions fee designed to limit unanticipated costs to the economy and to business, particularly in the early years of the scheme and recognition of carbon abatement by firms in the lead-up to commencement of the scheme. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet will be responsible for implementing this system and it will consult widely with industry and others. Before selecting a long-term emissions goal in 2008 the Government will commission careful modelling of the impact of various targets. We will not do as the Opposition has done, set a target with no analysis of the consequences for Australia and then scramble around ex-post for a study to justify it. This encapsulates Labor’s economic inexperience and the risk this poses to Australia’s economy.

The Government will establish a team in the Treasury to oversee this modelling and using a range of Australian economic models Treasury will advise the Government amongst other things on the macroeconomic, sectoral and distributional implications for Australia of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It will examine the effects of different abatement targets over selected time periods and thirdly model the effects on key economic indicators including growth, employment, income, and prices – particularly of electricity – with special regard to the impact on households. Australia’s long-term emissions target will be both environmentally credible and economically achievable. We will build in flexibility to re-set the emissions trajectory if new scientific information or technologies become available and as the international framework takes shape. This is the smart, sustainable way to set targets.

The Government will also introduce legislation this year for a comprehensive and streamlined national emissions and energy reporting system. We will legislate for a new purpose-built monitoring, reporting and verification system and we will work to remove duplication in reporting requirements on business. Governance will be critical to the integrity of the emissions trading scheme, in particular separating policy functions from operational aspects. From 2009, an independent regulator for emissions trading will be established in the Treasury. Its responsibilities will include allocating and auctioning permits, certifying offsets and ensuring compliance. This emissions trading system will be world class in its coverage and governance. It will avoid the political fixes and economic failures that dogged the initial phase of the European Emissions Trading Scheme. In the years to come, it will provide a model for other nations to follow.

Being among the first movers on carbon trading in this region will bring new opportunities and we intend to grasp them. The Government will examine how to ensure that Australia becomes a carbon trading hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Of course, an emissions trading scheme is only one part of a comprehensive long-term climate change policy framework. There is no magic green bullet. Low-carbon technologies remain the key to an effective response that minimises the costs of limiting emissions. This in turn demands a comprehensive portfolio of clean energy solutions. Removing any one technology from the mix increases the costs of action and makes stabilising global emissions that much harder. Ultimately, technologies must meet the test of the market. There is, however, still a role for government to support research, development and demonstration of low emissions technologies.

Australia has the physical resources, the human capital and the technological strengths to be a global leader in key low emissions technologies. We can be an energy superpower in a carbon constrained future, but only with the right policy settings and only if we draw on all our national capabilities and resource advantages. Abundant reserves of coal, gas, solar energy resources, geothermal potential and the world’s largest low-cost uranium deposit provide a natural strategic focus for Australia’s clean energy technology policy. Under our Low Emissions Technology Fund the Government has already funded major projects which together involve investments of approximately $3 billion. These include the world’s largest and most efficient photovoltaic solar power station and the Gorgon CO2 Injection project which will be the largest geosequestration project in the world.

As a major producer and exporter, Australia has a crucial role to play in clean coal technologies. Renewable energy sources, and our relative strengths in solar, wind and geothermal energy will also be important but the Government also believes that Australia, sitting on almost 40 per cent of the world’s low cost uranium reserves, cannot stand aloof from nuclear power. This would be an act of economic and environmental folly in the extreme. Nuclear power has no direct CO2 emissions and is already a significant part of the world’s energy system. New generation nuclear energy systems known as Generation IV, promise further advancement in fuel utilisation, cost competitiveness, safety, waste minimisation and ensuring technology and products do not fall into the wrong hands. Today I announce that the Government will invest $12.5 million in a Nuclear Collaborative Research Programme between the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, ANSTO and Australia’s university sector. This will augment Australia’s ability to participate in the global Generation IV Nuclear Energy Systems Initiative.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we all have a role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions which goes beyond the easy morality of gestures. As I’ve said earlier, our actions must be local, as well as global, regional and national. A strong climate change policy requires a community response, in the same way that water security demands the widest possible community engagement. The Government is committed to encouraging local communities and households to take their own practical action both to lower carbon emissions and to better manage our nation’s scarce water resources. We are currently providing up to $12,000 to schools that install solar electric panels and under the Community Water Grants programme at least 1,600 schools have received funding for rainwater tanks. Today I announced that in addition, the Commonwealth will provide up to $50,000 to ensure every Australian school can install a solar hot water system and a water tank. These Green Vouchers for schools will help lift awareness of the challenges future generations face to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to better manage our water. Clearly, the more people change and adapt their own behaviour, the less reliant governments will be on blunt instruments that carry a heavy cost.

Under our Small Business and Household Action Initiative all households will receive information about climate change actions that they can take. They will be able to calculate their carbon emissions and seek to become carbon neutral by purchasing offsets through the Government’s Greenhouse Friendly programme. More than 22,000 homes have received or will receive direct support under our Photovoltaic Rebate Programme. The rebate currently available is up to $8000 per home. We have already supported the installation of solar hot water systems in more than 170,000 Australian homes. These Renewable Energy Certificates can be worth up to $900 towards the cost of the solar hot water system. Today I announce some further steps to bring solar hot water within the reach of Australian families. We intend to provide an additional $1,000 per household so that up to another 225,000 homes can upgrade to an energy saving solar hot water system. Water heating is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions from the average Australian home. Now more Australians will have access to Australian solar technologies with the capacity to reduce carbon emissions and to save households about $300 in annual energy costs.

The policies I have announced today bring to $3.4 billion the Commonwealth Government’s investment in tackling climate change since 1996. Earlier this year, I described myself as a realist on climate change. Increasingly I’m also an optimist because of the sheer dynamism of 21st century capitalism and the new momentum emerging for a more comprehensive global framework to succeed the Kyoto approach. Stabilising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will require a deep transformation of the world’s energy systems. It will be hard, but it is possible. We do not have to sacrifice economic prosperity. We do not have to rethink capitalism, but we do need to engage the community. We do need massive investment in low carbon infrastructure and we do need a far-reaching new phase of economic reform here at home to establish a world-class emissions trading system. One thing is for sure. The world will only unleash the clean technologies of tomorrow and successfully tighten the screws on greenhouse gas emissions against a backdrop of economic strength, and it is only against that backdrop of a strong economy that we can deliver the best environmental outcomes. On that basis Australia can more than play her part. Thank you.

Filed Under: Climate Change, Howard Government Tagged With: , ,

Howard Announces Carbon Trading Scheme By 2012

Jun 03, 2007

The Prime Minister, John Howard, has announced a carbon trading scheme to be introduced by 2012.

In a speech to the Liberal Party Federal Council meeting in Sydney, Howard again expressed caution about the economic effects of tackling climate change and derided the Opposition’s approach to the issue.

Listen to John Howard’s Address to the Liberal Party Council:

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Filed Under: 2007 Federal Election, Audio, Climate Change, Howard Government Tagged With: , , ,

Rupert Murdoch’s Energy Initiative

May 09, 2007

This is the text of remarks by Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of News Corporation, to employees of the company, in New York.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us here today. This morning is the first time we have ever done a global event for all News Corp. employees, many of whom are joining us live by webcast. So I should say good morning, but to those of you who are watching: good afternoon, and good evening…

I’m here to tell you about a new initiative we’re undertaking at News, one that will affect us all.

As many of you know, I grew up in Melbourne, Australia and the last few months and years have brought some changes there:

In Melbourne, 2006 was the 10th consecutive year with below average rainfall. And 2005 was the hottest year on record throughout Australia.

Australia is suffering its worst drought in 100 years.

Now, I realize we can’t take just one year in one city or even one continent as proof that something unusual is happening. And I am no scientist.

But there are signs around the world, and I do know how to assess a risk.

Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats. We may not agree on the extent, but we certainly can’t afford the risk of inaction.

We must transform the way we use energy, and of course not only because of climate change…

When I look around the world today, I see continued dependence on oil from vulnerable regions… and oil money going to leaders of countries hostile to us. Then there’s accelerating development in China, India and other developing economies that are reliant on fossil fuels.

But there are promising new technologies– bio-fuels, solar and wind power, cleaner coal.

And we all hear a demand from the public– our audiences– for governments and businesses to involve them in solving our energy challenge.

Climate change and energy use are global problems– News Corp is a global company.

Our operations affect the environment all over the world.

Our audiences– hundreds of millions of people on five continents– care about this issue. Three quarters of the American public believes climate change is a serious problem, and in many other countries, developed and developing, the numbers are even higher.

And as many companies have already learned, acting on this issue is simply good business.

Reducing our use of energy reduces costs.

Inviting our employees to be active on this issue helps us recruit and retain the world’s best.

For us, as a media company– this is a chance to deepen our relationships with our viewers, readers, and web users.

The initiative we are launching today will involve every business, every function. It’s not only for our facilities managers or our fleet directors– it’s about how we recruit new employees, how we develop relationships with advertisers and how we design movie sets.

This is about changing the DNA of our business to re-imagine how we look at energy.

This is all new for us. We have much to learn from others. We studied the example of BSkyB, and we met with non-governmental organizations, with other companies, and with scientific experts.

If we are to connect with our audiences on this issue, we learned that we must first get our own house in order…

We’re not a manufacturer, or an airline, but we do use energy. Printing and publishing newspapers, producing films, broadcasting television signals, operating 24-hour newsrooms. It all adds carbon to the atmosphere.

Our first step was to measure our emissions of greenhouse gases– our carbon footprint.

Our carbon footprint last year was 641,150 tons. This includes the electricity used in all our operations globally, and any fuels we burned.

Our analysis was independently verified and, today, we are reporting these figures to the public.

We could make a difference just by holding our emissions steady as our businesses continue to grow. But that doesn’t seem to be enough: we want to go all the way to zero.

Today, I am announcing our intention to be carbon neutral, across all our businesses, by 2010.

BSkyB has already done this. When all of News Corporation becomes carbon neutral it will have the same impact as turning off the electricity in the city of London for five full days.

Some of our businesses use more energy than others, but our strategy everywhere is the same… first, reduce our use of energy as much as possible. Then, switch to renewable sources of power where it makes economic sense…

And, over time, as a last resort, offset the emissions we can’t avoid.

This will take time, but we have already started:

On the Fox lot in Los Angeles, we have completed three separate reviews of energy use, and we found some areas to address immediately… even just switching the bulbs in our exit signs, will reduce carbon emissions by 200 tons. That’s equal to 200 flights from New York to LA.

We’re also experimenting with solar-powered golf carts on the Lot…

We’ve broken ground on the new Fox studios building that will be our first U.S. building officially certified as achieving excellence in environmental design.

The New York Post has begun replacing lighting at their plant… and we’ll do the same at our headquarters.

Our new Fox Networks Center in Houston will utilize the latest LED lighting technology in all of its master control rooms.

And at News America Marketing in the U.S. and at News Digital Media in Australia, we’ve begun replacing the companies’ fleet cars with hybrid vehicles.

The award-winning Keith Murdoch House in Adelaide, opened two years ago, uses 40% less energy than a typical office building. It uses solar panels to heat water, and collects rainwater from the roof to be re-used in the building.

As we upgrade and expand everywhere, building new data centers and office buildings, from Bulgaria to India, from Chicago to Milan, we will always take energy into account…

As we reduce our energy consumption, we are also buying electricity from sources that use less carbon…

Today, I am proud to announce that both News International and HarperCollins in the UK have entered arrangements to buy renewable energy… 70% of News International’s electricity will now come from hydroelectric power plants in Scotland… saving 36,000 tons of carbon next year alone– that’s enough to fill 650 railroad cars with coal.

These two businesses have made such rapid progress that they will be carbon neutral by the end of this year.

While we handle our own emissions, we can also work with our business partners to reduce emissions together….

Sky, working with NDS, redesigned their set-top boxes to go to a power-saving mode automatically.

Fox Home Entertainment was recently recognized by Wal-Mart for reducing the environmental impacts of our DVDs and– just yesterday– we completed an analysis of the carbon footprint of a DVD from the first moment of its production– all the way to the retailer’s shelf.

In London, we have done a similar analysis of one issue of the Times– from the tree to disposal– looking for ways to reduce carbon up and down our supply chain.

While we reduce our own carbon footprint we will encourage the companies who truck our DVDs and newspapers, sell us paper, and provide an enormous range of products and services– to all contribute.

Today, we are joining the Climate Group, a coalition of businesses and governments working together to solve the climate problem.

But some emissions will be unavoidable. As a last resort, we will offset these emissions.

A carbon offset is a financial tool to support projects that prevent carbon from being released into the atmosphere. Done right, they will widen the implementation of carbon-saving technologies, and give an incentive to create new solutions.

We have entered into an agreement to begin purchasing carbon offsets this year, from projects that provide wind power in India.

When our net emissions reach zero– through a combination of operational changes and carbon offsets– we will be carbon neutral.

We need to push ourselves to make as many reductions as possible in our own energy use first– and that takes time. But we must do this quickly– the climate will not wait for us.

To offer his views on climate change, may I present one head of state who has been a global leader on this issue and so many others throughout 10 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair…

[VIDEO]

Thank you very much, Mr. Blair.

But becoming carbon neutral is only the beginning. The climate problem will not be solved by one company reducing its emissions to zero, and it won’t be solved by one government acting alone.

The climate problem will not be solved without mass participation by the general public in countries around the globe.

And that’s where we come in.

We’re starting with our own carbon footprint. Not nothing. But much of what we’re doing is already, or soon will be, little more than the standard way of doing business.

We can do something that’s unique, different from just any other company. We can set an example, and we can reach our audiences. Our audience’s carbon footprint is 10,000 times bigger than ours…

That’s the carbon footprint we want to conquer.

We cannot do it with gimmicks. We need to reach them in a sustained way. To weave this issue into our content– make it dramatic, make it vivid, even sometimes make it fun. We want to inspire people to change their behavior.

Imagine if we succeed in inspiring our audiences to reduce their own impacts on climate change by just one percent. That would be like turning the State of California off for almost two months.

And imagine if… we were able to take on the carbon footprint of our audience in Asia. Many of the most serious impacts of climate change will be felt there, and China and India’s emissions are rising rapidly. STAR is the number one Hindi-language network in the world. In India alone, we reach 100 million people.

The challenge is to revolutionize the message.

For too long, the threats of climate change have been presented as doom and gloom– because the consequences are so serious.

We need to do what our company does best: make this issue exciting. Tell the story in a new way.

And, as you saw in our opening video, this is already happening… news coverage of this issue is increasing, but we can also do some things that are unexpected:

SPEED, the network devoted to cars and motorcycles, is working on a project that will peek into the future as transportation, fuels, and motorsports go green…

Our advertisers are asking us for ways to reach audiences on this issue.

FOX is developing a solutions-based campaign which will offer advertisers the opportunity to partner with us to engage the general public.

24 is committing to change the way the show is produced… using biodiesel generators, and powering the studio with renewable energy…

FOX has plans underway for the All-Star Game this summer, and the TV stations are planning a campaign to give their viewers ideas on what they can do at a local level.

The National Geographic Channel is launching a new effort, called Preserve Our Planet, to offer programming related to climate change…

On July 7, a series of concerts around the world, the LiveEarth concerts, will draw further attention to this issue… and Foxtel will be the exclusive Australian broadcast partner for this event.

And then there’s what we can do online. I’m proud to announce that MySpace has launched a channel dedicated to climate change. MySpace.com– slash– OurPlanet. What better way to enable young people to connect with each other and engage on this issue.

Now… there are limits to how far we can push this issue in our content. Not every hero on television can drive a hybrid car. Often times it just won’t fit. We must avoid preaching. And there has to be substance behind the glitz.

But if we are genuine, we can change the way the public thinks about these issues.

Now there will always be journalists… including some of ours… who are skeptical, which is natural and healthy. But the debate is shifting from whether climate change is really happening to how to solve it. And when so many of the solutions make sense for us as a business, it is clear that we should take action not only as a matter of public responsibility, but because we stand to benefit.

This all begins with you, our employees. As we reduce our company’s carbon footprint, we will help you to reduce your own.

I’ve started myself– I bought a hybrid car a few months ago– and of course for each of us there will be some changes we can make, and other changes we can’t.

But we shouldn’t let what we can’t do stop us from doing what we can.

We have launched Cool Change, our campaign to communicate with you on this issue, including a website where you can contribute ideas, and be rewarded for your efforts.

Fox has recently announced a new benefit it is offering its employees: a financial incentive to buy or lease a hybrid car. We now plan to roll this out to other News Corporation businesses.

I ask each of you to think about how this effort affects your own job, because I am certain it does.

As you discover new ways to save money or connect with your audiences or business partners, you will realize: finding a way to act on climate change is not only good for the planet, and not only good for our business, it will be good for your career.

And it will be great for attracting new talent– dynamic, creative, engaged people who think about the future, not one year ahead, but a generation ahead– exactly the kind of people we need for our company to thrive.

Our company has always been about imagining the future and then making that vision a reality.

News was once a small publisher of newspapers in one region of Australia…

There have always been those who doubted us…
Who doubted us when we expanded to Great Britain…
When we launched a fourth broadcast network in the United States…
When we launched a cable news network…
When we bought MySpace…

And they have been proven wrong. At each step, we took a risk, and re-invented ourselves.

News Corporation, today, reaches people at home and at work… when they’re thinking… when they’re laughing… and when they are making choices that have enormous impact.

The unique potential– and duty– of a media company are to help its audiences connect to the issues that define our time.

We are only at the beginning of this mission, and we have a long way to go.

As we imagine the future, our responsibility now is to make that future our own. I hope that each of you will continue to be inspired by that challenge, just as I am. We have much to do.

Thank you.

Filed Under: Climate Change, Media Tagged With: ,

Costello Is Frittering Away The Future Say Greens

May 08, 2007

The Australian Greens say the Budget “is more about greed than green”.

According to Greens leader, Senator Bob Brown, “there is no recognition in this budget that the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment”.

This is the text of a media release from the Australian Greens.

“This budget is more about greed than green. The Treasurer has announced more than $30 billion dollars worth of tax cuts. Those earning over $150,000 per year to receive nearly $3,000 per year. Once again the big end of town does best and the pensioners get barely anything,” Greens Leader Bob Brown said tonight.

“The Treasurer begins his speech by saying that ‘Australia is different to the way it was 10 years ago’. Sadly he is right. Australia is now hotter, drier and with a lot more greenhouse gas emissions. We have more expensive houses and more household debt. Some things have of course stayed the same. Indigenous Australians still die 17 years earlier than the broader community, the poor struggle to get dental care, 1.2 million pensioners get a measly one-off $500.”

Senator Brown said the Greens’ budget leak on the environment was spot on.

“There is no recognition in this budget that the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. Overall the increase in funding for the environment this year is only $281 million.”

“Since coming to power the Howard Government has spent more than $2 trillion dollars of taxpayers’ money and tonight the Treasurer is crowing that more than $2 billion of that has been spent on climate change, but to what end? The Murray Darling system has collapsed. Two billion dollars is less than 0.1% of his total spending and around 1 per cent of what he has spent on defence.”

“The Treasurer has had time to commission two reports into the costs of ageing but he still has no idea what the costs of climate change will be. This year we have seen the devastating impact of drought on the Australian agriculture industry, but the budget papers assume that next year everything will be fine.”

“For the last 11 years there has been no mention of climate change in the budget, this year the budget papers refer to the ‘inevitable impact of past and future emissions on our climate’. While there is no mention of strategies to address climate change, we are now funding CSIRO to start planning where the cyclone and bushfire bunkers should be built.

“The reinstatement of the $8000 grant for solar roofs has only been allocated $30 million per year. At that rate it would take some 2000 years to convert all of Australia’s roofs into solar power stations.”

“But instead of announcing a plan for restructuring Australia’s economy, the Treasurer has announced $50 million for fridge magnets on how to reduce energy use and the development of a ‘free website’.

“The Greens support the extension of the Just Transition fund to assist farmers to adapt to a drying climate (and the lift in the threshold before GST applies to small businesses) but there is no plan to assist the loggers and coal miners prepare for new jobs in new industries.

“The Treasurer has announced an additional $35 million per year to encourage children to eat less junk food but continues to refuse to stop the junk food companies spending ten times as much persuading children to do the exact opposite,” Senator Brown said.

Filed Under: Budget, Climate Change, Economy, Greens, Howard Government Tagged With: , , ,

Kevin Rudd Commits To Emissions Trading Regime

Mar 08, 2007

The Leader of the Opposition, Kevin Rudd, has delivered a keynote speech on foreign policy to The Global Foundation, in Melbourne.

This is the text of Kevin Rudd’s speech to The Global Foundation in Melbourne.

Thank you, David Hawes. My good friend, Steve Howard, Councillor John So, the Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne – our host, distinguished guests and Roundtable participants.

Socrates once said, ‘I am not Athenian or Greek, but a citizen of the world.’

This is also true for Australia. By virtue of our size, our economic clout and our geography, our destiny is – and has always been – to be a citizen of the world. Like all of us who share this planet, we are stakeholders in a global community. We have rights and responsibilities to each other and to the world we all populate.

Today, I want to talk about my vision for Australia as a citizen of the world and how together we can best discharge the responsibilities of global citizenship. But before we can achieve this goal, we face a number of challenges at home and abroad.

These challenges and how best we respond to them is well understood by The Global Foundation. The Foundation has always positioned itself with one foot in Australia, and another foot in world. I appreciate and commend your work here and look forward to your continued engagement with the big challenges of our times.

The Global Economy

The contribution of China to the world economy is not to be underestimated.

Last week’s nine per cent fall on the Shanghai stockmarket revealed just how influential the Chinese economy now is to the world economy – and, importantly, how vulnerable we now all are. The events in Shanghai triggered the largest falls on many stockmarkets, including our own, since September 11, 2001. It signalled the coming of age of China as a global financial power. It also revealed Australia’s vulnerability.

Will Hutton writes that China’s economy this year will be nine times larger than it was in 1978 when Deng Xiaoping began the market-based economic reform process. China is now the fourth largest economy in the world. It has more than one trillion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves. It is the second largest importer of oil. It will be the largest exporter of goods in the world within a few years. And it is the second largest military power.

Some of these measures are open to challenge. But what is not open to challenge is that something very big is happening on our doorstep.

Over the past twenty years, 150 million people have moved into China’s cities and 400 million people have been removed from poverty. It is, he says, ‘a head-spinning achievement’.

And as Hutton says, how all of this plays out in the long run and the impact China will have in this century is uncertain. But we know it will be a major player and that for the first time in our settled history, our region will no longer be dominated by Western powers.

Nevertheless, the immediate impact on Australia has been clear. China’s insatiable demand for our resource exports has driven record commodity prices, our best terms of trade in a generation and continued economic growth.

As a result, we have grown increasingly dependent on the Chinese boom for our prosperity. The surge in our terms of trade is adding an estimated 55 billion dollars to our economy this year alone. But if China’s growth slows, and if global commodities markets fall, we could be in for a bumpy ride.

That’s why I believe we must have a total focus on long-term policies that will prepare us for life beyond the mining boom. This is integral to maintaining our prosperity. And to do this, we need to reverse the decline in our productivity growth.

When Labor handed over stewardship of the economy to John Howard 11 years ago, our productivity was growing at an annual rate of 3.2 per cent. It has now fallen to 2.2 per cent in the most recent productivity cycle, and even lower since then.

When compared with the United States, our productivity growth has fallen from 85 per cent of US levels in 1998, to 79 per cent by 2005.It is not surprising that Australia’s productivity performance today ranks only 16th in the OECD.

To boost productivity growth further, we need a new wave of reform. This is what we did in the 1980s and 1990s, when a Labor Government ushered in a reform program that opened up our economy and implemented national competition policy, which made us more competitive in the world and more prosperous at home.

These reforms were not easy but they did provide the foundation for our current prosperity, and they lifted our productivity.But the productivity gains resulting from these reforms have been eroded. So we need to begin by boosting our falling productivity growth. And the way to improve our productivity is to invest in human capital, to implement an education revolution.

The Australia Unlimited background paper prepared for this Roundtable acknowledges the importance of education to our economic prosperity. It recognises the consensus on this point and says, ‘… education provides one of the best buffers for flexibility for individuals and economies alike.’

Our competitor nations are investing heavily in education, and they are leaving us behind. That is why we need new investment at all levels of education, training and skills – from early learning and pre-school, to schools, TAFEs, universities and research. We need to turbocharge the capacity of the next generation of Australians. We have announced a range of policies – in early childhood learning, incentives to attract more maths and science teachers, and the progressive development of a National Curriculum Board.

OECD research shows that if the average education level of the working-age population was increased by one year, the growth rate of the economy would be up to 1 per cent higher.

Another recent study found that countries able to achieve literacy scores 1 per cent higher than the international average will increase their living standards by a factor of 1.5 per cent of GDP per capita. Education is the pathway to future prosperity. We must set for ourselves a goal for Australia to become the best educated country, the most skilled economy, the best trained workforce in the world.

While the mining boom has delivered our current prosperity, we won’t always be as lucky. We need to make our own luck. It’s about maintaining our future prosperity. While it is critical that we invest in our human capital, it is equally important that we invest in our industries through innovation.

We should be proud of our manufacturing industry. Many of our manufacturers are working hard to innovate and expand. We need to do more to celebrate our success stories and use these to spur more innovation, more creativity and more investment. It is part of our nation-building history. We have always been a country of innovators.

This also requires a partnership with government. We believe that in the twenty-first century, innovation policy is industry policy. We want to help our businesses produce new goods and services for world markets. To help them be more efficient, more flexible and more competitive.

We must strengthen investment in knowledge and creativity, provide incentives for business research and development, accelerate the take up of new technology, attract foreign R&D funds, and strengthen the links between universities and businesses.

We need to do all we can to move innovation from the margins to the mainstream. To move away from the subsidy mentality and towards providing growth incentives for Australian business. To encourage behavioural change around building an innovation culture and more innovative industries.

These initiatives are necessary if we are to remain globally competitive and preserve our prosperity.

Sustainability

A second great challenge of our age is sustainability.

While some may doubt the existence of climate change, the core science is beyond dispute. The planet is heating up. The ice caps are melting. Sea levels are rising. The ocean’s waters are warming. The corals are bleaching. There are more extreme weather events, changing rainfall patterns, and threatened species.

Climate change looms as the great moral, economic, social and environmental challenge of our age – and our planet is calling us to action. The world can’t stand idly by and debate the science or play party politics with the future. I don’t doubt that climate change is real and nor do the vast majority of Australians.

We need to forge a new national consensus on climate change. I believe that we need to:

  • ratify the Kyoto Protocol,
  • cut Australia’s greenhouse pollution by 60 per cent by 2050,
  • set up a national emissions trading regime,
  • substantially increase our renewable energy target, and,
  • ensure that Australia’s disaster mitigation plans reflect the impact of climate change.

Climate change also presents an opportunity for Australia to be a leader in the new global markets for energy efficient technology.

That is why I have recently announced support for a National Clean Coal Initiative. This will fund, in partnership with industry, new research into technologies that reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power stations.

Another way we can harness new technologies to innovate and deal with climate change, is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced by our road transport sector, which accounts for 13 per cent of all emissions, and is growing.

We also need new ideas, suggestions and solutions and I will soon convene a National Climate Change Summit to ensure all options are put on the table.

We also need to think globally in how we respond to climate change. We need to convince the United States to commit to making greater progress and ensure that China is also part of the global solution. I am pleased that on Monday, the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, in a speech to the National Congress, reaffirmed a commitment to reduce pollution. This follows the Chinese government’s decision to introduce a carbon trading scheme and plans to consolidate a range of small mines, steel mills and power stations – all aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

We should also play a leadership role in helping our Pacific neighbours deal with climate change – who in the years ahead will be particularly affected in the areas of agriculture, fisheries and tourism.

Australia and the World

My argument has been that the challenges of maintaining our economic prosperity and in dealing with climate change are not challenges just for Australia – they are challenges for the world. And we can’t make social and economic progress at home unless we work with the community of nations abroad.

At a time when globalisation is blurring the lines between the foreign and the domestic, the overriding challenge is to navigate the future in a volatile world where change is the only constant. As it is clear that our foreign policy is inexorably linked with our security, our economy and our environmental sustainability – we need to work with others to deal with current and future challenges.

Indeed, making progress on climate change, on terrorism, on eradicating poverty and disease, on nuclear non-proliferation, on disaster management, on counter-terrorism and on peacekeeping – all depend on cooperation and partnership. And it requires active participation in the multilateral order.

These are not things we can do alone. And they are things which we cannot afford to leave to others.

Australia needs to assume, once again, its historical role as a creative middle power, born under Evatt’s leadership at the San Francisco conference to establish a charter for the United Nations in 1945. Always making a real contribution, lending a hand where it is needed, and with respect and admiration around the world. Punching above our weight. Ensuring that our voice is heard. Making a difference. Being part of the global solution. Not just being part of the global problem.

Labor believes that we should base our foreign policy on three strong pillars – our alliance with the United States, our membership of the United Nations and a policy of comprehensive engagement with the Asia-Pacific region.

Labor is a rock solid supporter of Australia’s alliance with the United States. Indeed, it was Labor who formed the alliance under John Curtin during World War Two. We believe that the United States has overwhelmingly been a force for good in the world, but we are not uncritical. We don’t believe that an alliance mandates automatic compliance with everything the United States does.

That is why, for example, we must all ensure all Australians are allowed the due process of the law.

In our wider region, Japan is one of our most important neighbours. Japan does not often figure in Australia’s foreign policy debate. Australia and Japan share many of the same strategic challenges and mutual objectives in the region.

I support greater security cooperation with Japan. In office, Labor will strengthen our counter terrorism and intelligence coordination with Japan and work towards establishing joint maritime and military exercises, in order to combat piracy and fight terrorism in our region. We note Japan’s role in Iraq and support the training of Japanese troops in Australia. Australia-Japan security cooperation is growing and strengthening, but these things take time. For example, there are good opportunities for greater cooperation in counterterrorism. Also in counter-disaster management. Also in regional cooperation on weapons of mass destruction proliferation and narcotics.

However, given our current strategic circumstances I don’t believe we should now be moving down the path of a formal defence pact between our two countries. To do so at this stage may unnecessarily tie our security interests to the vicissitudes of an unknown security policy future in North East Asia. Labor believes that for the foreseeable future it is better to enhance our cooperation and build our relationship around shared interests, and formalise these through a range of sub-treaty cooperative agreements.

Australia must re-embrace the tradition of active middle power multilateral diplomacy, particularly in our region – and I now want to discuss a few areas where we can make a difference.

Within this framework, we need to continue global action on nuclear nonproliferation. This need is urgent given India, Pakistan and North Korea have tested weapons in the past decade. Australia used to be a leader in this area. I want us to re-establish the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons set up in 1995. But we should expand it to include all forms of weapons of mass destruction – chemical and biological – and give it a policy making, advocacy and diplomatic role. It could also help rebuild the collapsing consensus around the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Canberra Commission can be a vehicle for real progress on these issues and it will be our gift to the world.

As a global citizen we also have obligations to help those who are not so fortunate. The United Nations estimates that 2.8 billion people live on less than US two dollars a day – that is a shocking and shameful statistic. As a relatively wealthy and prosperous country, we have an obligation to work for the betterment of humankind wherever we can – to help alleviate poverty, to eradicate disease, to improve literacy, to reduce suffering and hardship, and to promote hope and opportunity.

We should not fulfil our citizenship of the world by sending just arms to fight, but rather sending aid to foster growth and development, and extend the hand of friendship. We should be a more proactive supporter of debt relief and coupling aid funds with social, economic and institutional reforms. We should also be looking at the underlying causes of poverty.

But sadly, our international aid commitment has fallen to its lowest level in over thirty years. Despite the government agreeing to the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, we have failed to follow it up with action plans and development programs targeted on the world’s poorest countries. We are being significantly outspent by George Bush, Tony Blair and other G8 countries. We can do much better than this – and we should.

Australia is, and can become, an even greater overwhelming force of for good in the world.

We should send not only our money, but also our people. In the spirit of John

F. Kennedy’s Peace Corps, we should send our best young minds, our most creative and innovative talent, with all the enthusiasm and promise which they can muster to contribute to the social and economic progress of the most disadvantaged nations. We should unleash the potential of the next generation of Australian youth and direct it towards where it is needed most – in the service of others.

Conclusion

In many ways, much of our success in Australia has been because of our global outlook. Opening our economy to the world and our borders to immigration has made us more prosperous.

Our engagement in world affairs has given us stronger security and fruitful trading partnerships.

To be successful in the future we need understand the challenges, to focus on the long-term and to work in partnership with the global and regional community of nations.

We will never be the richest country, or the largest, or the most powerful militarily, but we can play a constructive role in the world. We can extend the hand of friendship, we can advocate new ideas and new solutions to seemingly intractable problems, and we can send our best and brightest to help. We can make a difference.

Government doesn’t have all the answers, but government can make a difference. Just as international government can make a difference.

Most of these are inevitably political challenges with economic, social and environmental consequences. But as Charles de Gaulle once said that ‘Politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.’ He was right – we need your help. We need The Global Foundation’s help. We must work with others and try to build a consensus on the challenges we face and how we deal with them.

Filed Under: 2007 Federal Election, A.L.P., Climate Change, Foreign Policy Tagged With: , , , ,

Bob Brown On Climate Change

Sep 02, 1999

This is the transcript of Senator Bob Brown’s Second Reading Speech on the Climate Change (Implementation) Bill 1999.

Senator Bob BrownHow’s the weather? Getting hotter, according to most of the world’s scientists!

The World Meteorological Organisation records 1998 as the warmest year worldwide since reliable measurements began in 1860. Seven of the 10 warmest years have been in the 1990s, and the mean surface temperature of the planet has risen by 0.7° C in the last century. In Australia, 1998 was the hottest year since records began in 1910. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Change, Greens Tagged With: ,