A new government…
… a new chance for Australia to make a real difference to the impact of climate change. Now that Kevin Rudd and the Labour party have been elected to run the show for us, what’s in store? One of Rudd’s major election promises was that he would ratify the Kyoto Protocol - but was it just a ‘non-core’ promise to sway the voters, or is it the beginning of a new era of environmental responsibility for us? Crikey.com.au has tackled the question with two good articles.
The first is Rudd at Bali and Beyond, from Clive Hamilton (author of Scorcher: The dirty politics of climate change, which I reviewed a few months ago). Rudd is expected to ratify Kyoto when the next meeting of member nations is held in Bali this December. Hamilton discusses what Rudd will need to do at this meeting in order to be taken seriously. Other nations will be watching to see if we negotiate in good faith, and if Rudd removes the fossil fuel lobbyists from our international delegation. If Rudd looks like he means business, the rest of the world will be sighing with relief.
The second article is from Guy Pearce, author of High and Dry. He says that ratifying Kyoto will be the easy bit, since all Rudd has to do is show up at Bali and receive the gratitude of everyone who has been waiting for so long for us to join in. After that, he has to begin the hard work of actually cutting emissions. Pearce says that there will be several clues as to how Rudd will proceed after Kyoto is signed. If he replaces Garrett as Environment Minister, keeps taking the advice of ABARE on climate change issues, or delays setting binding emissions targets, then things don’t look good - we’ll have to make sure we keep the pressure on him for real action.
Only time will tell if Rudd will help Australia to do the right thing. I think the signs are good - but I’ll be happier once the Cabinet ministers are announced, and we know the fate of Peter Garrett.