So Labor got up, big time. Congratulations to them. Their victory
represents a golden opportunity for the new government to take strong
leadership on the key election issue of climate change, by quitting coal
and delivering the deep emission cuts required to avoid dangerous global
warming.
While Kevin 07 was about winning the election, Kevin 08 will have to be about winning the battle against climate change, and this means quitting coal.
Climate change was one of the key election issues and was central to
the ALP’s winning campaign. Now Kevin Rudd has been elected, the nation
wants and expects to see real action on climate change.
John Howard could not be taken seriously on climate change because he
had always been a sceptic of climate science, refusing to sign the Kyoto
Protocol, and putting the narrow interests of coal companies ahead of
those of the Australian people.
While the climate change policies the ALP took to the election were
significantly better than those of the Coalition, they are still nowhere
near good enough. Emissions will continue to skyrocket unless Prime
Minister Rudd starts phasing out coal-fired power stations and replacing
them with renewable energy.
Ratifying Kyoto is a good first step. But the key indicator of the new
government’s success will be if emissions begin to decrease during this
term.
