Fed: Rudd pledges to show leadership on climate change

AAP General News (Australia)
12-10-2007
Fed: Rudd pledges to show leadership on climate change

BRISBANE, Dec 10 AAP - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he is determined to show leadership
on climate change, but will not be setting emissions targets without careful consideration.

Mr Rudd goes to the Indonesian island of Bali tomorrow to take part in a UN climate
change conference, in which it is hoped a roadmap for negotiations for a new agreement
once the Kyoto Protocol commitment period ends in 2012 will be agreed to.

In Brisbane today, Mr Rudd denied the conference would be a failure if no agreement
was reached on emission targets, and said Australia was a leader on climate change despite
the government not setting any targets.

He said his government was following a series of steps in its policy on climate change,
beginning with ratifying the Kyoto protocol, and then being part of negotiations in Bali.

"I would not have taken the decision to proceed with the ratification of Kyoto unless
as prime minister of Australia I was determined to show leadership in this area," Mr Rudd
told reporters.

"I intend to show leadership in this area, and it will be done on the basis of sober,
careful decision making on the way through."

The government would wait for the completion of a report by economist Ross Garnaut,
expected in June, before committing to emissions targets, Mr Rudd said.

"As I said prior to to the election, when it comes to the determination of our targets,
they will be driven by the outcomes of the Garnaut report which Labor had the foresight
to commission six months before the election."

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KEYWORD: CLIMATE BALI RUDD

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