Australia's Howard will follow Murdoch on climate

Howard will follow Murdoch on climate: Greens

News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch has invited Al Gore to a board meeting to discuss climate change and it is now only a matter of time before Prime Minister John Howard gets on board, the Australian Greens said today.

"When the Coalition of the Willing went in to Iraq Rupert Murdoch pledged to use News Corp worldwide to support the war, a move that influenced global public opinion," Greens climate change spokesperson
Senator Milne said in Canberra.

"It's obvious that Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, is already having an influence at the highest levels.

"Recognising the power of the Murdoch media empire, Prime Minister
Howard won't want to go into an election year on the wrong side of the debate.

"Even in the United States, which like Australia has not ratified the
Kyoto Protocol, there has been a massive shift in public opinion as business has called for a price on carbon and an emission trading scheme, and Australian businesses are catching on," Senator Milne said.

"By contrast, the federal government is moving in the opposite direction. There is no plan for Australia to achieve the 60 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050 that is needed to avert dangerous climate change.

"In the Senate this week, the government rejected the Greens' move for a comprehensive energy inquiry, an alternative fuels policy, and an extension of the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target and it baulks at requiring companies to implement identified energy efficiencies.

"The government has dug itself and the nation into a hole on climate change, after a decade of stubborn refusal to address the problem.
Watch as it tries to buy its way out of the problem at next year's federal election."

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