| Pacific nations nervously watch climate change moves at G8 |
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| Monday, 07 July 2008 | |
 COONEY: In the three days since Professor Ross Garnaut released the draft of his review of climate change and its suggestions on how Australia should respond to it. Its findings have generated enough print inches, radio and tv air time and internet chatter to create its own carbon emissions spike. GARNAUT: The weight of scientific evidence tells us that Australians are facing risks of damaging climate change. The risk can be substantially reduced by strong and early action by all major economies. Without that action, it is probable that Australians over the 21st Century and beyond will experience disruption in their prosperity and enjoyment of life, and to long standing patterns in their lives. COONEY: In April, 2007, prior to Australia's national election, then opposition leader Kevin Rudd, commissioned economist, Professor Ross Garnaut, to review the scale of climate change and how Australia should deal with it. At the time, Mr Rudd indicated that if he was elected, Professor Garnaut's findings would be the basis for Australian policy on climate change. In February, this year, with Mr. Rudd now the prime minister, Professor Garnaut released his interim report. It raised the prospect of an emissions trading scheme which was repeated in last week's draft. Exactly how such a scheme should or would work is still be debated. In essence though, it would encourage industry and consumers to try and restrict the emissions they produce, but it would also mean a financial cost to them for producing carbon. The report also calls for Australia to quickly set the level it wants to reduce carbon emissions by, with the recommendation those levels be in place by 2010. Both suggestions are possibly electorally unpopular, and since the release of the interim report four months ago, Mr. Rudd and his ministers have changed the way they talk about the Garnaut review. But puts some distance between them and voters who might be unhappy with possibly paying more for everyday services, the government no longer describes the review as the basis of policy, just one input towards it. But even if his findings are now just an input, Professor Garnaut's input is expected to be major and the 600 page draft report released on Friday has attracted both support and attack from politicians and punters alike. GARNAUT: Climate change is a diabolical policy problem. It is harder than any other issue of high importance that has come before our polity in living memory. It is isidious rather than directly confrontational. It is long term rather than immediate in both its impacts and its remedies. COONEY: The professor has recognised the influence Australia has on the climate change debate in its region. GARNAUT: Unlike other developed countries, our neighbours are mainly developing countries, many of them fragile developing countries. The problems of our neighbours would inevitably become our problems. COONEY: The President of Kiribatis, Anati Tong, on a visit to Australia and New Zealand last month made it clear his people will soon be climate change refugees. TONG: Of course I raised the issue of climate change and the impact on our people, not tomorrow, but within the century and the ultimate need eventually of having to relocate our people. COONEY: Most Australians are not really aware of the problems caused by climate change in the Pacific. But on Friday, Tuvalu woman, Emeretta Cross, now living in Melbourne, spoke on local radio there and explained with great passion the affect on her homeland and what it means. CROSS: I'm looking at addressing 100 plus family members that I need to think about sponsoring if they were going to come here to Australia. For our politicians to sit there and say they want to improve the relationship with the Pacific Island nations, well the first thing to do would be to work from home, to start looking at your emissions, desalination plants such as things that we are doing here in Australia do have a ripple affect that are going to be detrimental to the lifestyle of my family. The following has been a radio transcript from BBC Australia . Presenter: Pacific Correspondent, Campbell Cooney Speaker: Professor Ross Garnaut, economics professor and report's author; Emeretta Cross, Tuvalu resident; The President of Kiribatis, Anati Tong
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