Antinuclear

AUDIO: Australia’s Liberal Coalition taking a “sad route” if they reverse carbon tax

There is a belief that your economy will suffer if you go down the route of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, and I believe that is a mistake. I think for most economies green growth is the right way forward, and I don’t think the Western economies are going to climb out of the current economic crisis until they move in that direction.

the position of Australia would be very sad if they do go down the route that you’re suggesting the Coalition will take

AUDIO: Climate adviser disappointed with Coalition climate stance  http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3771218.htm      Sarah Clarke reported this story on Thursday, May 30, 2013  ASHLEY HALL: Sir David King made international headlines when he claimed climate change was a greater threat than international terrorism. Almost a decade on and the former chief scientific adviser to the UK prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown says he’s concerned there’s been little action on a global climate deal…… individual countries are now putting together quite good action plans, depending where you look in the world. I’d say Britain is probably leading the way.

The interesting thing is that the action is now taking place amongst a large number of the developing nations and the emerging nations. It’s almost an inversion……
SARAH CLARKE: In Australia, and with an election in September, the polls are indicating that there’ll be a Coalition win. Now, the Coalition has stated that they will abandon a carbon price or carbon tax. What are your thoughts on that?
DAVID KING: Well, needless to say I’d be very, very disappointed with any government coming into power in the world to reverse the situation. I, naturally, was very pleased when Australia came in with a plan of action on climate change. 
We produce a map of the world, and we colour every nation in from deep green through to very pale yellow, and New Zealand switched from pale yellow to pale green, but now is about to switch back. That’s not a happy situation at all.

SARAH CLARKE: And the same for Australia?

DAVID KING: That’s what I mean, for Australia. The Australian Government changing its position as the government changes. See, in Britain we managed to get a very large majority of the parties all voting in favour of action. So the three major parties all voted for action. I think there were only five votes against out of 650 in parliament. So we have some security as we go from one government to another.

There is a belief that your economy will suffer if you go down the route of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide, and I believe that is a mistake. I think for most economies green growth is the right way forward, and I don’t think the Western economies are going to climb out of the current economic crisis until they move in that direction.

SARAH CLARKE: What do you think the global response might be if Australia did go down the path of winding back its carbon pricing scheme?

DAVID KING: Well, I think, I think that the rest of the world will keep moving. I’ve been working with the Chinese government, with the Indian government behind the scenes, and I think there’s a realisation that the future is going to be largely determined by those two countries. And if they take Brazil and southern Africa and other African states along with them, action will emerge from that part of the world, and I think Australia and the United States will eventually follow suit.

So I think that the position of Australia would be very sad if they do go down the route that you’re suggesting the Coalition will take them, but I certainly don’t think it’s a game-changer on the international negotiations.

May 31, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Audiovisual