Opposition attacks Govt over climate change.


The Federal Opposition is stepping up its attack on the Government over climate change in the wake of the Sir Nicholas Stern report.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair says the world needs to invest heavily in fighting climate change if it is to avoid a future economic catastrophe.
The British Government has released a comprehensive report on climate change and the global economy.
Mr Blair says the Stern report is the most important report on the future that he has ever received as Prime Minister.
"It has demolished the last remaining argument for inaction. Urgent action will prevent a catastrophe and investment will pay us back many times in the future," he said.
Undertaken by the former World Bank chief economist, the report says 1 per cent of the world economy should be spent tackling climate change. It also recommends a global emissions trading scheme.
Later this year, Sir Nicholas will go to the US, alongside former vice president Al Gore, to promote a unified global approach.
'Frozen in time'
Opposition environment spokesman Anthony Albanese has accused the Government of dodging the issue.
"On this - the most important issue facing the global community - you can't fudge," he said.
"You can't say on the one hand - Kyoto Protocol, if we ratified it would ruin the economy, and then in the next breath say, we'll meet the target. It doesn't make sense."
Mr Albanese says the Stern report on climate change is being ignored by the Government.
"We are so far behind the rest of the world on climate change that it is an embarrassment," he said.
"The Howard Government is frozen in time while the globe warms around it."
Labor says the report highlights the need for an emissions trading system and for Australia to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
The Government says it would support a new global emissions trading system, provided all major countries sign up.
Parliamentary secretary for the environment Greg Hunt says the Government is already acting.
"I say there is a better way and that is what we are doing which is investing directly on the supply side of emissions control," Mr Hunt said.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has defended Australia, saying the nation is taking action on climate change. She says the US has also changed its attitude on the issue.
"It isn't the case that nothing is happening in Australia. Australia has more cause than many other countries in the world to understand the force of these arguments," she said.
'Kyoto flawed'
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane wants a completely new approach.
"Sir Nicholas Stern said we need a global carbon trading arrangement - Kyoto is not a global trading arrangement," he said.
"It is around about or even less than 45 per cent of the global emitters."
Mr Hunt also says the entire Kyoto protocol is flawed.
"What is happening as a result of this great moral measure that they talk about is a movement of emissions from one position to another and that's why because there is a fundamental flaw and they don't want to acknowledge it," he said.
The Federal Government points to its $2 billion low emissions technology fund as an example of its action against climate change.
The Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) in Australia has welcomed the Stern report on the economics of dealing with climate change.
BCSE executive director Rick Brazzale says the Federal Government must accept the urgency of Australia curbing greenhouse emission from the energy sector.
"It's not really going to cost a lot of money and it's not really going to adversely impact on our economic growth," he said.
"It might just slow our economic growth a little bit over the course of the next 20 years, but it's not a significant cost at all.
"Certainly compared to the costs of more severe drought, more severe bushfires and the water challenges that we have at present."