Friday, March 30, 2007

'
Nothing new' in UN climate change report


Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says there is nothing new in a leaked report which paints a bleak picture for Australia's future.
The document obtained by The 7.30 Report says the average coastline temperature could rise by up to 3.4 degrees by 2050 and more than 6 degrees by 2080.
It also predicts more frequent fires and droughts and a further dwindling of stream flows in the Murray-Darling Basin.
It also says that by the middle of the century 97 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef will suffer from bleaching.
But Malcolm Turnbull has told Lateline such warnings are not new.
"I mean we know about this, this has been published, the CSIRO has been writing about this for years so I'm glad that you think it's a revelation, I'm sorry to say that it isn't, it isn't, there's nothing new in that," he said.
"The IPCC report is based on peer-reviewed published science, everything in there is well known to us, we know that there is the possibility or the probability of a hotter and drier future in southern Australia."

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