Blair not happy with new green deal

 



  The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, disagreed yesterday with 
Australia's decision to sign a climate change deal with the 
United States.

  The Federal Government denied that the agreement, signed this 
week, was a signal it was dumping the Kyoto Protocol on 
greenhouse gases.

  The Australian-US "climate action partnership" involves liaison 
between governments, businesses and research bodies on climate 
change.

  Critics say that on the one hand Australia is saying it does not 
want to dump Kyoto, yet on the other it is cosying up to the US 
- which does want to dump Kyoto.

  Australia's involvement in Kyoto has been in doubt ever since 
the US President, George Bush, announced last year that 
ratifying the protocol would hurt the US economy.

  The future of the protocol, which sets targets for all countries 
in an attempt to cut pollution, will be decided this year at a 
meeting in Johannesburg.

  A spokeswoman for the Environment Minister, David Kemp, said 
yesterday that the minister was on his way to talks with the 
European Union in Brussels after a formal visit to Washington, 
and that the Government was still committed to Kyoto.

  The Opposition's environment spokesman, Kelvin Thomson, said 
yesterday that Australia "should not follow the US position on 
climate change".

  Mr Blair told the ABC that greenhouse gases were an area where 
there was an obvious disagreement with the US.

  Asked if the disagreement was also with Australia, Mr Blair 
said: "Yes. But I simply say to people, it is for individual 
countries to state their own position."

  
He was not sure the Kyoto Protocol actually went far enough.

  "The more I read about climate change, the more concerned I 
become about this issue."



Copyright @ 2002 Sydney Morning Herald