Climate change report 'a wake up call'

2nd October 2007, 12:02 WST

Predictions that temperatures could climb one degree Celsius across Australia by 2030 should be a wake-up call to the major parties to act swiftly on climate change, the Australian Greens say.
The latest Climate Change in Australia report, produced by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, indicates the probability of warming exceeding one degree is 10 to 20 per cent for coastal areas of Australia, and more than 50 per cent for inland regions.
Rainfall is also expected to decrease in parts of Australia, particularly in south-western Australia, according to the report.
Greens climate change spokeswoman Senator Christine Milne said the alarming predictions should prompt the major parties to take the issue of climate change seriously.
"When will the government and opposition wake up to the threat and take real action to tackle the biggest issue of our time?" she said.
"The underlying message has not changed for well over a decade: we need to act fast to reduce emissions if we are to have any chance of avoiding runaway climate change."
Senator Milne urged the major parties to stop supporting major greenhouse gas emitters like the coal and aluminium industries.
"Clearly, the problem is nothing about science, but about political will and the power of major industrial emitters," she said.
"Both the government and opposition are desperately trying to protect these major emitters - primarily the coal, forestry and aluminium sectors - while leaving Australia's agriculture and tourism, not to mention our health and infrastructure, to dry up, bleach and melt away."
Senator Milne said steps must be taken to slash emissions by 30 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050 to avoid the CSIRO's predictions eventuating.
Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett says agricultural communities and water supplies in southern Australian cities will be severely affected by climate change.
Mr Garrett said the Howard government had gone backwards in addressing the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions.
"What I'm seeing in today's report is the likelihood that we will have seriously hot days in much of the continent, including in Darwin, but also in the southern parts of the continent which will inevitably impact very, very grievously on agricultural communities and on the water supplies on cities in the south," Mr Garrett told reporters.
"I'm also seeing that the suggestion that scientists have made in the past, that global warming means we're likely to have more intense drought, are now actually confirmed."
Every country had a responsibility to get their emissions under control, Mr Garrett told reporters.
"It's only by getting our emissions under control and showing that we're serious about the task, can we hope to persuade and work with other countries to do the same," he said.