[Greens-Media] MEDIA RELEASE - SENATOR CHRISTINE MILNE - Howard set to leave Australia stranded on climate change

[Willis, Katrina (Sen C. Milne)]

MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday, 20 September 2006

Howard set to leave Australia stranded on climate change

Prime Minister John Howard was set to leave the nation stranded on
climate change or alternatively be forced to make the biggest back flip
of his political career, the Australian Greens said today.

"If Prime Minister John Howard is to be believed and he would not change
his position on climate change five minutes after a move by United
States President George Bush, he would leave Australia completely
isolated  and subject to enormous global criticism," Australian Greens
climate change spokesperson Senator Christine Milne said in Hobart.

"Australia would be left out of the global shift towards reducing
reliance on fossil fuels, with the loss of employment and trade
opportunities.

"A U-turn by President Bush on top of an apparent shift in the Murdoch
media empire would be a threshold change in responding to global
warming.

"Australia is already seriously disadvantaged because, in spite of
President Bush's attitude, many cities and states in the US are well on
the way to embracing emissions trading, carbon taxes and feed-in laws
which rapidly advance the uptake of renewable energy.

"Prime Minister Howard is increasingly looking like a Prime Minister
locked in to 20th century industrial age thinking and not up to 21st
century challenges."

Contact: Katrina Willis 03 6234 4566 or 0437 587 562


Katrina Willis
Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
Phone 03 6234 4566
Fax 03 6234 2144
Mobile 0437 587 562
www.christinemilne.org.au