There is currently no legislation in Australia to cap greenhouse emissions. The SA parliament is debating a bill to mandate a reduction in emissions by at least 60% over the next forty years. Only 20% of electricty produced will come from renewables, so presumably a lot of the cuts will happen through reducing consumption and increasing efficiency. Sounds like they've done their research.

I have added another page about this:

http://www.ozpolitic.com/green-tax-shift/ridiculous-propaganda-john-howard.html

I also put it on the site home page, for the time being. I think this is something worth writing to your various letters to the editors about (hint hint). Feel free to copy and paste whatever bits you want for letters to the editor.

I have to agree with Bob Brown.  Why carbon trading wasn't set up years ago for the coal industry and other carbon emitting industries for the good of this country?

Howard has sold us out - he doesn't care for our children or grandchildren, but only how much to give these industries.  Out of the $600 million allocated for climate change solutions - $400 million has gone to the coal industry.  In the meantime, he's kept middle australia bribed so they won't look too closely at our diminishing environmental programs.

The Greens are a party that cares about the environment.  They have to have some power in the Senate next year - otherwise Australia will become one large, saltridden excavation site.  Our resources are finite and will become scarcer in the next few years - increased mining has to stop otherwise we'll have nothing left for our own increasing population.

Carbon trading is the obvious solution initially to get a start on this.  Instead of giving petrol subsidies to 4 wheel drive owners - people who drive small, petrol efficient cars should be the ones rewarded.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Execs-say-carbon-trading-coming-soon/2006/12/19/1166290526266.html

More than 50 per cent of business executives think regulated carbon emissions trading will be a reality in Australia in the next two to five years, and most would welcome it, a survey shows.

The survey, by PricewaterhouseCoopers of 63 business leaders from 51 organisations, found every single respondent viewed climate change as a strategically significant issue for their organisation in the next five years.

And it is the potential for cost savings, not concern about the environment, that is predominately driving their enthusiasm.

"What the business community is saying now is they need to identify the low hanging fruit as quickly as possible," said PWC partner Andrew Petersen.

Close to 52 per cent of respondents said they expected a regulated scheme to be introduced within two to five years and 78 per cent said they would prefer a nationwide, regulated scheme rather than a voluntary one.

The PWC survey found that over half of the respondents were disappointed with the effectiveness of existing government policy on carbon emissions.

The federal government has indicated it is considering introducing an emissions trading scheme.

Finance Minister Nick Minchin said last month the Australian government would consider a carbon tax on industry, but only if other countries introduce carbon pricing as part of a global agreement to cut emissions.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Thirteen-US-states-sue-environment-body/2006/12/19/1166290522589.html

Thirteen US states sued the federal Environmental Protection Agency on Monday for failing to set air quality standards that could save up to 24,000 lives a year.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/NZ-looks-at-carbon-trading-market/2006/12/19/1166290516597.html

The New Zealand government is talking to the operator of the New Zealand stock exchange about the development of a carbon trading market.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Climate-change-to-fan-future-bushfires/2006/12/19/1166290512481.html

Climate change will increase the frequency and ferocity of bushfires causing further damage to Australia's environment, according to a report from a policy research institute.

two of them were mine - the first one got stolen:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Bicycle-sales-overtake-cars-and-trucks/2007/01/04/1167777207792.html

Bicycle sales outpaced vehicle sales in 2006, as more Australians turned to pedal-power to cut petrol bills.

The Cycling Promotion Fund (CPF), Australia's peak bicycle promotion group, said 1,273,781 new bikes were sold last year, well ahead of the 962,521 new cars and trucks retailed.

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Robo-aircraft to 'prove drought's cause'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Roboaircraft-to-prove-droughts-cause/2007/01/04/1167777200058.html

Robotic aircraft will be flown through storms in the Southern Ocean in a bid to prove if human activity is causing Australia's worsening drought.

Monash University weather researchers are heading a three-year study into the increasing number of storms and cyclones near Antarctica.

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India's PM slams West on environment

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Indias-PM-slams-West-on-environment/2007/01/04/1167777197317.html

Slamming the West for its "environmentally wasteful lifestyle", Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for industrialised nations to look at alterative energy sources to save the environment.

"We, in the developing world, cannot afford to ape the West in terms of its environmentally wasteful lifestyle," Singh said at a science conference in Chidambaram, 195km south of Tamil Nadu's state capital, Chennai.

"Equally, developed industrial economies must realise that they too must alter their consumption patterns so that few do not draw upon so much of the Earth's resources."

This is crazy. The Liberals are basically going to start lying to people about the greenhouse emissions from air travel to boost tourism. If you do a carbon footprint calculation, the single biggest factor is long haul air travel.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Air-travel-not-a-great-polluter-Bailey/2007/07/10/1183833485782.html

Australia suffers because of overseas perceptions that long-haul flights damage the environment, federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey says.

Negative press campaigns in the UK and even in Australia promoted an incorrect idea about aviation's carbon emissions, Ms Bailey said.

Launching the new National Tourism Campaign Action Plan, Ms Bailey told industry chiefs a perception change was required to secure tourism dollars and jobs for Australians.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Carbon-market-bad-for-planet-study/2007/08/14/1186857511078.html

The current carbon market actually encourages cutting down some of the world's biggest forests, which would unleash tonnes of climate-warming carbon into the atmosphere, a new study warns.

Under the Kyoto Protocol aimed at stemming climate change, there is no profitable reason for the 10 countries and one French territory with 20 per cent of Earth's intact tropical forest to maintain this resource, according to a study in the journal Public Library of Science Biology.

The Kyoto treaty and other talks on global warming focus on so-called carbon credits for countries and companies that plant new trees where forests have been destroyed.