THE new leader of Australia’s opposition, Tony Abbott, was celebrating two by-election victories over the Greens yesterday after proclaiming his doubts about climate change.
Abbott, dubbed the “Mad Monk” for his conservative Catholic beliefs, moved within hours of becoming leader last week to dump his Liberal party’s carbon tax and emissions trading policies championed by Malcolm Turnbull, his predecessor.
He provoked outrage among climate experts and dismay in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit when he said that better land management, more trees and fuel-efficient lorries would meet the ruling Labor party’s carbon reduction target of 5%-25% by 2020.
Abbott branded the carbon reduction bill of Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, as a “great big new tax”. Pledging to fight the next election on climate change, he said the bill “won’t improve the environment, it will just increase prices”.
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Canadians need to pick up and take notice of this situation — especially Harper.