Fed: Abbott needs to get serious on climate change: Garrett

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2009
Fed: Abbott needs to get serious on climate change: Garrett

SYDNEY, Dec 7 AAP - Opposition Leader Tony Abbott needs to get serious on climate change,
having been exposed as a "pretender" by his predecessor, Environment Minister Peter Garrett
says.

Mr Abbott on Monday refused to comment on reports his treasury spokesman Joe Hockey
had estimated the cost of the coalition's new climate policy at $50 billion.

But Mr Abbott did not deny he had a "tense" discussion with Mr Hockey about climate
change during the party's recent internal ructions.

"The last thing I would do is attribute emotion into those discussions," Mr Abbott
told ABC Radio on Monday.

Former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull slammed Mr Abbott's climate change policy
in a blog entry on Monday, saying it had descended into a "farce".

Mr Garrett said the Liberal Party was once again in disarray over climate change.

"It's incredibly important that Mr Abbott squares up to the fact that you can't play
fancy feet with climate change policy. You've got to be fair dinkum," he told reporters
in Sydney on Monday.

"The national interest and the international interest depends on it."

Mr Garrett said it was clear Mr Abbott did not have a climate change policy.

"The bell has already tolled on Tony Abbott's absolutely absent climate change policy.

"Here we have the former opposition leader Mr Turnbull belling the cat on his colleague
... Mr Abbott and saying the emperor has no clothes.

"And because the emperor has no clothes, it's time for Tony Abbott to fess up that
he doesn't have a climate change policy."

He said Mr Turnbull's blog entry showed Mr Abbott was a "pretender" on climate change.

Mr Garrett's comments come as United Nations climate talks begin in Copenhagen on Monday.

He said Copenhagen was an important meeting bringing countries together to agree on
how to reduce carbon emissions.

"We may not see the treaty that was originally anticipated - I think that's clear -
but what we do need is an effective agreement amongst countries as to how they're going
to move forward.

"As to how, together, they're going to find common cause to reduce greenhouse emissions."

AAP sg/evt/cjb/mn

KEYWORD: CLIMATE GARRETT

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