Coalition urged to cool a hot pollution problem – National – theage.com.au

Coalition urged to cool a hot pollution problem – National – theage.com.au: “Coalition urged to cool a hot pollution problem

By Orietta Guerrera
January 3, 2006

EXTREME weather at the weekend that fanned devastating bushfires shows serious measures are needed to tackle global warming, a think tank has warned.

The Australia Institute urged the Federal Government to act.

‘CSIRO projections indicate Australian cities can expect a doubling in the number of very hot days in coming decades and drought conditions to become the norm,’ executive director Clive Hamilton said. But ‘the relentless growth in carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels’ had gone on unchecked.

Last year was the hottest in Australia since records began in the 1860s. Melbourne also recorded its hottest New Year’s Eve and its warmest December.

Dr Hamilton accused the Government of ‘negligence’ for not doing more. ‘Clearly, the short-term profits of the fossil fuel companies count for more in Canberra than the long-term health and welfare of ordinary Australians,’ he said.

But federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said the Government was taking the issue seriously and was investing $1.8 billion in climate-change measures, including low-emission technologies.

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s sustainability program manager, Erwin Jackson, said the world experienced a ‘litany of climatic disasters’ last year and in the past decade.

‘We’ve had (hurricane) Katrina, we’ve had the droughts, we’ve had bushfires,’ he said. ‘Unfortunately, the Government appears blind to these disasters, and is doing nothing serious to control our emissions, which are spiralling out of control.’

He said the energy industry needed ‘fundamental reform’.”