Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

Argument No. 2 against ratifying Kyoto is perhaps the most offensive. It is that we should not be involved in Kyoto because the developing world is not involved—China, India and all those countries. That is simply not true. Kyoto has been ratified by 158 countries, including China, India and most of the developing world. The fact is that the developed world created the problem. We created the emissions that have caused climate change. We have a moral responsibility to take the lead on these issues.

On Enough Rope on Monday, Al Gore put it particularly well when he stated:

Since the end of World War II there has been the same basic architecture for every international treaty. The wealthier countries that have the wherewithal to go first have agreed to take the first steps and then after we find the pathway and chart the course, then the poorer nations, where per capita income is just a fraction of what it is in Australia and the United States, they then join in the work. And the Kyoto treaty, the first of the treaties to come on the climate crisis, is based on that same model.

As it is. We have a moral responsibility, along with the United States—being the two highest per capita emitters in the world—to take the lead. I can assure you, having attended the Montreal climate change conference last year, that countries in our region, like Kiribati and Tuvalu, which are sinking under rising sea levels, and countries in Africa, South America and Asia find it incredibly offensive that Australia and the United States, having signed the Kyoto protocol, have not ratified it.

And the Prime Minister is so unaware of the detail. Yesterday, when I asked a question, he spoke about 2010 targets. There are not any 2010 targets. The Kyoto protocol’s first commitment period is 2008 to 2012.

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