Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Abetz, the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. Sir Nicholas Stern stressed today at the National Press Club the need for global collaboration on climate change and the importance of developed countries ratifying Kyoto. He also said the failure to include the effects of greenhouse emissions on climate was ‘the greatest market failure the world has ever seen’. He said the cost of not addressing climate change by emissions trading, seriously funding research and development in renewable energy and addressing energy waste could be up to 20 times greater than the cost of fixing the problem. With Australia set to exceed our Kyoto target in 2012, isn’t your government engaging in very risky economics?