

FEDERAL LABOR LEADER  KEVIN RUDD MP

TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP, BRISBANE AIRPORT, 1 APRIL 2007

E & O E - PROOF ONLY

Subjects:  Climate Change; Uranium Mining/ALP National  Conference; David Hicks/Protection Orders

RUDD:  Well Mr Howard’s Environment Minister today claims that  Australia is number one in the world when it comes to acting on climate change.  This is a bit like the Dutch cricket team claiming that somehow they’ve become  finalists in the World Cup. If this wasn’t such a serious matter it would be  ridiculously funny. But we are dealing with a serious matter and it’s called climate  change.

This is an outrageous statement by Mr Howard’s Environment Minister. If  Australia was in fact being a leader rather than a follower on climate change, why  haven’t we ratified the Kyoto Protocol? Why don’t we have a target for bringing

down our global greenhouse gas emissions? Why don’t we have a serious  mandatory renewable energy target? Why don’t we have a national electricity  demand side management strategy? Why don’t we have all these practical things  in place so that we can play our part in bringing down global greenhouse gas  emissions?

Regrettably, under Mr Howard’s Government, Australia is at best a follower not a  leader when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change requires  serious national leadership - we have to start forging a national consensus on  climate change. Outrageous political statements to this effect, that Australia is a  world leader when it comes to acting on climate change don’t add to the debate,  they simply detract from the debate.  It’s time to get real on this,  time’s running  out and it’s time Mr Howard’s Government acted, rather than make political

statements like this which are purely designed for electoral impact and don’t  reflect the truth.



(interruption to press conference and restarted at request of journalists)  Mr Howard’s Environment Minister is now telling the world that the Howard  Government is the world leader when it comes to acting on climate change. This  is a bit like the Dutch cricket team claiming that somehow they’ve made it into the  finals of the World Cup. It just doesn’t make any sense. The Howard  Government’s record on climate change brings a sense of national shame to

Australia. We have no target for bringing down greenhouse gas emissions -  Labor offers one. The Government refuses to embrace a national emissions  trading scheme - that is Labor’s policy. On the question of a significantly

increased mandatory renewable energy target, Labor offers one, the Government  refuses one.  On these practical measures there is an ocean of difference  between what we offer and what Mr Howard’s Government offers instead.

The bottom line is this: climate change is a serious matter.  We have put out  detailed policies on this challenge for the nation, this challenge for the world and  Mr Howard instead has his Environment Minister go out and make extraordinary  political claims like this simply to try and win a few votes on the way into an  election.

Australia is demanding action on climate change. This is as serious matter  affecting not just ourselves, but our kids as well.  And it’s time Mr Howard’s  Environment Minister and Mr Howard himself got serious about this and stopped  playing political games.

JOURNALIST:  But Malcolm Turnbull’s called you as a religious fanatic  when it comes to climate change. Are you a religious fanatic?

RUDD:  When it comes to climate change what the Australian people  want is action, not words. The Australian people are saying this - time is running  out and we need a practical plan of action for Australia and the region and the  world to deal with this problem. Mr Turnbull can use whatever extravagant

language he wants.  The Australian people want action.

JOURNALIST:  I think someone referred to you as Marco Polo today …

RUDD:  On the question of dealing with climate change,  governments around the world are taking action. What Mr Howard’s Government  is doing is only one of two developed countries in the world, apart from the  United States and Australia, to now standing outside the world’s cooperative  process called the Kyoto Protocol. Now this is, I think, a terrible indictment for  Australia.  It’s time we saw action rather than words.  This is a serious matter. If  Australia fails to act on climate change now, we not only damage the  environment, we also damage the economy and jobs as well. That’s why we  need a practical plan of national action now and I’m sorry to say this, but Mr  Howard and his Government just don’t get it when it comes to climate change.

(disruption to press conference)

JOURNALIST: The resolution that’s going before National Conference, will  that give the States discretion about (inaudible)?

RUDD:  On the question of uranium policy, I’ve said this before in  Western Australia and I’ll repeat it again, our challenge at National Conference is  to deal with the existing prohibition when it comes to export licences for uranium.  When it comes to local land use decisions, as it affects the entire resource  industry, they will remain within the purview of State governments. So, what we  are seeking to change at Conference, is the prohibition on the expansion of  uranium mines.  Local land use decision-making on the entire resource industry  properly remains within the province of State governments, and I’ve said that  consistently.

JOURNALIST: It will be up to the States?  The States will (inaudible) have  to agree?

RUDD:   Well,  there  are local impact statements and environmental  planning processes which any State government goes through.  I am not in the  business of dictating from Canberra what local land use decision-making laws  should be.  That’s properly the province for State governments, and to some  extent, local authorities when it affects particular questions of local land use  management   Our job is to deal with the whole international export regime when  it comes to these matters.  Our job also, on the question of uranium, is to do what  it can to improve the existing regime globally when it comes to nuclear non-proliferation.  The NPT arrangement, the NPT system is currently under extreme

stress and pressure.  We’ve seen that already with the increasing problems of  nuclear proliferation around the world.  We’ve got to improve that regime.  The  International Atomic Energy Agency needs to obtain more resources.  The Non-Proliferation Treaty itself needs to be strengthened and Australia, again, needs to  be a leader, not a follower, when it comes to enhancing the global non-proliferation regime.

JOURNALIST: Uranium?  (inaudible)

RUDD:  Three months ago on this in a press conference with  Premier Carpenter on the same subject.  The role of the national government is  to clear the way when it comes to export licenses for uranium and that’s the  matter that we’ll be discussing at Conference.  On the question of local land use  decision making for the entire resource industry, including the uranium industry,

that remains a province of the States, be it Western Australia, Queensland or  anywhere else.

JOURNALIST: Very quickly, some people have called for David Hicks to  have a control order when he returns to Australia.  Do you believe he’s a  dangerous person?

RUDD:  This is a serious matter requiring reflection on the case as it  presents itself to the Attorney-General at the time.  When you’re dealing with  someone’s legal rights and their human rights, it’s not a question of what a

person thinks or what a politician thinks, it’s a question of what proper legal  advice exists as at that day.  And that should be properly deliberated upon by the  Attorney-General at the time.  That is the decision-making process laid out  clearly in Australia’s anti-terrorism laws.  He supported the passage of those laws  which grant the Attorney-General, under certain conditions, the right to impose  control orders and those processes have to be gone through (inaudible).



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