So Penny Wong and Kevin Rudd have decided not to announce their emission reduction targets until after the UN climate conference in Poland.
How can they be a global leader on climate change when we don’t even know their position?
We are extremely disappointed that the government isn’t showing the international leadership that we’ve been hoping for for so long. Their promises of leadership on climate change were one of the top three reasons that they were elected last November, and the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol at last year’s Conference was felt by many to be a truly inspirational leap forward. It is such a pity that the government is no longer taking such inspirational action.
If the government were to release emission reduction targets for 2020 of 40%, the 6.9 million people under 25 years old, across Australia, would have their hope for a safe future restored. Young people will support a government that looks after their future.
Yesterday, the South African government slammed Australia, along with the USA, Canada and Japan, for not releasing emission reduction targets. I thought we were meant to be one of the good guys – but with friends like this, it’s clear what game it is that we’re currently playing. We are one of the few countries that are really holding back progress.
As depicted in the cartoon, we certainly do need to apologise to the rest of the world for limiting progress by withholding this crucial information on targets.
With love from Poland, and despite our national leadership, hope for the future,
Anna K
