Australia's conservative leader signalled his acceptance Thursday that climate change will be a hot election issue this year, unveiling a multi-billion-dollar water rescue package for the world's driest inhabited continent. John Howard, previously criticised as a climate-change sceptic over his refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, described himself in a major address to the National Press Club as a "climate-change realist".
Howard and his close ally, US President George W. Bush, lead the only two developed countries that have refused to ratify the UN protocol aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. But in the face of the worst drought in more than a century and opinion polls showing increasing numbers of Australians are concerned about global warming, Howard has begun scrambling to counter criticism of his lack of action.
Using the high-profile annual address to the press club on the eve of Australia Day, Howard put climate change firmly on the agenda ahead of elections due by the end of the year, saying Australia's water use was unsustainable.
"In a protracted drought and with the prospect of long-term climate change we need radical and permanent change," he said. "I regard myself as a climate-change realist. That means looking at the evidence as it emerges and responding with policies that preserve Australia's competitiveness and play to her strengths."
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