Word: australian
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...were just about the economy, mate, then Australian Prime Minister John Howard would win his country's upcoming election in a walkover. GDP has grown in each of Howard's 11 years in office, and unemployment is at a 33-year low. Yet barring a last-minute shift before polls open on Nov. 24, Howard will be replaced in Canberra, the nation's capital, by Kevin Rudd, leader of the opposition Labor Party--and climate change will be one of the central reasons...
...part, Rudd has maintained a strong edge on environmental issues. And while Howard has introduced a raft of actions on climate change over the past few months, including a proposed national carbon-trading system, his conversion might be too little, too late. Howard told an Australian TV station on Nov. 9 that "I don't think the world is about to come to an end because of climate change." One hopes not, but his time in office looks like it might...
...Peter Garrett "Climate change is the greatest challenge we face." Experience: Shadow Climate Change and Environment Minister; former Australian Conservation Foundation head and rock singer A star Labor recruit in 2004, Garrett has disappointed with a series of campaign blunders that could cost him the ministry, but he'll retain appeal among young voters with his rock-star and green-crusader pedigree. Has been accused of going quiet on his convictions in an effort to tone down his radical image...
...Australia generates 1.4% of global carbon emissions - mostly from coal-fired power stations - and that share is shrinking as Chinese and Indian emissions soar. No matter what Canberra does, the effects on the world's climate "are likely to be extremely small," says Australian National University economist Alex Robson, "almost certainly zero." Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull argues, with Howard, that climate change cannot be addressed without coordinated action by all major emitters. But Labor, he says, takes the view that "we must purify ourselves, regardless of how poor it makes us to become pure...
...position on a post-Kyoto climate treaty. It would be "an essential prerequisite" for a Labor government's support, Rudd said, that developing nations also make binding commitments to rein in their carbon emissions. Explaining the now-mutual policy, Howard said: "We can't have a situation where Australian industry is bound to take steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions, but competitive countries like China are not bound." That, he said, would effectively export Australian emissions and jobs to China...