Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2013 8:44 AM
Subject: [ClimatePublic] GREG COMBET - MEDIA RELEASE - EXTREME
WEATHER A WAKE-UP CALL - 3 APRIL 2013
THE HON GREG COMBET
AM MP
Minister for
Climate Change, Industry and Innovation
MEDIA
RELEASE
|
GC
89/13
|
3 April
2013
|
EXTREME WEATHER REPORT A WAKE-UP CALL
A new report from the Climate Commission today shows
climate change is already impacting on extreme weather in Australia.
"This report shows that climate change is no longer a
problem for the future - it's already here," the Minister for Climate Change,
Industry and Innovation, Greg Combet, said.
"Record-breaking weather and extreme weather events are
becoming more and more common."
Last summer over 100 weather records were broken in
Australia, including the hottest month and hottest day on record.
The report shows that the climate has shifted,
increasing the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events.
"This highlights the need for strong and effective
policies because the action we take today will largely determine the severity of
climate change that our grandchildren will experience," Mr Combet said.
"Increasing greenhouse gas emissions is like loading the
dice for more extreme weather events in the future. We owe it to future
generations to clean up our economy and reduce carbon
pollution."
The Gillard Government has implemented comprehensive
policies to tackle climate change, including carbon pricing, the Renewable
Energy Target and the $1.2 billion Clean Technology
Programs.
These policies are already increasing renewable energy
and reducing Australia's carbon pollution.
In the first six months of the
carbon price, emissions from electricity generated in the National Electricity
Market declined by 8.6 per cent. Since the carbon price came in, the share of
energy from renewable sources has increased by almost 30 per cent, and the share
from coal-fired generation declined by nearly 10 per cent.
"The Climate Commission's report is a wake-up call for
those who think we can afford to delay taking action to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions," Mr Combet said.
"It’s time for Tony Abbott to
pull his head out of the sand and start listening to the scientists".
The Opposition Leader has
previously said: that the world's warming has stopped; that a four degree
temperature increase wouldn't be that bad; that he is not concerned by rising
sea levels and questioned the link between rising emissions and climate change.
It is time Mr Abbott is held
accountable for such reckless views and called on to explain how he would
seriously respond to the issue of climate change.
His Direct Action policy of
paying subsidies to polluters has been criticised by scientists, economists and
business experts.
The scientific advice is that
this is the critical decade to act.
The stakes are high. Australia
needs responsible leadership and sound policies on climate change, not
opportunistic scare campaigns and negative politicking.
The Climate Commission report The Critical Decade: Extreme
Weather is available at: http://climatecommission.gov.au/report/extreme-weather/
Media contact: Mark Davis,
Gia Hayne 02 6277 7920
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IMPORTANT: This message, and any attachments to it, contains information
that is confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional or
other privilege. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you
must not review, copy, disseminate or disclose its contents to any other
party or take action in reliance of any material contained within it. If you
have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by
return email informing them of the mistake and delete all copies of the
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