Fed: Copenhagen summit hasn't changed government policy - Rudd

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-2009
Fed: Copenhagen summit hasn't changed government policy - Rudd

SYDNEY, Dec 22 AAP - Amid claims that China hijacked the Copenhagen climate change
summit, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended the meeting's outcome while standing firm
on his policy.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said climate change negotiators were held to
ransom by a handful of countries, including China, and Britain's climate change secretary
Ed Miliband singled out China for blame.

Mr Rudd was less critical of the summit.

"The negotiations among many countries proceeded very effectively, and with various
other countries did not proceed effectively," he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.

"There were many countries in the Copenhagen negotiations who wanted to land a deal
on climate change which was comprehensive. We had some resistance from various developing
countries against that.

"The important thing, however, is that the alternatives at the end of the day were
this, the complete collapse of negotiations and no deal whatsoever, or the deal that we
were able to deliver which provides three specific breakthroughs for the future."

Earlier, Mr Rudd also referred to last week's Copenhagen summit during a public engagement
near Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

"It's great to see a friendlier crowd than in Copenhagen," he commented on Tuesday morning.

Asked what impact the outcome of the Copenhagen negotiations had had on the Australian
government's climate change policy, Mr Rudd replied: "None."

"(Climate Change) Minister Penny Wong has been very clear cut about the government's
position, which has not changed," he said.

"Our targets - five, 15, 25 (per cent reductions in carbon emissions) - are identical
with the Liberal Party. What is different between us and the Liberal Party is that we
have put forward a concrete policy by which you get there - they have not."

Questioned about the possibility that business would seek more compensation than currently
offered in government policy, Mr Rudd said business had asked for clear guidelines and
the government had provided them.

"The key thing for the business community is a certainty for the future," he said.

"We offer the certainty of a emissions trading scheme - a carbon pollution reduction
scheme - which has been consulted with business now for the better part of a year."

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KEYWORD: SUMMIT RUDD

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