I have to agree on the issue of travel by politicians. They either don't get it or excuse themselves on the basis of offsets or the belief they are bringing wisdom to the benighted masses. We often see Bob Brown one minute in Canberra and the next minute looking groovy and green at the Hobart waterfront. However quite a few tonnes of CO2 were added to the atmosphere between time. No doubt Sen. Brown thinks tree planting offsets or similar somehow suck up that CO2. The problem is that the European Union no less thinks carbon sink offsets are temporary. Whether the kind of offsets they do approve are any better is another story.

Therefore I suggest Bob Brown operate out of a block of flats in Queanbeyan for eleven months a year. He can communicate with his constituents (if senators have those) via 100 megabit per second broadband which no doubt soon can transmit in 3D with digital seagulls flying around a waterfront backdrop. Practise what you preach.

If you were honest, Taswegian, I think you'd have to admit that Bob Brown is one of that smallest carbon emitters in the federal parliament. He has a small self-drive car in Canberra which he uses instead of a large chaufferred comcar, and only a mean-minded clot would deny him, or any other politician, the right to spend time in the electorate and at home. I can't recall any reports of him travelling overseas, although I could be wrong on this.

I agree with the author that politicians should do far more to reduce governments' carbon footprints, especially as so much would come with cost savings. For example, the cars provided to politicans and public servants should be turned over every 60,000 or 80,000 kilometres, instead of the current 40,000km. Half the carbon cost of a car is expended in its manufacture, and there would be further savings if politicians and public servants were the sole designated drivers of their cars and their petrol bill was paid according to a formula based on the size of their electorate or their sphere of work. Cars need to be seen as a privilege not a right, as they are now.

Overseas travel should be limited to Ministers and shadow Ministers with genuine international responsibilities.

Michael - just what recent election are you talking about? Granted the environment played a big part in the '07 election, but the issue had noticeable cooled (pun intended) by the recent poll. You will note that the coalition got back a lot of seats, but Gillard somehow managed to persuade naturally conservative leaning independents to support her rather than Abbott. The vote for the greens was more of a section of Labor voters with green inclinations shifting to that party, rather than a major shift in the electorate as such. After all, the coalition nearly won or was the vote count manufactured by the mass media?
Your article would have had a great deal more credibility if you had explained away this near win rather than simply asserting that somehow the result was a further endorsement of green policies.
As for the bit about governments at all levels leading the way on the environment, actually they are. Most government car fleets, for example, already have emission and fuel consumption policies in place. Greens would argue this could be more, of course, but they may well be doing more than the private sector.
In most other fields you will find the same effect, with one of the reasons being the government sector has money to spend (not their own) on that stuff.

"Australians are sick of our per capita carbon footprint..."

Absolutely! I am sick to death of other people cooking their food and heating their homes and travelling to their places of work! I am totally opposed to other people watching TV and going to concerts and flying off on holidays! I am violently against other people having showers and listening to music! They should all stop it at once!

Why, if this goes on much longer there won't be any energy left to run my computer...

Michael, you are spot on about leading by example. In my view all government car fleet managers should be asked to draw up transition plans to have all electric car fleets by 2020.

Look at the carbon neutral, waste neutral and water self-sufficiency design features of the Lend Lease Baragaroo project and ask government planners are architects to take these concepts on board for all new public buildings.

Yes we can replace our dinosaur footprints with gekko trails provided we can apply visionary leadership to a strategic, well executed delivery plan.

Michael Sullivan
I think you should lead the way. You could start by cutting out your use of fossil fuels and electricity, and anything grown, manufactured or transported with them. After all, what is your little enjoyment compared to the greater good of The Planet?