More than 10 years have been wasted 1,600 leading world scientists half of them Nobel prize winners delivered a report to the UN in 1991 the result of that report has been confirmed and reconfirmed, however in Australia it seems big business takes precedence over the deterioration of the planet. Our PM didn't even recognise climate change until the polls showed him it was an election issue, now our government is making a half hearted attemt to be seen to be doing something, it's pathetic.

the government is not pathetic, shonga- they make a good living, with an excellent early retirement plan.

'pathetic' is the nation of sheep who keep voting for politicians, in the hope the next lot will turn out to be the fairy godmother. this was a popular definition of insanity making the rounds a few years ago. too bad people thought it was meant to be a joke, when it actually was a description of national character.

Demos, with the greatest respect, I'm wondering what you'd propose rather than voting for politicians? What choice do we have? If you don't vote, then you've lost a chance at steering the course of Australian politics. Also, if you sit back and do nothing, the electoral prize will go to whoever has the greatest capital voting base. In the case of the Coalition Government, it's big business with even bigger budgets. Look at how they plan to run advertisements closer to the election to counter Labor's anti work choices campaign.
I have every confidence that the Coalition will be returned to power again in 2007 simply because they're so tied to the "big end of town" and it's associated cronies, as well as their brilliant manipulation of the fear factor which continues to plague Australian politics (sheep are easily scared). However I also believe that following the election, issues such as Global warming will gradually slip to the far edge of the "National concern" radar, if not off the screen altogether, so I choose to vote for someone other than the Howard led Government. The obvious choice is Labor since I haven't been able find the Australian Green's policies anywhere on their web site.
Australians need to take the political "bull" by the horns again. We did it way back on Sunday 3rd of December in 1854 (Eureka rebellion) but I was born just 100 years too late for that one. Unfortunately and at present, we've become a nation of hoarders of every imaginable item of rubbish from mobile phones with a multitude of unnecessary gadgets attached to them, to 4 wheel drives and McMansions with an ensuite for every bedroom for god's sake! People are so scared, they feel the urge to devote their lives to collecting unnecessary junk in order to distract their worried little brains from what's happening around them and about which they feel powerless to do anything.
Anyway Demos, if you have a suggestion of how to change the status quo, then I'll certainly take your ideas on board.

DEMOS could always set up his own political party...he might even get a couple of votes (his and his mother's)

OR

He could find a country where the people are more like him. I like this option.

OR

Stop his bellyaching. This may not be achievable.

Fancy comparing Australia with Norway, which has so much hydro power that the electricity authority is called Norsk Hydro. To be able to use alternative energy sources, you have to have hydro backup, to fill in when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow. As some of you may have noticed, we don't have much water, and we have very little hydro. The truth is that 96% of world pollution is generated in the northern hemisphere, and that when you measure our greenhouse gas emissions correctly, that is per cubic kilometre of atmosphere, we have the lowest rate of emissions in the inhabited world. Those who insist on measuring emissions per capita, which has no relevance except to those who harbour guilt feelings about our standard of living, should look at Antarctica, where the emissions per capita far exceed ours.

I'm sorry but I can't take seriously an argument about a greenhouse gas-neutral country like Norway which, through its major export - oil - is one of the countries responsible for the greenhouse gas problem in the first place. It's like BP who now claim that they are Beyond Petroleum, yet their 99% of their income is from a product which puts greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when it is used. I detect a certain amount of burying of one's head in the (tar?) sands here.
Bernie Masters