More than one change of climate in a View from the Arch

Both Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd met with London economist Nicholas Stern, this week, addressing the ever-thorny issue of climate change.

Dr Stern, who drew up a landmark study of the economic impact of climate change last year for the British Government, has recommended Australia reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent within 13 years and 90 per cent by 2050.

Mr Kevin Rudd set a more modest target for himself, of cutting emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, and promptly challenged the Prime Minister to do the same.

"Why won't the government join Labor in committing to cut Australia's greenhouse pollution by 60 per cent by 2050?" he asked.

The Prime Minister said the economist's views should be treated with respect but not as "holy writ".

"Some of the views that he's expressed I agree with, some I have reservations about, some I believe if implemented literally would do great damage to the Australian economy."

"Commonsense tells us that 2020 is 13 years from now to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. It's no good setting these targets in some kind of rhetorical flourish. If you set a target, you ought to try and meet that target."

All the talk of environmental policy gave Mr Howard the impetus to launch a new effort to stem the flow of greenhouse gases, unveiling a plan to form a global fund to fight illegal logging and forest destruction, principally in Indonesia.

"As everybody knows, if you can do that you will reduce greenhouse gas emissions," he told ABC Radio.

"What this initiative will do, in a shorter period of time, is make greater contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions than, in fact, the Kyoto protocol."

Labor gave a cautious tick to the plan, but climate change spokesman Peter Garrett said the government's assertion that the program was a more effective response that ratifying Kyoto was wrong.

"Unless we do that we are not going to seriously address this issue," he said.

Meanwhile, WA Premier Alan Carpenter wasn't going to be left behind on the Climate Change debate, allocating an extra $8.6 million over the next five years to research climate change and its link to extreme weather events across the state.

Mr Carpenter is due to meet other state Premiers and Mr Rudd during a summit on climate change, to be held in Canberra on Saturday.

David Hicks pleads guilty

The guilty plea of long-term terror suspect David Hicks surprised politicians, pundits and political pugilists this week, with the former kangaroo shooter telling a US military commission that he had provided material support to terrorists.

With the prospect of Mr. Hicks returning home suddenly a real possibility, and his all-but removal as a political football ahead of the election, both parties have become more circumspect about his return.

Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock told parliament this week that a prisoner exchange deal renewed last week with the US would allow Hicks to serve any custodial sentence imposed in Australia.

Were he to return to Australia, Mr Hicks would serve any sentence in his home state of South Australia.

The Prime Minister told reporters he was not into "glee and vindication" with the guilty plea, while Mr. Rudd said the key to ensuring a fair process was to allow it to proceed without external political commentary.

Coonan announces Media Laws implementation date

Speaking of commentary, Communications Minister Helen Coonan announced she would implement new media ownership laws on Wednesday, insisting diversity would not suffer under the new arrangements.

"I think what these laws will do is enable media assets to be used in such a way that it can create both scale and scope," Senator Coonan told ABC radio.

Shares in media companies surged on the news today, with Channel Seven saying today it would continue to monitor and chase investment opportunities.

Carmen says goodbye

Also monitoring new opportunities was former WA premier Carmen Lawrence, who announced her resignation this week, putting an end to her 21-year career in Federal and State Parliament.

"I'm announcing it now so that whoever replaces me has a chance to campaign and become established in the electorate," she said.

Dr Lawrence, a psychologist before she entered politics, will set up an institute for the study of fanatical behaviour at the University of Western Australia.

Office of Shared Services

Some further study will also be going on in the Treasury department this week, with the State Government's planned Office of Shared Services, designed to save money by combining corporate services for government departments, being labelled a financial black hole this week.

Under Treasurer Tim Marney revealed this week that the state government had spent $123 million on the project over four years, without realising any of the projected savings.

Speaking to the ABC, Premier Alan Carpenter admitted the roll-out of the OSS has not gone smoothly, but said the skills shortage was to blame.

"We're finding it difficult to attract enough quality people, outstanding people, into our public sector," he said.

OSS chief executive Ron Mance has taken a management-initiated redundancy of around $200,000 to leave the office on April 13.

Bits and Pieces

In other news:

• State premiers demanded the federal government hand over control of the planning of retail malls and other non-aviation developments at airports this week, saying they were concerned about the on metropolitan planning and surrounding communities.
• 800 people attended a rally at Parliament House, protesting a proposal to take an extra 45 gigalitres of water a year from the Yarragadee aquifer, in the South West, to boost Perth's water supplies.
• Consumer Protection Minister Sheila McHale launched a new code of conduct, enforceable by fines, for Finance Brokers, which met condemnation from the Finance Brokers' Association of Australia, who said it didn't go far enough.
• Three men escaped Broome Regional Prison, only to be recaptured the next day. Corrective Services Minister Margaret Quirk said in a statement an investigation into how the prisoners were able to escape from the maximum-security facility was ongoing, and that identified security shortfalls would be addressed as a matter of urgent priority.
• And a swing of around 4 per cent wasn't enough to save embattled NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam from defeat in the New South Wales elections. Mr Debnam compared the election to "climbing Mount Everest".

The Final Word

In a week where former NSW MLC David Oldfield attempted to disprove allegations of an affair with former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson by undergoing a live lie-detector test on Today Tonight, only to fail comprehensively, the final word must go to Treasurer Peter Costello.

Mr Costello had been stepping up the attack on Labor's plan to tap the Future Fund in order to fund a national broadband network in Parliament this week, often to have the Opposition Leader turn his back on him - a tactic we may need to become used to in future.

Warming to his theme this week, Mr Costello told Parliament there was only one precedent for raiding the Future Fund, and it was done by Brian Burke.

"There is one precedent. One precedent and precedent alone for what the leader of the opposition proposes. It's the precedent of Brian Burke, Rothwells Bank and WA Inc, and that says it all," he told parliament.

The WA Inc Royal Commission found Mr Burke tried to bail out struggling investment bank Rothwells using the government superannuation board fund.

"One can only imagine whether at breakfast, at lunch, or at dinner, the subject of using superannuation funds for pet investment projects came up," Mr Costello said.

Arch reckons the Treasurer can come up with something better than that.