News Stories – 7 June
Australia to move towards a domestic emissions trading system
Prime Minister John Howard announced that Australia will move towards a domestic emissions trading system beginning no later than 2012.
The Australian Government recognises that climate change is a serious global challenge and that Australia, like every other country, has a responsibility to control and reduce over time our greenhouse gas emissions.
Australia already has a greenhouse gas emissions target, set under the Kyoto Protocol for the period 2008-2012.
Australia is one of the few countries likely to meet its Kyoto target on the basis of domestic actions alone.
On 10 December 2006, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of a joint government-business Task Group on Emissions Trading.
The Group was asked “to advise on the nature and design of a workable global emissions trading system in which Australia would be able to participate”. The Group submitted its report to the Prime Minister on 31 May 2007
The Government accepts the Task Group’s conclusion that, on balance, Australia should set a long-term aspirational goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and a least cost a pathway to help get there.
The Government also accepts the conclusion that a well designed emissions trading scheme, specific to Australia, represents the least cost way of meeting an emissions constraint, and delivering sustained and deep reductions in emissions over time.
Australia will move towards a domestic emissions trading system, beginning no later than 2012.
The emissions trading scheme will be national in scope and as comprehensive as practicable.
It will be designed to take account of global developments and preserve the competitiveness of our trade exposed emissions intensive industries. The market will determine the most efficient means of lowering emissions.
All emissions-reduction technologies will be open for consideration, including nuclear power.
Implementing a domestic emissions trading scheme needs to go hand-in-hand with an international strategy to shape the post-Kyoto international climate change framework. Australia will continue to lead internationally on climate change, globally and in the Asia-Pacific region. In March, the Prime Minister wrote to APEC leaders to place clean development and climate change on the agenda for the Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Sydney in September.
For further detail, see recent speeches by the Prime Minister’s (3 and 6 June) at www.pm.gov.au
The Task Group’s report can be found at www.pmc.gov.au
Whale conservation strengthened at International Whaling Commission meeting
Whale conservation objectives were resoundingly endorsed at the 59th meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC59), reflecting growing international opposition to commercial and ‘scientific’ whaling.
The cause of whale conservation was strengthened at IWC59 by five countries joining the side of conservation, two returning after absences, and a further shift across from the pro-whaling side, reinforcing the Commission’s whale protection work.
The Commission reaffirmed the importance of the moratorium on commercial whaling.
Japan withdrew its proposal for a new class of commercial whaling for coastal fishing towns in Japan due to a lack of support. Australia supported the renewal of quotas for Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling for the United States, Russia, Denmark (Greenland) and St Vincent.
But we regret the increase in the Danish take of minke whales, by 25 a year, and the new addition of two bowhead whales. Australia is pleased that the Commission again called on Japan to cease its ‘scientific’ whaling program in the Antarctic.
However, we were disappointed that Japan did not drop its plans to hunt humpback whales in the 2007/08 southern hemisphere summer. Australia will engage constructively in the upcoming inter-sessional process for discussing the future of the IWC.
Building Bridges: the Third Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue
The Regional Interfaith Dialogue, originally co-founded by Australia and Indonesia, continues efforts to foster understanding and build harmonious relations between faith communities in the Asia-Pacific region. The Dialogue helps to ensure that the voice of extremists in the region is countered by the voice of the moderate majority who seek peace, harmony and tolerance.
On 28 and 29 May, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, visited Waitangi, New Zealand, to attend the opening ceremony of “Building Bridges: The Third Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue”.
Australia co-founded the Regional Interfaith Dialogue in 2004 and co-sponsored the Waitangi Dialogue with Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines.
The Dialogue’s participants were drawn from major faiths and concerned civil society groups in the four co-sponsoring countries, the remaining eight ASEAN countries, East Timor, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
The Regional Interfaith Dialogue provides a platform for faith leaders to promote peaceful co-existence and tolerance.
In his opening address, Mr Downer called on faith leaders to promote moderation and tolerance in their own communities.
The overall emphasis of the Dialogue was on developing relations between diverse faith communities.
Discussion generated recommendations from delegates for action at local, national and regional levels in the areas of building partnerships, education and media.
For example, delegates supported the inclusion of education about religions in the curricula of schools and in the training of faith leaders. They also advocated the introduction of media literacy programs in schools, to help future media consumers develop a discerning and critical approach to news coverage about religions.
Cambodia has agreed, at Australia’s suggestion, to host the fourth Regional Interfaith Dialogue in 2008. It will be the first time that a predominantly Buddhist country has hosted the Dialogue.
Australia will provide financial support.
News Stories – 1 June
Situation in Burma and Detention of Aung San Suu Kyi
Australia remains very concerned about the situation in Burma and the ongoing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and of all other political prisoners in Burma.
On 28 May the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, expressed sadness and disappointment about the extension of Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention for a further year and urged the Burmese regime to demonstrate genuine progress towards democratic political reform and undertake constructive dialogue and reconciliation with all political and ethnic groups.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention since May 2003 and has spent more than 11 of the past 18 years in detention. There are over 1000 political prisoners held in gaols in Burma, many for lengthy periods of time.
The Burmese regime continues to demonstrate a lack of willingness to take genuine steps towards democratic political reform.
The regime’s National Convention on a new constitution resumed in April 2004, having been adjourned since 1996. The latest session recessed in December 2006.
On 12 January 2007, nine out of fifteen countries in the United Nations Security Council voted in support of an unsuccessful non-punitive resolution.
Importantly during the debate all members of the Council registered their concern about the situation in Burma.
Cairns Group Proposals on Food Aid and Export Credits
The Cairns Group, chaired by Australia, has submitted important new proposals on food aid and export credits in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round negotiations. This follows on from proposals the Group made earlier in the year on key market access issues, including sensitive products. The Cairns Group continues to be a strong voice in the agriculture negotiations and is fully committed to securing an ambitious outcome to the Round by the end of the year.
The Cairns Group has submitted new proposals on food aid and export credits as part of the agriculture negotiations in the WTO Doha Round.
The Cairns Group’s proposed rules on food aid are designed to ensure that there are no barriers to the provision of emergency food aid, while also preventing surplus product being dumped on world markets.
The food aid proposal also addresses non-emergency food aid.
Proposed disciplines include: needs-based assessments; aid must be in fully-grant form; the provision of aid is not to be tied to commercial exports from the donor country; and the local market conditions in the recipient country are taken into account.
On export credits, the proposal aims to better discipline programs where overly-generous government preferential financing can amount to an export subsidy.
The export credits proposal calls for a two-year self-financing period and limits repayment terms to 180 days.
§ Longer periods which are used by some WTO members can give an unfair advantage over other agricultural exporters.
The proposal also includes tighter disciplines on payments of interest, minimum interest rates, minimum premium requirements, and other elements which can constitute subsidies or otherwise distort trade.
If accepted, the proposals will deliver significant benefits to agricultural producers such as dairy, wheat and other grains.
These industries have first-hand experience of the trade-distorting effects of agricultural products being dumped on world markets in the guise of food aid or through overly-generous provisions in export credit programs.
The misuse of food aid and export credit programs, particularly by some of the major developed countries, has long been a concern to the Cairns Group.
These proposals are another of the Cairns Group’s important contributions to moving the Doha Round forward.
Australia and the Cairns Group remain fully committed to securing an ambitious and successful conclusion to the Round this year and are firmly resolved to continue to make constructive and positive contributions to the negotiating process.