Lawmakers in Australia -- the world's worst per capita greenhouse gas polluter -- are rushing to polish their environmental credentials as global warming and water scarcity become mainstream political issues.
Prime Minister John Howard moved recently to install a rainwater tank at his publicly funded mansion, while the opposition leader is looking at swapping his fuel-guzzling SUV for a hybrid car. Another politician wants lawmakers to work in shirt sleeves in Parliament so the air conditioning can be turned down.
Labor opposition leader Kevin Rudd named the environment as one of the key areas of difference with Howard's government in a major speech yesterday -- the latest sign that the environmental issues will be a key battleground in elections due later this year.
"Labor, prepared to face the future," Rudd said of his party's quest to draft a climate change policy in response to the "great moral, environmental and economic challenge of our age."
But observers are divided on whether the green tinge creeping into Australian politics indicates a fundamental shift or just short-term politicking.
Australia and the US are the only industrialized nations that have refused to endorse the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and accept its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, drawing ire from conservationists.
But faced with polls showing Australians are increasingly concerned about global warming, Howard's center-right government is losing its greenhouse skepticism.
Rudd supports Australia joining Kyoto as well as becoming part of the global carbon trade so that an international market will charge Australian polluters a price for the amount of carbon they produce.
That led to an embarrassing moment on talk radio last week, in which he justified driving a sport utility vehicle by saying the government fleet did not include part-electric hybrid cars. He then learned on-air that an opposition party leader had convinced the government to give her one.
"I'll see if I can do that. I was unaware," a rattled Rudd told listeners, adding a promise of an entire fleet of hybrid cars if he wins government.
Both sides have named charismatic spokesmen on the environment -- former rock star and environmentalist Peter Garrett for Labor; millionaire former merchant banker Malcolm Turnbull for the government -- ensuring a highly polished media debate.
Labor lawmaker Roger Price wants dress regulations in Parliament House changed so that male legislators can take off their coats and loosen their ties so the air conditioning can be turned down. Government-appointed speaker David Hawker rejected the idea.
There has been a seismic shift in the political landscape since the last elections in 2004, said John Asafu-Adjaye, a political scientist at the University of Queensland.
"Everyone's a greenie" now, Asafu-Adjaye said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia