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Cassy O'Connor ups heat on Abbott over carbon price 'shame'

BRUCE MOUNSTER
The Sunday Tasmanian
September 29, 2013 12:00AM

Scientists are 95 per cent sure the Earth is warming because of human-made pollution. Source: News Limited

CLIMATE Change Minister Cassy O'Connor is confident scientists were now as certain that humans caused global warming as smoking causes lung cancer.

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[ Note: that could be read by many outside Tasmania to suggest Cassy is minister in Abbot's government .. not to diminish her role at all, just she is a Green in the Tasmanian government .. i don't know her, but can't see she has ever been a member of the federal government (could be wrong, but seems that's right) .. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassy_O%27Connor ..

NOTE also: Tony Abbott has not included a science minister in new Cabinet .. September 17, 2013

FOR the first time since the creation of a science portfolio in 1931, Australia does not have a science minister.

The Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott announced today during his cabinet unveiling that
the science portfolio would be shared between the Industry and Education ministries.

"Science, as in the CSIRO, will be with industry," Mr Abbott said during the press
conference, which means the minister overseeing the sciences will be Ian McFarlane.
.. http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/tony-abbott-has-not-included-a-science-minister-in-new-cabinet/story-fn5fsgyc-1226720375674 ]

.. how demented and misguided bad is that!!! .. well done Australia! .. sheesh ..
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Ms O'Connor, commenting on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest report, said yesterday new Abbott Government policies that threatened to stoke global warming, were the last thing the world needed.

She said the panel's report should shame the Government into reversing its "dangerous policies" and take immediate action to cut emissions.

"Tony Abbott's plan to scrap the price on carbon, massively increase coal exports, de-fund vital research, and reward big polluters are some of the most obscene and dire policies ever seen in Australia," she said.

"No responsible political leader can continue to pretend that climate science isn't real, or that business-as-usual is an option."

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt last week argued that a fall in manufacturing, reductions in forestry and lower aluminium refining helped reduce Australia's task of lowering emissions.

The Government's answer to the carbon price has been a direct action policy that involves projects such as capturing and storing carbon in soils.

Mr Hunt last week announced the Government would reduce its direct action effort from 750 million tonnes of carbon to 440 million tonnes by 2020.

Ms O'Connor called on state Opposition Leader Will Hodgman to lobby the Abbott Government for strong action on climate change.

The climate change panel's report released on Friday said:

SCIENTISTS are 95 per cent certain the Earth is warming because of human-made pollution.

EMISSIONS are about 10.5 billion tonnes of carbon annually and rising.

SINCEthe last assessment in 2007, the panel has almost doubled its estimated maximum sea-level rise over the coming century to about 1m.

IT is now "virtually certain" that sea levels will continue to rise for many centuries, even if warming stops.

Ms O'Connor said Tasmania had a statutory target to reduce emissions to at least 60 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050.

The Government also would release its 2020 climate change strategy later this year to target emissions and help the Tasmanian community adapt to climate change.

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/cassy-oconnor-ups-heat-on-abbott-over-carbon-price-shame/story-fnj4f7k1-1226729191527

.. sure hope Abbott is a one term success .. :) ..