Northern Territory News
No Action On Henderson's Emissions
The on-going failure of the Henderson Government to release Labor's Climate Change policy is a major embarrassment for the Chief Minister.
Shadow Environment Minister, Peter Chandler, said Paul Henderson promised in early 2008 that his Government was developing a climate change policy – the release of which has since been inexplicably delayed.
'The Chief Minister's latest excuse is that he's waiting for the Commonwealth to finalise its Emissions Trading Scheme,' Mr Chandler said.
'This latest attempt to divert from his Government's failure to develop its own policies would be laughable if the situation wasn't so serious.
'The Rudd Government released details of its proposed climate change policies last year. The broad detail of the policy is out there for all to see – it's inexcusable that the Henderson Labor Government has missed it.
'Paul Henderson can develop his own climate change policy independently of what Kevin Rudd does.
'This is just another excuse trotted out by a Chief Minister who talks tough – but is fundamentally an environmental destroyer.
'This is the Labor Government that spent an extra $53million in 2008-09 buying diesel to power the Channel Island power station.
'As I mentioned in Parliament last week, on the back of using diesel to power the generators, Territory power stations emitted an estimated 945,708 tonnes of CO2 last financial year, compared to 872,000 tonnes the previous year.
'By any measure, this nearly 10% increase in emissions is an environmental and economic disaster for the Northern Territory.
'And while he's been belching diesel fumes into the atmosphere, he's been too lazy to develop policies detailing new building practices, codified work practices or emission targets.
'Additionally, he signed the Territory to the COAG agreement on renewable energy, while admitting we're little chance of meeting our own targets.
'At the last election, the Country Liberals promised to cut public sector emissions by 20% by 2020, yet the Chief Minister continues not to commit because he simply doesn't care.'
2009-10-26
