Envoy surprised by climate of scepticism – smh.com.au

Envoy surprised by climate of scepticism

JONATHAN PEARLMAN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT

November 13, 2009

BRITAIN’S new high commissioner, Baroness Valerie Amos, has expressed surprise that Australians are still debating whether humans cause climate change and says other nations have long since ”moved on”.

In her first public comments since arriving in Canberra three weeks ago, Baroness Amos, a former leader of the House of Lords, said Australia was well-positioned to lead the international community on climate change but the public debate should move beyond scepticism and negativity to finding solutions.

Her comments come days after a senior Liberal, Nick Minchin, said he and most of his party colleagues believed man-made climate change was a myth.

”I have been surprised that the science itself is being questioned,” she said. ”These are things where there have been debates over a long period of time in other countries and where we have reached conclusions and moved on.

”In the UK, there is a degree of political consensus about what in broad terms needs to be done. There is a lot of debate about how we do it. You would certainly not see on a daily basis … the kind of negative reporting that you have here”…

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