RUDD U-TURN ON GLOBAL WARMING

Reality hits Australia's Leftists

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd last night did an about-face on deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, days after Australia's delegation backed the plan at the climate talks in Bali. A government representative at the talks this week said Australia backed a 25-40 per cent cut on 1990 emission levels by 2020. But after warnings it would lead to huge rises in electricity prices, Mr Rudd said the Government would not support the target.

The repudiation of the delegate's position represents the first stumble by the new Government's in its approach to climate change. Mr Rudd said he supported a longer-term greenhouse emissions cut of 60 per cent of 2000 levels by 2050. But the Government would not set medium-term targets until a report by economist Ross Garnaut was completed next year. "I think speculation on individual numbers prior to that is not productive and I would suggest it would be better for all concerned if we waited for the outcome of that properly-deliberated document," Mr Rudd said.

The electricity industry yesterday warned it may not be able to meet growing consumer demand and comply with the 2020 target. Energy Supply Association of Australia chief executive Brad Page said a 17 per cent power price rise in Victoria would seem "pretty modest" compared with the cost of complying with the target. An ESAA report released this year found cutting carbon emissions by 30 per cent of 2000 levels by 2030 wold push up power costs by 30 per cent. Mr Page said the cost of meeting the higher target by 2020 would be much more as low-cost, green-generation technology would not be available for more than 10 years. "You are dependent on yet-to-be delivered technology," he said. "The community needs to be aware cuts of this magnitude will come at considerable cost and it's difficult to know how exactly it will be delivered."

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson said the suggested cuts would have "devastating impact" on Australia's economic development. "It will have serious consequences for electricity bills and many other burdens borne by working families in day-to-day life, and pensioners," Dr Nelson said.

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An old, old story: Government + Trains = BUNGLEDOM. This time in NSW

New tunnel can only accomodate old trains

TRANPORT Minister John Watkins and RailCorp chief Vince Graham have confirmed that one in 12 CityRail trains have been banned from using the Epping to Chatswood tunnel because of a design bungle. It also appears that the 12.5 kilometre tunnel was designed and was well underway to being built years before the problem was known. The Daily Telegraph exclusively revealed the design bungle, which was initally met with denials from authorities.

However Mr Graham today admitted the Tangara trains - around eight per cent of the CityRail fleet - could not be used on the tunnel because the 4km incline from under the Lane Cove river would cause the train's traction motor to burn out too quickly. Instead the tunnel will be serviced by trains up to 30 years old and special outer-suburban trains intended for inter-city routes. However the pair claimed services would not be affected. Mr Graham said he had known the Tangaras would be unsuitable for the tunnel since 2004, however design for the tunnel was completed in 2001 and construction began the following year.

The Opposition said Mr Watkins and Premier Morris Iemma "deserve gold medals for stupidity". This latest scandal topped one of Premier Morris Iemma's worst days in power as he staggered from one crisis to another. He now faces a growing list of dilemmas including two damning reports into DOCS and our health system and attacks from the businesses threatening to derail plans to privatise the $15 billion power industry.

The 12km Epping to Chatswood link was billed as the crowning glory of the Labor Government's infrastructure program. The Epping-Chatswood fiasco can be traced back to 2001, when pressure from residents forced the abandonment of a planned bridge over the Lane Cove River in favour of a tunnel. The design change created Sydney's steepest 3.5km section of track. The "big dipper" debacle has emerged amid an embarrassing three weeks for RailCorp in which corruption watchdog ICAC exposed $6 million in rorts by managers and executive pay packets doubled to a combined $10 million.

Transport Minister John Watkins will fly to Europe and Hong Kong today where he will "inspect Euro-style" metro train systems.

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Labor Party sends Indonesian "refugees" home

SIXTEEN Indonesians detained on Christmas Island are to be returned to Indonesia after interviews and health checks, Immigration Minister Chris Evans says. Their claim to be economic refugees has been rejected as a legitimate reason for refugee status. The three men, three women and 10 children were rescued from a leaking fishing boat in the Timor Sea on November 20 after their stricken vessel pulled up alongside the Jabiru Venture oil ship, 600km west of Darwin. The families, from the Indonesian island of Roti, said they had been suffering economic losses from Australia's crackdown on illegal fishing in the region and had no choice but to flee their homeland.

But Senator Evans said his department had carefully explored with the group their reasons for travelling to Australia. "On the information provided, my department is satisfied that they have not raised issues which might engage Australia's protection obligations," he said. "This represents a firm but fair approach to the orderly migration of people to Australia."

Senator Evans said the asylum seekers had been treated fairly and been dealt with appropriately. "They simply have not engaged our protection obligations under the Refugees Convention," he said. "My department is making arrangements to return the group in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Indonesian government as soon as possible." Senator Evans said he was a great supporter of the Refugees Convention and Australia was among the top three resettlement countries in the world. "However, people from other countries do not have a right to stay in Australia just because they would be economically better off here," he said.

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Aussie to run Murdoch's Wall Street Journal

Murdoch has been very good at spreading Australian journalists worldwide

Expatriate Australian Robert Thomson is to become publisher of Rupert Murdoch's recent acquisition, The Wall Street Journal. Thomson, whose journalism career took off when The Sydney Morning Herald dispatched him to Beijing at the age of 24, is the editor of The Times. He has been an adviser to Murdoch in his pursuit of the WSJ. His appointment is expected to be announced today.

According to Patience Wheatcroft, editor of Britain's Sunday Telegraph, who worked under Thomson for nearly four years, the two men are "very close". "Robert worked in China, Japan and America, and Rupert is completely global in his perspective so that enabled them to get on well from the start," she told The Australian in August. "It's been remarked upon that they're both Australian, they're both married to Chinese wives and they have children not that far off in age, so there's a strong personal relationship as well as a strong business relationship."

In other News Ltd developments, Rupert Murdoch has stepped aside as chairman of BSkyB to be succeeded by his son James, currently chief executive.

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