Abbott pledges climate change 'ideas'

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has indicated his much-anticipated climate change
policy will contain concepts and ideas rather than "exhaustive detail".

After taking over the Liberal leadership last year, Mr Abbott promised his climate
change policy by early February, when parliament resumes.
He has rejected the Rudd government's chief policy to tackle climate change - an
emissions trading scheme (ETS) - and will instead offer his own practical solutions
to deal with global warming.
But Mr Abbott warned those expecting a thick policy document to lower their
expectations.
"The plan is to have it out before parliament comes back and when you say policy, I
mean I won't have every 'I' dotted and 'T' crossed," he told Fairfax Radio Network
on Friday.
"It's not going to be 100 pages of exhaustive detail because that's the kind of
thing that you can really only do in government, but certainly the thinking, the
concepts, the ideas and some costings, that'll all be out in the next few weeks."
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said Mr Abbott would be delivering a thought
bubble rather than a policy.
"As the alternative prime minister, Mr Abbott needs to do the hard policy work," she
said.
This week, Mr Abbott began outlining his approach to Australia's environmental
problems, targeting management of the ailing Murray-Darling Basin for a commonwealth
takeover and proposing the creation of a 15,000-strong green "army".
With a chequered history on the environment, Mr Abbott is trying to convince the
electorate he's always been a greenie at heart.
He's unashamedly pitching to soft Labor supporters and the green vote.
His proposal for a referendum to get the states to hand over management over the
Murray-Darling Basin received a mixed response but may provide some encouragement
that he could get greenies on side.
The Australian Greens agree management of the ailing river system has to be taken
out of the hands of the states - but they want it handed to an independent
authority, not the commonwealth.
Independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon backs the plan.
However, he doesn't want to wait.
"The fact is there are currently a whole range of powers under the Constitution
which the commonwealth government can use right now to take control of the
Murray-Darling from the states," Senator Xenophon said in a statement.
The New South Wales Irrigators Council, however, is unimpressed.
"We realise Mr Abbott wants to get elected and that Green preferences in marginal
electorates in capital cities play a large part in that, but we will always oppose
bad policy that sells out regional Australia," chief executive Andrew Gregson said.
Laurie Arthur, from the National Farmers' Federation, told ABC radio that a
commonwealth takeover wouldn't necessarily solve the problems of the Murray-Darling
Basin.
"I think some people have a fairly simplistic view that we could just have federal
control of water and the environment gets all it wants and farmers gets all it
wants, well that's not the case," he said.
Mr Abbott acknowledged it wouldn't be easy but said the commonwealth would provide a
more rational system of management.
"We are never going to give everyone all the water that people would like because
there just isn't enough water to meet every need," he told reporters.
The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed the green "army" plan.
ACF spokeswoman Amy Hankinson said 15,000 individuals could go a long way to
returning many of Australia's most threatened natural habitats to health.
"(But it) must provide real and ongoing opportunities to rural people struggling
with drought and the impacts of water reform, not just jobs for backpackers," she
said.