Climate survey fails to deter Rudd

(AAP) - The Rudd government will press ahead with its strategy on climate change even though a new study suggests the public has grown more cautious about action that could hurt the hip pocket.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he won't be swayed by whether or not the issue is
popular with the voting public.
In its annual survey on attitudes to global affairs, the Lowy Institute for
International Policy found climate change had waned in importance as a foreign
policy issue.
Two years ago it was judged the equal first most important foreign policy issue out
of a list of 10, but by this year it had slipped to number seven.
In 2006, 68 per cent thought the nation should take steps to tackle climate change
even if it involved significant costs. But the figure fell to 48 per cent in the
2009 survey.
There was also a doubling - from seven per cent to 13 per cent - in the proportion
of people who thought that no action should be taken that carried an economic cost
until it was certain global warming was a problem.
Mr Rudd told ABC radio, the government's responsibility was to the long-term
national interest.
"We have a responsibility for our kids, for our grandkids, for the future of our
environment, and for the future of our economy," he said on Tuesday.
"That means acting on climate change whether it's popular or not."
But the embattled coalition seized on the poll, saying the government should heed
the views of the public.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull is struggling to convince some in the coalition
of the need to negotiate with the government on its emissions trading scheme.
The government wants the scheme passed by November but many in the coalition believe
finalising the laws should be delayed until after an international meeting in
Copenhagen in December.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said the Lowy study showed protecting
jobs was people's first foreign policy priority.
"I think the government would be slightly shocked by these results," he told ABC radio.
"They spend all their days talking about international negotiations and yet the
message that comes through from people is we want a stable economic environment, we
want to have a stable future, we want the opportunity of employment and hope and
aspiration for our children and our grandchildren."
Lowy Institute executive director Michael Wesley told AAP the focus of concern in
2007, when climate change was listed as a top foreign policy issue, had been the
problems in store for Australia if it didn't get climate change right.
At that time, the Howard government was refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, and
Australia was seen as one of a handful of recalcitrant industrialised nations over
the way it handled climate change.
"Now there's general attention to the complexities of getting greenhouse gas
abatement passed through parliament and negotiated at Copenhagen," Dr Wesley said.
"As people have come to terms with the huge difficulties of getting meaningful
action on climate change, they've become much less passionate about the urgency of
doing something about it."
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said it wasn't that Australians didn't care but
that they were more confident about US action on climate change.
"People have seen after the desiccated views of Bush and Howard ... there's at least
action, it's on the agenda of the Obama administration and it's on the agenda of the
Australian government," he told reporters.