Wave of protests greets greenhouse target

Greens leader Bob Brown described Kevin Rudd as a "failed prime minister".

"The Rudd government is not much different to the (previous) Howard government at all, it's carrying on the same failed policies," he told ABC Television.
 
"The impact of climate change is real, it's going to be on our kids, it's going to be on their kids, and this government's failing to address the need to shelter them from this impact."
 
Senator Brown described the five to 15 per cent target as "paltry".

"That means ... the impending loss of the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, the productivity of the Murray-Darling Basin."

Senator Brown also criticised the final plan for emissions trading, which will churn almost all the $12 billion in annual revenue back to business and households, in the form of free permits and compensation.

The Greens want the money spent on measures to cut emissions, such as public transport, retro-fitting homes to cut electricity use, and renewable energy.

PM 'surrendering on climate change'

Protesters raised a white flag in front of Kevin Rudd's Brisbane office, accusing the prime minister of "surrendering" on climate change.
 
Queensland Greens MP Ronan Lee, who led the protest outside Mr Rudd's Morningside electorate office, said the five per cent target was "laughable".

"Mr Rudd is completely surrendering on climate change, he is admitting that he has no plan to genuinely deliver on climate change," Mr Lee said.
 
"As a consequence he has condemned the Great Barrier Reef, he's condemned Kakadu and he's condemned the Murray Darling."

Rudd 'lost the plot'

Meanwhile, more than 100 demonstrators staged a rally outside Commonwealth offices in Sydney, Bearing placards that read "Rudd loses the plot" and "Rudd fails on climate change". 

"Today's protest is to tell Kevin Rudd that the Australian people didn't vote for five per cent, they didn't vote for massive handouts to the big polluters," NSW Greens MP John Kaye told reporters.

"What they wanted was action on climate change, what they wanted was targets that put Australia as world leaders on climate change and not as losers.
 
"Five per cent or nothing makes not a big amount of difference. What we need is 25 per cent, or better still 40 per cent, so Australia can not only participate in reducing global emissions but also build a strong renewable energy industry.

"The Rudd government has delivered a death blow to the renewable energy industry." 

'Kevin the puppet' gets thrown shoes at

Scenes of a protest against US President George W Bush have been re-enacted on the steps of South Australian parliament, with Greens activists throwing their shoes at an oversized Kevin Rudd puppet.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says the five per cent cut is embarrassing in the global context.

And SA Greens upper house member Mark Parnell says a 50 per cent cut is needed by 2020.

Santa Claus was part of the Climate Emergency Action Network's protest delivering a lump of coal to a Penny-Wong cut-out, saying the federal Minister for climate change has been a "naughty girl" this year.     

Greens vow to refer plan to Senate inquiry

About 70 protesters gathered in the rain outside the state parliament building in Spring Street in Melbourne, many wearing masks ridiculing federal and Victorian Labor government politicians, including Environment Minister Peter Garrett.

West Australian Greens senator and water spokeswoman Rachel Siewert warned there "would be no environment" unless Prime Minister Kevin Rudd committed to higher emissions reductions.

"They have locked their wagon to the leaders who have been in denial the whole time," Senator Siewert told the crowd.

"The Greens will refer this to a Senate inquiry, which is the only way the scientists will get their say.

"We cannot let the five per cent target stand because it will mean the death of the Great Barrier Reef and the Murray Darling River system."
 
Victorian state Greens MP Greg Barber said Australians were right to feel disillusioned about a lack of leadership on the environment.
 
"The Rudd government has taken the safe option and pushed responsibility out a decade for some other political leaders," he said.

Tasmania activists storm pulp mill
 
Anti-logging activists have been charged over a dawn raid on a Tasmanian pulp mill.
 
Fifteen activists from the Still Wild, Still Threatened action group launched the protest to express their anger over the federal government's "pitiful" targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The group stormed the Gunns Ltd woodchip mill at Triabunna, on Tasmania's east coast, about 4.45am (AEDT) on Tuesday, their spokeswoman Ula Majewski said.

Ms Majewski said seven of the activists chained themselves to equipment at the mill, halting production.

Up to 20 police called to site are working to remove the protesters, she said.

By midday, three or four of the protesters had been removed and charged with trespass, she said. Others were expected to face similar charges.

"We are protesting the federal government's white paper on climate change and Gunns Ltd's continued decimation of Tasmania's extremely carbon-dense forests," she said.
 
"We think that the Australian government's targets are absolutely pitiful and the Rudd and Bartlett governments need to take real action on climate change.
 
"One very good way they can do this is immediately legislate to protect all of Tasmania's old-growth and high-conservation-value forests."

A Gunns Ltd spokesman said the company planted about 15 million tree seedlings a year, more than any other company in Australia.

The Still Wild, Still Threatened group has taken photographs and footage of Tuesday's Triabunna action.

The protests came as the Greens declared today a national day of action on climate.