Nationwide protests against climate plan

16 Dec 2008, 7:47 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Protests against the Rudd government's plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions were held around the country on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been booed over his stance on climate change during a protest outside Parliament House in Canberra.

Protests against the Rudd government's plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions were held around the country on Tuesday.

About 100 people attended the Canberra protest against Mr Rudd's target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by between five and 15 per cent by 2020.

Mr Rudd was not present. He is in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Greens Senator Christine Milne told those at the rally they were the beginning of a people's movement that would reject weak climate policies.

"That is the death of the Great Barrier Reef," Senator Milne said, of the targets.

"We're not prepared to stand for that."

The Greens will push for a Senate inquiry into the government's climate plans, and have urged scientists to front up to present the evidence on climate change.

In Sydney, more than 100 demonstrators staged a rally outside Commonwealth offices in protest at the federal government's plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

Bearing placards that read "Rudd loses the plot" and "Rudd fails on climate change", they gathered outside the Commonwealth parliamentary offices on Phillip Street in Sydney at 11am (AEDT) on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, about 70 protesters gathered in the rain outside the Victorian state parliament building in Spring Street, 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.

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.

In Tasmania, anti-logging activists were charged over a dawn raid on a 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.

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.

In South Australia, angry environmentalists hurled their shoes at an oversized Kevin Rudd puppet, echoing a dramatic protest aimed at US President George W Bush.

Activists gathered on the steps of the South Australian parliament to vent their anger at the federal government's targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As about 60 protesters gathered outside parliament house, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the five per cent target was pointless.

"The Australian government is now waving the white flag on climate change," she said.

"It is embarrassing in the global context and it is irresponsible to future generations to leave the big challenges of climate change to our kids and their kids."

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