"Delay is denial"

Julia Gillard, November 2009:

We can't afford any more inquiries, reports or investigations into climate change.

Julia Gillard, November 2009:

We want to act now to deal with climate change.... Delay is denial.

Julia Gillard's committee on climate change issues a communique, December 2010:

The Multi-Party Climate Change Committee held its third meeting in Canberra today.  The Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, the Deputy Prime Minister the Hon Wayne Swan MP and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency the Hon Greg Combet AM MP were joined by co-deputy chair of the Committee, Australian Greens Deputy Leader Senator Christine Milne, Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown, Mr Tony Windsor MP, and Mr Rob Oakeshott MP....

The Committee adopted the Minutes from its 10 November 2010 meeting and agreed to release the Minutes on the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency's website.

The Committee agreed to adopt and publicly release the eleven policy principles that will provide a consistent basis for the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee's deliberations on carbon price mechanisms. The policy principles are at Attachment A.

The Committee acknowledges that some of these principles will be more relevant than others when examining each of the specific design issues, and further, that some design decisions may require a trade-off between two or more principles.

The Committee notes that each of these principles builds on the fundamental need to develop and foster lasting community consensus and an understanding of the need for a carbon price.

The Committee considered a range of different carbon pricing mechanisms and discussed the key features, advantages and disadvantages of each model.

The Committee commenced consideration of the key design choices to be made when developing a carbon price including scheme architecture, impacts, assistance measures and the issues of scheme coverage and international linking

Professor Ross Garnaut provided an update to the Committee on the progress of the first two papers of the Garnaut Review Update (Paper 1 – Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Climate Change Action, and Paper 2 – Progress Towards Effective Global Action on Climate Change). 

Mr Combet also gave an update to the Committee of the recent outcome at the United Nations Climate Conference held in Cancún.

(No link to press release. Thanks to reader Nadia.)