Climate Change Announcement by Australian Prime Minister

The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, made a brief statement on Climate Change on 17 July 2007 (136 seconds). What seems to have got much of the attention is that it was done using Internet technology.

Today I am announcing a further $627 million in practical new measures to tackle global warming, bringing total spending on climate change initiative since 1996 to about $3.4 billion.

This will include $336 million for green vouchers for schools to improve energy and water efficiency.

Every school in Australia will be eligible for a voucher of up $50,000 to help install solar hot water systems and rainwater tanks.

Not only will this help reduce energy and conserve water, but it will provide students and our school communities with a first-hand lesson in how we can act locally to preserve the environment.

I will also be announcing a `cap and trade' emissions trading system that will help Australia substantially lower our domestic greenhouse gas emissions at the lowest cost. ...

As well as the text transcript on the web, there is a Flash video version on the same page, a link to a 5.9 Mbyte high quality version, and an audio version.

The video was also made available on YouTube. However this is a risky communications strategy: it is difficult to tell the official announcement from the spoof by John Clarke and Dawe.

The statement followed the Prime Ministerial Task Group on Emissions Trading Final Report.