Same-sex marriage talks push critical climate change decisions off Page One

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iscussion about the emotive, but important issue of same-sex marriage claimed the front page of today’s Melbourne Age.

A pointer across the bottom of the page, almost invisible to readers and so given a far less positional importance told that reports on discussions about Australia’s pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions could be found on Pages six and seven.

Although given prominence, the same-sex marriage matter is of vastly less import to both Australia and the world generally, than how we are to go about slowing our carbon dioxide emissions.

However, the stories on Pages six and seven were:

 

Nicole Hasham and Angela Macdonald-Smith write - “Emissions target leaves Australia trailing pack, say critics”.

Tom Arup’s analysis -“Abbott government's 'political' climate target fails three key tests”.

Nicole Hasham – “Climate experts warn government will spend billions to meet pollution cuts pledge”.

Gareth Hutchens – “Forget the politics, here's the most cost-effective way to achieve emissions reductions”.

The Editorial - “Abbott chalks up another failure with carbon target”.

 

Beyond those stories, pickup copy of the Age for Pages six and seven include some great graphics that illustrate Australia has much work to do to again become a responsible global citizen.

Our emissions reduction target is among the worst in the world, just as we are in terms of per country emissions and then the illustration points out the seriousness of our emissions inadequacies as we are the world’s worst per capita emitters at nearly 29 tonnes per person, clearly ahead of Canada, America, Saudi Arabia, Russia, South Korea, Germany and Japan.