Downer admits aspirational goals “political stunt"

Downer admits aspirational goals “political stunt”

Greenpeace

Greenpeace today revealed the Australian Government's foreign Minister Alexander Downer has as recently as April 2007 condemned the very 'aspirational' approach to emissions that his government is now championing.

Mr Downer told the audience of the 2007 Monash APEC lecture in April that aspirational targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which Prime Minister Howard supports, are a “political stunt”.

Mr Downer said: “aspirational targets are code for “a political stunt” and went on to say that “an aspirational target is not a real target at all.” (1).

Greenpeace has today written to the embassies of all the countries attending APEC Sydney to alert them to Downer's speech, pointing out that this was the real agenda behind the APEC draft climate declaration's wording, and to warn them not to buy into John Howard's election campaign.

“Greenpeace has been saying all along that the Bush/Howard so-called aspirational goals in the draft APEC declaration won't get us the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that the climate needs - they are purely a political stunt for domestic elections,” said Greenpeace Energy Campaigner, Catherine Fitzpatrick.

She called on Mr Downer to come clean and explain to his international guests how the aspirational goals set out in the draft APEC declaration different from the “political stunt” he was talking about in April.

“This confirms our suspicions. Greenpeace applauds Mr Downer for his ‘honesty’ about what his Government is doing: pitching aspirational goals for APEC - just ahead of elections. Mr Downer and the Howard Government's aspirational goals are to get elected, not to stop climate change,”

ENDS

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