Australian Greens leader Bob Brown is calling on the Rudd Government to close debt traps which are leading Australians deeper into debt at a time of record high household indebtedness.

"Harvey Norman, for example, is offering the public two years or more non-payment periods, then huge interest rates (around 28%) and default penalties," Senator Brown said.

"Yesterday Gerry Harvey, head of Harvey Norman, said that if the US economy failed to turn around "we are in for a prolonged recession". He also predicted that unemployment would rise.

Prime Minister Rudd must reject the defeatism expected in Professor Garnaut's final report tomorrow and heed the advice of scientists to push for strong emissions targets that can prevent runaway climate change, according to Australian Greens Leader, Senator Bob Brown.

"The science is clear - we cannot afford to fail on climate change," Senator Brown said.

"Australians know that success is the only option, and at the next election they will rightly punish the Rudd Government if it runs up the white flag."

Rudd must lead globe towards strict targets

The weak targets advocated in the supplementary report from the Garnaut review released today are based on outdated science, risk catastrophic climate change and will undermine global negotiations towards an effective climate treaty, Australian Greens Senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne said today.

"Professor Garnaut concluded that it 'is worth paying less than 1% of GNP as a premium for the 450[ppm] strategy'. Surely, then, this should be our starting point, not our ultimate goal," Senator Brown said.

The Australian Greens today outlined their vision for Australia in the new century ahead of the opening of the Balance-of-Power Senate.

Australian Greens Leader, Senator Bob Brown, said a record 1.17 million people voted Greens at the last election, and the five Greens Senators were ready to work constructively with all parties to respond to the challenges of the new century.

"Pollution, poverty, discrimination and the destruction of Australia's forests and precious environments are the legacy of the last century and decades of greed and inaction."

The Australian National University's report on the role of natural forests as Australia's biggest carbon banks underscores the horror of logging in an age of climate change, Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.

Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson is taking the Coalition out of the political process to determine Australia's climate change trajectory, Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.
"Dr Nelson's demand that nothing happen before 2012 dismisses the world's scientists' calls for urgent action to halt climate change," Senator Brown said. 
"The Opposition Leader is putting the wishes of major polluters ahead of the interests of ordinary Australians."

The Greens will lead the national parliamentary debate on climate change, Greens Leader Bob Brown told the Australian Greens national Council meeting in Hobart this morning.
Welcoming new Senators Scott Ludlam (WA) and Sarah Hanson-Young (SA) to the Greens team, Senator Brown said that failure by the Rudd government to maturely lead on climate change will follow if weak targets are set or there is more delay, till 2012, in implementing an Emissions Trading Scheme. The Greens want:

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The collapse of a section of the Wilkins ice shelf in Antarctica, nine times the size of Sydney Harbour, is a warning to the Rudd government, Greens Leader Bob Brown said today.
"This is precisely why the Greens have pursued (fruitlessly) the science behind Minister Penny Wong's insistence on a 60% greenhouse gas reduction target by 2050. And her refusal to accept Europe's contention that policy should be based on limiting global warming to 2 degrees maximum," Senator Brown said.

The Greens have welcomed the MPs pay freeze announced by Prime Minister Rudd today.
 
"The government will now not proceed with regulations needed for any pay rise proposed by the Remuneration Tribunal, so that will be that," Senator Brown said.
 
"We would propose that after 2009, MPs pay hikes be pegged, the same as aged pensions are, to the Consumer Price Index."