From the ABC .....

Howard rejects warning on greenhouse emissions

Prime Minister John Howard has dismissed calls for Australia to cut its greenhouse emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 in order to combat the effects of global warming.

The suggestions were made in a report commissioned by the Business Roundtable on Climate Change, comprising companies such as BP, the Visy Corporation and Westpac Bank.

The report, by the CSIRO, warns that if Australia does not cut emissions by more than half, the Great Barrier Reef will be lost and the Kakadu wetlands will dry up.

Westpac Bank Group general manager Noel Purcell says the science debate has been won.

"No one is contesting, at least no one at any major government level nor at any major business level nor the coal lobby, that we ultimately have to get serious - cut 60 per cent reduction in emissions by around 2050 if we're ever going to stabilise the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," he said.

But Mr Howard has told ABC's Four Corners he wants to see compelling evidence to support the report's findings.

"That sort of scenario, 60 per cent for Australia, would have enormously damaging impacts on our economy, on the price of petrol, on a whole lot of things," he said.

"It would have a very big impact on ... our GDP, because to achieve that you have to impose a carbon tax."

The Four Corners interview with Mr Howard will be broadcast tonight [28/08/06].