Talk:Rudd heckled over 5% climate target

What is the OR for this article? --PatrickFlaherty (talk) 03:57, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

OR notes
Hi all, I'm a climate activist and know the people involved in the story. I was there when they planned to go to Canberra, but obviously I can't post action planning meeting notes up here as they are "off the record". I watched the heckling live on ABC, but I was also able to add background information (such as names etc.) that the commercial media did not have as immediately. I received the media release as it was sent out: here it is:

Protest disrupts Rudd’s emissions target announcement

Three women have interrupted the long-awaited announcement today by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia’s 2020 greenhouse gas emission reduction target.

The Prime Minister made the announcement at the National Press Club at midday that Australia’s 2020 emissions reduction targets would be a mere 5%, prompting the three women to interrupt his speech in protest.

Just twelve months ago at the landmark UNFCCC meeting in Bali, Australia with other countries agreed that the developed nations of the world must cut emissions by between 25 and 40% by 2020 to have a chance of averting runaway climate change.

Last week, at the latest round of talks, the Climate Change Minister Penny Wong refused to reveal what Australia’s commitment would be, leading to widespread speculation that the Government would give in to industry pressure and renege on the Bali agreement. One of the women who accosted the Prime Minister, Annika Dean, said, “This announcement means the Australian Government is willing to sacrifice the Great Barrier Reef to appease the big polluting companies that are fuelling global climate change.

“It is devastating that they have betrayed the public trust in this way. We cannot accept this kind of cowardly policy.”

The Government has been under pressure from heavily polluting industries, like coal and aluminium, to weaken its stance on emissions reduction.

Advice from climate advisor Ross Garnaut released earlier this year clearly stated that a target this low would be the death of the Great Barrier Reef and would put the world at high risk of runaway climate change.

“Despite the warnings from Garnaut and scientists everywhere, the Government has reneged on its promise to be a global leader on climate change. It is time for Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong to make a choice: are they going to carry on appeasing and pandering to the wealthy companies that are creating this problem, or are they going to stand with the people and try and solve it?”

Further comment: Annika Dean

If people don't think that the article is original enough, there are dozens of commercial news sources (who got the information after it was posted up on Wikinews). --Sumthingweird (talk) 05:04, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Review

 * Hi Shakata, thanks for reviewing. I've put a bunch of other sources up. I didn't copy the media release from the website, it was emailed to me. If you want I can get rid of the "original" tag, but the article is written from first-hand sources. Is there anything else I need to do to get this article past the review? --Sumthingweird (talk) 02:01, 16 December 2008 (UTC)