Major parties with their heads in the sand

Disturbing details of the projected impact of climate change on Australia have been leaked to the Australian media, in the lead up to the release next week of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) second report for 2007.

Severe water shortages; longer, harsher droughts; more intense and longer bushfire seasons; coastal inundation and an increase in heat-related mortality are some of the likely scenarios described in the IPCC report's chapter on Australia and New Zealand.

Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, told the ABC's Lateline last night that the leaked IPCC chapter contained nothing new.

If the Minister has long known of the likely impacts on Australia, why have the Liberals not implemented a climate change policy to protect the nation's future wellbeing and prosperity?