Australian Treasurer, Finance Minister Split On Climate While Howard Stalls - Age

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DIVISIONS continue to emerge within the Government over climate change, with Treasurer Peter Costello yesterday disagreeing with Finance Minister Nick Minchin over whether the extent that humans were to blame for global warming was in doubt.

"I think the scientific evidence is now accepted, and that is that climate change is occurring, that human activity is leading to carbon emissions, which is slowly leading to an increase in temperature," Mr Costello told Channel Ten. "I don't think that's in dispute any more."

Senator Minchin last week told The Age it should not be seen as a sin to be cautious about the science of global warming. He said there was an ongoing debate over the extent of climate change and the extent of human activity's role in global warming.

Mr Costello also said yesterday that Australia should be involved in shaping an international emissions trading scheme, to ensure it suited local needs. "I think that the world will move to a trading system (and) I think Australia should be part of it," he said. He believed a market-based system of trading carbon emissions was better than a Government-intervention-based system.

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http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/costello-and-minchin-split-on-climate-change/2007/02/18/1171733612549.html