PM John Howard Says Jury Still Out On Possible Link Between Climate Breakdown & Record Drought

[hatrack]

The federal government still refuses to accept a confirmed link between global warming and the drought, but says it's preparing for a drier climate. Prime Minister John Howard has said the jury is out on the connection and in announcing severe drought measures today did not veer from that stance.

Mr Howard warned that the drought in the Murray-Darling Basin was so bad irrigators would not receive any water allocations in the coming season without heavy rainfall within eight weeks. On the potential link to climate change, Mr Howard said: "We've had very severe droughts before but we had smaller populations and we had lesser demand. "I recognise the ongoing debate about the link between the two things and I don't vary from that,'' he told reporters in Canberra.

Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said government scientists had yet to confirm the link. "The CSIRO, if you look at their most recent papers, acknowledge that it is difficult to say whether any particular drought is a result of natural climate variability or a climate change - the global warming phenomenon,'' Mr Turnbull told reporters.

In any event, he said the government policy is based around a changing climate. "The assumption that is built into all of our planning ... climate is going to get hotter and drier in the years ahead, and water will be scarcer.''

EDIT

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21585348-5001021,00.html

Good thing there aren't any connections, right, Malcolm? Right, John?

[warren pease]

1. Speaking to reporters and a small crowd of supporters, Howard added...

"Liberals don't want you to know this, but there's still some debate about the wetness of water. Some say it's inherently wet, whether we acknowledge it or not, while others maintain that wetness is only perceptual. They say that water is actually dry, but that we've been subjected to years of spin by the liberal media to get us to believe water is wet. If we'd only accept the scientific facts and irrigate our fields with dry water, there would be no drought.

"And while I'm on the subject of connections, there's still some dispute about whether having lots of money results in wealth. There's no proven connection between rich people and money, although most rich people do tend to have a lot of it."

With that, Howard waved briefly to the crowd, then lost his footing and stumbled down a small flight of stairs, landing on his stomach. On hands and knees, Howard began retching violently. Eye witnesses confirm that, as his spasms abated, an Iguana-sized lizard crawled out of his mouth, hissed at the crowd, and disappeared into the shrubbery. Witnesses said the lizard's face bore a remarkable resemblence to the American vice president, Dick Cheney. Cheney was at an undisclosed location and unavailable for comment.


Now that's news you can use.


wp

[depakid]

2. Howard is the leader of the Liberal party in Australia

but chances are he won't be PM for much longer....