Australia will ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change within weeks, the country's Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd has told global leaders.
MELBOURNE: Australia will ratify the Kyoto Protocol on climate change within weeks, the country's Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd has told global leaders.
Rudd has also asserted to Labour Party factions and trade unions that he holds the right to name his own ministry on merit and assured voters he will reject sectional interests.
He was at his desk early on Sunday to begin the transition to power after Saturday's stunning electoral defeat of the John Howard government, in which at least four ministers, including Howard, appeared to have lost their seats on the strength of a huge 6 per cent national swing to Labour.
The record swing achieved by Labour eclipsed even the five per cent swing achieved by Howard to take government in 1996 as well as that of Labour's Bob Hawke in 1983 (3.6 per cent) and Gough Whitlam in 1972 (2.5 per cent).
As counting continued, the Australian Electoral Commission said Labour had secured 83 seats -- up from 59. The Liberals held 48 seats, the Nationals 10 and independents two.
Seven seats were undecided. In Howard's seat of Bennelong, Labour recruit and former journalist Maxine McKew was 343 votes ahead on the primary count and widely expected to terminate Howard's 33-year career.
As the Coalition reeled in the wake of the election rout, Rudd took calls from US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, having spoken with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono late on Saturday night, according to 'The Australian' newspaper on Monday.
The prime minister-elect assured Bush, a personal friend of Howard, that Australia would retain its commitment to the US-Australian alliance. And he spoke at length to Yudhoyono and Brown about his policy priorities, including the early ratification of the Kyoto Protocol.
Rudd accepted Yudhoyono's invitation to attend next month's climate change summit in Bali. The meet is aimed at forging new international agreements over action on climate change, which critics charge has been stalled by the refusal of the US and China, backed by Australia, to take the symbolic step of ratifying the agreements on emission reduction targets outlined in the Kyoto pact.
The Prime Minister-elect summoned senior bureaucrats on Sunday to Brisbane for briefings, including talks on the timing of the Kyoto ratification, which formed a central part of Labour's policy on climate change. Rudd said Labour MPs would meet in Canberra on Thursday, after which he would finalise the make-up of his front bench.
"I will be determining the ministry myself and that will be determined on the basis of merit and I believe that is entirely appropriate," Rudd said.
In a short press conference, Rudd said work had begun on the implementation of Labour's policies, including the delivery of a world-class education system, greater efficiency in public hospitals, action on climate change, provision of
infrastructure and greater resources for childcare.
"If you look at what we've advanced in terms of education, of hospitals, of climate change, of water as well as our proposals on industrial relations, this is a substantive agenda of work," said Rudd.
"Kevin will be making that decision (ratifying Kyoto) but you can expect it to be very soon...ratifying Kyoto we can do without the parliament sitting," his deputy Julia Gillard said on Monday.
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