Courier Mail - Rate and fuel rises hit urban fringe

PEOPLE living on Brisbane's fringe are the worst affected by increasing petrol prices and interest rates. Griffith University's index of Vulnerability, Assessment for Mortgage, Petrol, Inflation, Risks and Expenditure (VAMPIRE) showed that between 2001 and 2006 the vulnerability rose for people in outlying areas. "Areas that were not populated in 2001 that have since been developed all ended up with the highest vulnerability rating," researcher Jago Dodson said.

The Age - The global warming battle: united we stand, divided we fall

They call it the prisoner's dilemma. A group of you are captured, separated and individually interrogated. When your turn comes, you don't know what those interrogated before you have said. Do you confess, at the risk of giving away the evidence that could convict you? Or deny it, at the risk of increasing your penalty if others have confessed?

You might wonder what this has to do with climate change, and the meeting under way in Bali to launch negotiations for a post-Kyoto agreement. Plenty, says Ross Garnaut, the man commissioned by Kevin Rudd and state governments to report on what should be Australia's policy on climate change.

Twenty years ago, Garnaut was Rudd's boss. At 41, having invented the resources rent tax and been economic adviser to Bob Hawke, he was ambassador to China, while Rudd was his bright young Mandarin-speaking workaholic. They have kept in touch, and Garnaut, a man of sharp mind who was shunned by John Howard for his Labor ties, relishes being back in the policy arena.

Last week he gave his first speech setting out his views on the issues (on the net at www.garnautreview.org.au). In short, his views are that:

* Climate change is "a worse and more urgent problem than we thought", requiring firm, quick action.
* There are "diabolical" policy challenges in getting effective international agreement, partly because "the incentives are all wrong".
* The world has the technological and economic ability to stop global warming.
* There might never be one big international agreement, but a series of commitments.
* The costs of action are relatively small.
* The biggest challenge is to design an emissions trading system that cannot be captured by vested interests.

To sum it up, Garnaut is confident we could solve the problems, at little cost : it "might mean that Australia's GDP would treble by 2051 rather than 2050" : but he is not confident that we will.

Crikey - Penny Wong's really tricky Bali brief

Prime Minister Rudd has put his new Climate Change Minister Penny Wong under the pump. Her mission, should she choose to accept it, is to unite developed and developing nations when it comes to future emissions controls. ...

This is no mean feat. In fact, it's a herculean task. Factor in the competing interests of developed nations like the US who have thus far resisted binding targets, and developing nations like China and India who point out the unfairness of hampering the economic growth that promises to lift millions of people out of poverty. Trying to end the Mexican stand-off between the two has thus far alluded any UN talks and no one's holding their breath at Bali. ...

Here's a quick guide to Developed v Developing countries for an indication of just how big Rudd's ambition, and Wong's task, is ...

IHT - NZ government introduces legislation to ban power plants that burn fossil fuel