Australia’s new PM to prioritise climate change

NEW Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard moved to revive a stalled carbon trading scheme yesterday, pledging more consultation with industry and voters to win support for an issue that has split the nation.

Gillard, in her first comments to the media after former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stepped down earlier, said she believed in climate change, backed renewable energy and that the nation needed a price on carbon emissions.

But she also said emissions trading laws would lead to a significant structural shift in the resources-rich nation and they needed to be explained properly to the community.