Thu, 03 Dec 2009 5:42p.m.
John Key
By Samantha Hayes
Prime Minister John Key has revealed why he changed his mind about going to the Copenhagen climate conference.
He now thinks there is more chance of Copenhagen delivering the goods, and he does not want to give the world the wrong impression.
Mr Key says three weeks ago he was advised that the conference was not going to produce a meaningful agreement - now that advice has changed, and so has his mind.
"There's every chance now that political progress will be made, and I wouldn't have wanted to give the wrong impression by my absence that somehow, New Zealand wasn't committed to the fight against climate change, because we absolutely are."
Greenpeace and their celebrity ambassadors have been lobbying for this for months.
"I'm really thrilled that the Prime Minister has decided to go," says Lucy Lawless. "It's the right thing for our country, it's the right thing for our economy, it's the right thing for our kids."
Greenpeace says Mr Key needs to treat it as more than just a photo opportunity, and the next step is to get a legally-binding agreement.
But, even the UN's chief climate negotiator Evo do Boer says the earliest a new climate treaty can be ready is June 2010.
That's no surprise, given the trouble climate change legislation is causing in Australia.
Australia's senate has rejected the Kevin Rudd government's Emissions Trading Scheme in a drama that saw the leader of the opposition dumped and replaced.
Labour says Mr Key's ETS will now be dangerously out of step with whatever our neighbours decide in 2010.
"We've gone and provided for harmonising with something that doesn't exist," says Charles Chauvel, Labour's climate change spokesperson. "If it does ever exist it'll be in a very different form."
Mr Key says he is confident that Australia will eventually get an ETS through the senate, adding that his role at Copenhagen will be more than just a figurehead. He said the leaders may have to provide the final "grunt and shove" to get an agreement over the line.
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