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CANBERRA - Australia has to accept that cutting greenhouse gas emissions may harm the economy, federal frontbencher Tony Abbott said today.
The health and ageing minister said it would be difficult to balance the fight against climate change with protecting jobs.
"It's very hard do both and that's what we need to face up to," Mr Abbott told the Nine Network.
"Particularly if we are going to do it soon, if we're going to dramatically cut emissions it is going to have an impact on the economy," he said.
Prime Minister John Howard has frequently attacked Labor for threatening jobs in the coal and forestry industries with its climate change policies.
Mr Abbott said the government was considering what needed to be done in the present rather than the opposition's floating of long-term goals.
"Labor are, if you like, trying to canonise themselves by saying, 'oh look how good we are, we'll cut greenhouse gases by 60 per cent in 50 years time'," he said.
"What's going to happen now, that's the big issue.
"What economic risks do we run now in order to tackle problems that might arise down the track.
Labor deputy leader Julia Gillard said her party's target of 60 per cent emission cuts by 2050 had merit.
"Australians want to know that their children and grandchildren are going to live on a planet that hasn't been devastated by climate change," Ms Gillard told the Nine Network.
She said the government was hamstrung by the climate change sceptics within it ranks.
"We're out with the practical policies - green cars, clean coal, solar panels, signing Kyoto - things that would make a difference."
- AAP
