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Bishop Calls for Strong Action on Climate Change

Friday, January 12, 2007

Bishop George Browning, Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Gouburn, said it would not be morally responsible for a citizen to vote for any contesting party which did not have a credible climate change policy. He was giving the keynote address at the opening of the "Australia as a Neighbour" conference organised by Initiatives of Change in Melbourne.

Bishop George Browning of Canberra and Goulburn giving key-note address at the opening of "Australia as a Neighbour" conference in Melbourne

George Browning, Anglican Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, today reiterated it would not be morally responsible for a citizen to vote for any contesting party which did not have a credible climate change policy at the forthcoming federal election.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the “Australia as a Neighbour” conference organised by Initiatives of Change, Australia and attended by 300 people from 17 countries, he said the Australian people had to be proactive in insisting that the government played its part on addressing the pressing issue of global warming.

“Arguably, global warming is our most serious current challenge. If we fail to respond, then our neglect is likely to exacerbate other national and international problems. A failure to address global warming will almost certainly put at risk all the millennium development goals, especially the elimination of poverty,” Bishop Browning said.

“We desperately need regulation that puts a price on carbon. When this is done, preferably on a global scale, we will all adjust to a more sustainable lifestyle by using less or by choosing differently. A carbon price will automatically make sustainable technologies far more competitive,” Bishop Browning added.

The call for action on climate change was directly linked to faith and lifestyle.

“Those of us who belong to communities of faith, especially the Christian faith, must grow in our awareness that this (such as speaking out on environmental issues) is our core business. We understand that our time on earth is transitory and we have an obligation to bequeath what we inherited. Without some very immediate change of heart this is most unlikely.

“As individuals we have a responsibility to live a sustainable lifestyle. We need to remember that energy comes at a cost and that it should, as far as possible, be green. None of us should unnecessarily use energy that involves the release of carbon. Those of us who live in a Western culture must consume less. One planet cannot sustain a world population that aspires to a consumption level taken for granted in the West,” Bishop Browning said.

Bishop Browning called on all conference participants to use righteousness, termed by the Bible as the right relationship – be it between the community and the individual, the individual and the community, individuals with each other, and all things with God – as a guiding principle in their lives.

“Righteousness is inextricably related to matters of public ethics and morality. The fact that this point needs to be made, a matter the Bible simply assumes, is itself a stark commentary on the place of religious conversation in the public arena in current Australian life,” Bishop Browning said.

He added: “The effect of this righteousness, according to Isaiah, is peace and the result, quietness and trust forever. I want to encourage you to understand afresh this biblical virtue – righteousness – and to exhort you to have the courage to live it, that quietness and trust might once more be the prevailing culture of the world community.

“The price of failure, for past generations, has been local or regional upheaval, perhaps even destruction, however, the whole global community will share the price of today’s failure.”

Earlier in the evening, George Lekakis, Chairman of the Victorian Multicultural Commission had spoken of the rising sea levels which threaten many of Australia's Pacific Neighbours, while recognising that Australia is one of the world's highest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases.

The conference continues until Tuesday 16th, exploring issues of living with cultural diversity, resolving historical divisions and dealing with corruption as an underlying factor in many tensions between neighbours.