Is this the same guy who entered office pledging to sign the Kyoto agreement. When he saw the actual, estimated annual costs, he put thumbs down on it.
He did sign Kyoto and made a big deal out of it.
The problem with this “back flip” is that Rudd still want the legislation to be passed this year and some of the changes he’s made, including delaying the start by a year, comply with what the opposition was proposing so its not impossible that they’ll get it through. If he had kept on his original course it would definitely have been blocked in the Senate. I still have all my fingers and toes crossed that we’ll dodge this bullet because its definitely not a done deal.
The one bright spot here is that more and more people are speaking out, and some of the mainstream papers, particularly the Australian, are starting to be more balanced in what they carry. Also, the release of Professor Ian Plimer’s book, Heaven and Earth: Global Warming, the Missing Science has made a big splash and increased the debate.