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F

NEXT WAVE OF LEAKS FEARED

PM bracesfor spy rowto spreadEXCLUSIVE

DENNIS SHANAHANJOE KELLY

INSIDE

PAUL KELLY P13

THE onus is now with Abbott to demonstrate a flexibleand new approachto intelligence and security issues. Nothing elsewill suffice.

THE Abbott government is brac-ing for the possible release ofmore embarrassing material fromleaked US intelligence aboutIndonesia and other Asiannations, as it aims for a ‘‘broaderand deeper’’ security relationshipwith Jakarta.

The Weekend Australianunderstands Canberra is aimingto develop a ‘‘new process’’ of con-sultation with Jakarta as it seeksto limit the damage from the spy-ing crisis.

The US is in ‘‘close contact’’with the Australian governmentover the 200,000 secret filesleaked by former US NationalSecurity Agency contractorEdward Snowden as it tries toidentify what information hasbeen compromised.

Australia is aware that ‘‘no-body really knows’’ what infor-mation is involved and as HughWhite, a former deputy secretaryof the Defence Department, saidyesterday, the government was‘‘not in a position to make anyassumptions’’.

‘‘The only thing (the US) can besure of is that Snowden won’thave hold of anything theyhaven’t shared with the NSA —only problem is that they sharealmost anything with the NSA,’’Professor White said.

Tony Abbott is aware of thethreat of further disclosures aboutAustralia’s intelligence-gatheringin the region but is devoting hisattention to the relationship withIndonesia and responding toPresident Susilo Bambang Yud-hoyono’s demand for an explan-ation for the spying.

Agriculture Minister BarnabyJoyce yesterday postponed a tripto Indonesia planned for next

week, citing the current ‘‘circum-stances’’ for the decision.

The documents leaked bySnowden showed that under theprevious Labor government Aus-tralia’s eavesdropping agency theDefenceSignals Directorate (nowcalled the Australian SignalsDirectorate) targeted the mobilephones of 10 prominent Indone-sians in 2009, including the Presi-dent, the first lady, the Vice-President and the former foreign

affairs spokesman. The PrimeMinister has publicly repeatedAustralia’s traditional response toreports on intelligence of refusingto ‘‘confirm or deny’’ the alle-gations and has refused to apolo-gise to Indonesia, expressing‘‘sincere regret’’ at the embarrass-ment caused by reports of theleaked files.

Indonesia Foreign MinisterMarty Natalegawa said yesterdaypeople-smuggling informationexchanges with the AustralianFederal Police had ‘‘ended’’.

Meanwhile, more proteststook place outside the Australianembassy in Jakarta.

In response to Indonesia’s banon co-operation with illegal boatarrivals and threats of further

Continued on Page 4

MORE REPORTS P4INQUIRER P13, 14EDITORIAL P21

Australia, Britain reject climate compoDAVID CROWENATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR

AUSTRALIA has won supportfrom Britain and others to headoff demands for compensationpayments to countries hit bydamage they blame on climatechange, sparking anger at a globalsummit meant to strike a deal thisweekend.

Acting on Tony Abbott’s edictto avoid any new financial com-

mitments, Australian negotiatorshave held out against calls to sup-port the ‘‘loss and damage’’ pay-ments sought bypoorer countries.

Britain added weight to theAustralian position yesterdaywhen Energy Secretary Ed Daveyrebuffed demands for payments.

‘‘We don’t accept the argumenton compensation,’’ Mr Daveysaid.

‘‘We never have, and we are notintending to start now.’’

The dispute sharpened criti-

cism of Australia at the UN sum-mit in the Polish capital of War-saw yesterday and could make itharder to strike a more importantdeal this weekend on cutting theworld’s greenhousegas emissions.

The Australian revealed twoweeks ago that the Prime Minis-ter and his cabinet colleagues had

Continued on Page 2

MORE REPORTS P2WORLD P9TIM WILSON P20

Parting words for the party Gough loves

SALLY TSOUTAS

Gough Whitlam, at 97, has issued a ‘valedictory’ message on the eve of the release of a new book about his life and legacy

EXCLUSIVE

TROY BRAMSTON

AT 97 and in the twilight of his life,Gough Whitlam still goes to hisoffice high above William Streetin Sydney a few days each week.

His former colleagues visitfrom time to time. As do his fourchildren — Antony, Nicholas,Stephen and Catherine.

Moving slower these days, andoften in a wheelchair, he resides inan aged-care facility in Sydney’seast.Hehasgooddaysandnot-so-good days.

Australia’s longest-lived for-mer prime minister has not con-sented to an interview for severalyears. He is no longer writing. Hislast public statement was a tributeto hiswife of almost 70years, Mar-garet, who died last year.

‘‘She was a remarkable personand the love of my life,’’ he said.

Today, on the eve of the releaseof a new book about his life andlegacy, Mr Whitlam has a‘‘valedictory’’ message to theLabor Party that he led, in govern-ment and opposition, for 11 years.In addition to learning from itssuccesses and failures, Mr Whit-lam wants Labor to rediscover the

vital role of parliament informulating and articulatingpolicy.

‘‘May I make one valedictorypoint: never forget the primacy ofparliament as the great forum fordeveloping, presenting and ex-plaining policy,’’ Mr Whitlamwrites in a foreword to The Whit-lam Legacy.

‘‘This seems to me the best res-

ponse we can make to the unpre-cedented demands now made onour leaders and representatives bythe relentless news cycle, 24 hoursa day, seven days a week.

‘‘If we develop, define and de-fend our policies thoroughly be-fore their implementation, we willbe much less likely to be blown offcourse by the accidents and aber-rations inseparable from modern

political life. And parliament is byfar the best place to achieve it.’’

The book of new essays, pre-viously unpublished photographsand recently discovered archivaldocuments will be launched byBill Shorten next week.

Mr Whitlam writes that the‘‘over-archingprinciple andunify-ing theme’’ of his lifetime of publicservice can be stated in just twowords: contemporary relevance.

In what is likely to be his lastsubstantial statement on politicsand policy, Mr Whitlam saysLabor must ‘‘constantly’’ reviewand revise its history.

He urges the party’s membersand supporters to ‘‘learn from ourmistakes and failures as well asour successes and achievements’’.

It is essential Labor developsContinued on Page 2

MORE REPORTS P2INQUIRER P18

Industry leaders in ‘the indigenous dozen’EXCLUSIVE

PATRICIA KARVELAS

TONY Abbott has recruited 12 ofthe most powerful business andindigenous figures in the countryto provide advice on Aboriginaleconomic reform, includingWestpac chief executive GailKelly and Rio Tinto managingdirector David Peever.

The Weekend Australian hasobtained the full list of MrAbbott’s hand-picked appointeesto the Prime Minister’s indigen-

ous council, which will be led byAboriginal leader WarrenMundine and give him bold ideasto closing the disadvantage gap.

The membership is stackedwith people who have businessand reform experience, with thePrime Minister deliberatelysteering away from the usualfaces in indigenous affairs.

Other appointees include An-drew Penfold, the chief executiveof the Australian IndigenousEducation Foundation, whichprovides scholarships for indig-enous children to attend eliteschools, and, as foreshadowed inThe Australian, Peter Shergold,

chancellor of the University ofWestern Sydney and former sec-retary of the Department ofPrime Minister and Cabinet.

Mrs Kelly described beingasked to join the council as anhonour and said she was gratefulfor the opportunity to contribute.

‘‘My goal is to work with coun-cil members to drive actions toimprove education, health andemployment in indigenous com-munities,’’ the Westpac chiefexecutive said.

‘‘Corporate Australia has animportant role to play in doingmore for Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander people.’’

Leading indigenous memberswill includeRichie AhMat, who isinvolved in the Cape York Wel-fare Reform agenda, and BruceMartin, a Wik man from Auru-kun and chief executive of AakPuul Ngantam, an organisationthat represents families in CapeYork.MrAbbotthasalso invitedagiant of the reconciliation move-ment, Leah Armstrong, a TorresStrait Islander who is the chiefexecutive of ReconciliationAustralia.

Continued on Page 6

MORE REPORTS P6INQUIRER P15

EXCLUSIVETesting changes

STUDENTS will be assessed ontheir social and emotional skills,creative thinking and culturalunderstanding in subjects suchas geography, science andmaths, under proposed changesto the national testing program.

FULL REPORT P3

Diplomacy shown,criticism absorbedin first crisis

DENNIS SHANAHANANALYSIS

TONY Abbott has handled hisfirst crisis — and the mostserious with Indonesia for years— in strict accord with all ofAustralia’s traditionalintelligence protocols andsecurity practices.

Behaving as a Prime Ministershould in the face of a growingdiplomatic and political furore,

Abbott has kept his commentaryto a bare minimum, coppedcriticism for Labor governmentactions without response andtried to ease the sense of an ever-rising crisis.

Unless he decides the currentcircumstances require a changeto those past practices andpolitical behaviour — as BarackObama did — Abbott will go onin the same vein. What’s more,he has little choice.

The governments of Australiaand the US both know there isthe potential, even a likelihood,of further embarrassing anddamaging revelations to comefrom the 200,000 stolenintelligence files from theNational Security Agency.

The US has already flaggedthere could be problems forAustralia with other regionalneighbours and even more withIndonesia.

Apart from the traditionalContinued on Page 4

G-G at odds withAbbott on republic,gay marriage

QUENTIN Bryce has becomethe first serving Governor-General to publicly backAustralia becoming a republic.

Ms Bryce, whose term ends inMarch, also threw her supportbehind gay marriage as she

delivered the final BoyerLecture of the year, outliningher vision for the nation.

Her stance puts her at odds ontwo key issues with TonyAbbott, who opposes both arepublic and gay marriage.

Ms Bryce said she hopedAustralia might become anation where ‘‘people are free tolove and marry whom theychoose’’.

‘‘And where perhaps, my

friends, one day, one young girlor boy may even grow up to beour nation’s first head of state,’’she said in the lecture, whichwill be broadcast in full on ABCRadio National tomorrow.

Ms Bryce was condemned bymonarchists, who described themove as a ‘‘disgrace’’, but waspraised by republicans as‘‘wonderful’’.

FULL REPORT P3

F

The Australian is bound by the standards ofpractice of the Australian Press Council. If youbelieve the standards may have been breached,you may approach The Australian itself orcontact the council by email atinfo@presscouncil.org.au or by phone(02) 9261 1930. For further information seewww.presscouncil.org.au.

second edition no 15,274

Editor-in-Chief Chris Mitchell

Editor, The Australian Clive MathiesonEditor, The Weekend Australian Michelle Gunn

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WORLD 9-11 INQUIRER 13-22 LETTERS 21BUSINESS 23-34 WEALTH 28-29 PRIMESPACE 34SPORT 35-41 WEATHER 42 PROFESSIONAL 43-44

INDEX

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Governmentof South Australia

ClarificationIN a report published in The Australian on Monday, (‘‘Overhaultownship leases, says council’’, page 6), Djiniyini Gondarra wasreferred to as a traditional owner of Yirrkala. The Australian wishes toclarify that he is a senior Djunggaya man for the deceased Lamamirritribe and through proper processes of indigenous decision-making hasfull rights to have a seat at any table of negotiation concerningYirrkala.

2 THE NATION THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, NOVEMBER 23-24, 2013www.theaustralian.com.au

Newman circles thewagons on CMC chiefTHE Newman government hasclosed ranks around embattledCrime and MisconductCommission chairman Ken Levy,who declared late yesterday hewould be staying in the jobdespite apparent evidence thathe misled a parliamentarycommittee over his contact withthe government before he wrotean article endorsing thegovernment’s anti-bikie laws.

Dr Levy late yesterday said hewould be staying to see throughthe job of reforming the CMC,which has been the subject ofthree different reviews this year,despite calls from the stateopposition and independentQueensland MPs to resign overwhat they said was misleadingparliament.

Dr Levy told a parliamentarycommittee on November 1 thathe had not had any talks with thegovernment before he wrote anopinion article for The Courier-Mail in which he endorsed thegovernment’s anti-bikie laws, butthen he told a later inquiry inclosed session he had spokenwith the Premier’s chief mediaadviser, Lee Anderson.

He agreed yesterday thatthere could be a differentperception about his talks withthe Premier’s chief media adviser.

‘‘It was an administrativematter, that I will say,’’ he said.

Late on Thursday night, theNewman government sacked the

parliamentary committeeoverseeing the CMC, saying thatstatements from Labor memberson the committee who had calledfor Dr Levy’s resignation showedthat it had become politicised.

The committee had beenchaired by independent MP forGladstone Liz Cunningham, whoin the 1990s held the balance ofpower in Queensland and optedto support the then Coalition ofLiberal and National partiesahead of the ALP.

Ms Cunningham saidyesterday that the sacking of thecommittee would lead toquestions over the independenceof the committee system. ‘‘I thinkthat the core issue here is that acommittee that has progressed amatter contrary to the way thegovernment may have liked it tohave progressed has beendismissed. I think in thecommunity’s mind the questioncould be how independent willcommittees be allowed to be.’’

The government yesterdayannounced a new committee tobe dominated by its own MPs.

Attorney-General JarrodBleijie said the accusationsagainst the CMC chief will nowbe examined by a newlyconvened select ethicscommittee — to be chaired byanother LNP member, DavidGibson — that’s not tainted bybias.

ANDREW FRASER

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Liberals ‘must face’ ageing shiftRICK MORTONSOCIAL AFFAIRS WRITER

SUPER funds and other interestgroups yesterday called on thefederal government to face up tothe dramatic ageing shift fore-shadowed by the ProductivityCommission but to do socautiously and with plenty ofwarning.

Joe Hockey would not com-ment on the report except to say,through a spokesman, ‘‘the gov-ernment has no plans to increasethe pension age’’, which the Pro-ductivity Commission said shouldclimb to 70 to combat ever-

growing periods of retirement asAustralians lived longer.

The report also says the pen-sion age should be linked to theage at which Australians can cashout their superannuation, which is55 and due to rise to 60 in 2024.

‘‘The strong links between thetwo parts of Australia’s retirementincome system mean that deci-sions in one part can have largebudgetary implications in theother,’’ the report says.

‘‘It also suggests that decisionsconcerning these two systemsshould be jointly considered.’’

Financial Services Council di-rector of policy and internationalmarkets Martin Cadging yester-

day said the Coalition’s Commis-sion of Audit ‘‘is the right vehicle’’for considering changes to thepreservation age of superannu-ation funds.

‘‘The superannuation system’sability to generate adequate re-tirement incomes for Australianscan be significantly bolstered byincreasing the preservation age,’’he said.

Association of IndependentRetirees policy director RobertCarrel said the two schemesshould be linked and rise together,while maintaining the seven-yeargap between the super cash-outage and qualification age for thepension.

Labor in 2009 announced anincrease in the eligible age of thepension from 65 to 67 to be phasedin from 2017 to 2023.

‘‘The preservation of the transi-tion to retirement is critical andhaving that seven-year gap main-tained will form part of that,’’ MrCarrel said.

‘‘If you are able to work untilyou are 70, then you should expectto do that. The user really has topay throughout their life for thesechanges because if we don’t, thegovernment will go broke.’’

Part of that user-pays modelwas suggested by the ProductivityCommission: that older peoplecould leverage the equity in the

rising value of their home to payfor essential care and services,even health services.

‘‘Retirees tend not to drawdown the wealth in their home,which represents a significantshare of their total wealth . . . anequity release scheme could leaveolder households with an appreci-ating asset base and significantlyreduce government fiscalpressures over the longer term,’’the report says.

Association of SuperannuationFunds of Australia chief executivePauline Vamos said any changeneeded to be flagged well ahead oftime.

Those who couldn’t keep work-

ing needed to be looked after,otherwise they would be driven onto the Newstart Allowance andthe disability pension.

‘‘We think the access to supershould be about five years beforethe pension age — that’s a long-standing position,’’ Ms Vamossaid.

‘‘We also do have to startlooking at equity access programsbecause providing income inretirement is not just about thepension or superannuation.’’

The opposition’s Treasuryspokesman, Chris Bowen, said theCoalition had shown its hand byabolishing an advisory panel onageing set up by Labor.

Virgin pilot emerges as Rudd-seat contender

1996

1992

1983

1982

1978

1968

1966

1951

1945

Paul Keating (ALP)

Bob Hawke (ALP)

Malcolm Fraser (Lib)

William McMahon (Lib)

Gough Whitlam (ALP)

Harold Holt (Lib)

Robert Menzies (Lib)

Ben Chifley (ALP)

John Curtin (ALP)

1991-96

1983-91

1975-83

1971-72

1972-75

1966-67

1949-66

1945-49

1941-45

Blaxland, NSW

Wills, Vic

Wannon, Vic

Lowe, NSW

Werriwa, NSW

Higgins, Vic

Kooyong, Vic

Macquarie, NSW

Fremantle, WA

SeatIn office

Resigned

Resigned

Resigned

Resigned

Resigned

Died

Resigned

Died

Died

Labor retained, no Liberal candidate

Labor lost to independent after swing of -19%

Liberals retained, 2PP swing of only -1%

Liberals lost to Labor after swing of -10%

Labor retained with swing of +12%

Retained by Liberals, after swing of +6%

Liberals retained despite swing of -8%

Labor retained despite swing of -10%

Labor retained despite swing of -10%

Result

BY-ELECTIONS WHEN A FORMER PM LEFT PARLIAMENT *

* Since WWII

ANDREW FRASER

A FORMER RAAF pilot who fliesfor Virgin Blue has emerged as apossible replacement for KevinRudd, who officially resigned yes-terday from the seat of Griffith,triggering a by-election to be heldprobably in late January or earlyFebruary.

The ALP holds Griffith with amarginof2.8percentafter the for-mer prime minister suffered aswing of5.5 percent againsthim atthe September 7 election.

The Liberal National Partycandidate who achieved thatswing, former AMA chief BillGlasson, was endorsed earlier thisweek to run again.

Nominations for ALP preselec-tion close on Monday with a ballotof the 370 members in the area be-ing held on December 14, after theparty’s electoral college holds itsballot on December 12.

The two ALP candidates so farare the Left’s Terri Butler, 35, anindustrial relations lawyer, andpilot Jeremy de Lore, 43.

Mr De Lore is not a member ofany faction but has the backing ofthe dominant right-wing OldGuard and AWU factions.

Two of the nine by-electionscaused by the death of a primeminister or the resignation of aformer prime minister have beenlost by the incumbent party.

Bob Hawke’s Melbourne seatof Wills was lost to independentPhil Cleary in 1992 and WilliamMcMahon lost Lowe in Sydney toLabor’s Michael Maher in 1982.

DENNIS SHANAHAN P19CRAIG EMERSON P19

Howard reveals advice to his political heir

Exclusive extract fromthe new edition ofLazarus Rising

InEXCLUSIVE

DENNIS SHANAHANPOLITICAL EDITOR

JOHN Howard warned Tony Ab-bott shortly after the dead-heatelection of 2010 that the Gillardminority government would lastthe distance and the Coalitionshould prepare for a longcampaign.

The former Liberal prime min-ister met his political heir a monthafter the August 2010 election totalk about the challenges of the‘‘coming three years’’.

Mr Howard said they wereboth aware ‘‘grumbles about Ab-bott’s leadership might easilyemerge’’ and the Liberal leader‘‘dreaded the thought that thisnear-victory in 2010 might be as

close as he was ever going to get’’.In an updated post-election

chapter of his book Lazarus Rising,Mr Howard writes that ‘‘Abbottknew enough political history tobe anxious about the future’’.

‘‘There is constant pressure onan opposition leader to perform.The post-election euphoria wouldquickly fade, and expectationswere high that the Gillard govern-mentwouldcollapse; if thisdidnothappen, grumbles about Abbott’sleadership might easily emerge,’’Mr Howard writes.

‘‘He dreaded the thought thatthis near-victory in 2010 might beasclose ashewasever going toget.Thathad beenArthur Calwell’s lotin 1961, when the Menzies govern-ment survived by just one seat.Calwell would lose two more elec-tions as Labor opposition leader,each by a wider margin than thelast,’’ he said.

Mr Howard was of the opinionthe minority Labor government‘‘would go the distance’’ becausethe rural independents, RobOakeshott and Tony Windsor,who supported Labor, would notchange course.

‘‘The bad blood between themand the Nationals was palpable,’’he said.

‘‘I advisedAbbott tomakemore‘boring speeches’ about theeconomy.

‘‘It would almost certainly bethree years before the next elec-tion, so an expanded narrativewould be needed.’’

Mr Howard said that Labor’sloss on September 7 could be attri-buted to June 23, 2010 ‘‘whenKevin Rudd was ambushed by hisdeputy Julia Gillard and bulliedinto standing down in the certainbelief that he would suffer a hu-miliating defeat in any caucusballot’’.

Australia’s second-longest-serving prime minister also ratesthe Rudd-Gillard-Rudd govern-ment as the ‘‘least successfulLabor administration sinceWorld War II’’.

Partingwords fora partyhe lovesContinued from Page 1

policies that appeal to the needsand aspirations of voters, MrWhitlam writes. UnderstandingLabor’s record in government andopposition — moments of prideand matters of regret — can helpto refresh the party’s contempor-ary ‘‘sense of identity and pur-pose’’.

The essay was written in thepast year during Julia Gillard’sgovernment. This tumultuousperiod was often marked by vigor-ous political debates, claims of pol-icy failures and backflips, andsome spectacular parliamentaryclashes.

In recent years, Mr Whitlamhas worked tirelessly to promotethe Whitlam Institute, located atthe University of Western Sydney,which houses his papers. Hevisited a few weeks ago.

‘‘The pressures on our leaderstoday are much more intense thanin my times, exciting and exactingas they were,’’ Mr Whitlam writesin the book.

‘‘The most successful initiativesof my government were thosewhich had been most thoroughlyexplained to the electorate, usingthe great forums of the party andthe parliament.’’

Troy Bramston is the editor of TheWhitlam Legacy (The FederationPress)

Rio backs Canberraon carbon actionBRIDGET CARTER

THE chairman of global mininggiant Rio Tinto is backing the Ab-bott government’s approach to cli-mate change and business, despiteit still being ‘‘early days’’.

Rio applauded the scrapping ofthe carbon tax and was engagingregularly with the government onsome ideas surrounding climateaction, chairman Jan du Plessissaid yesterday.

‘‘It is early days, so we need toknow whether we think it is practi-cal and how it will play out, but weare supportive,’’ he told the Aus-tralian British Chamber of Com-merce business lunch in Sydney.

Mr du Plessis said Labor’s pro-posed resource super-profits taxwas particularly unfortunate,describing theprocessasquestion-able, and adding there was almostno discussion, despite the com-pany being the nation’s biggestcorporate taxpayer.

‘‘A more considered approachwould have endeavoured to intro-duce reforms that encourage in-vestment, generate economicgrowth and create jobs for Austra-lia.’’

Mr du Plessis described thepublic’s trust in both the businessand political class globally as beingat an all-time low and said Austra-lia’s leaders needed to accept thattrust was no longer a given.

‘‘We have to re-earn and re-build the trust that was lost and

that we so desperately need,’’ Mrdu Plessis said.

In Australia, the resourcesboom underwrote what was agolden era of wealth creation be-tween 1991 and 2009, making Aus-tralia’s economy ‘‘the envy ofmany in the world’’.

In the aftermath of the globalfinancial crisis, however, the situ-ation had changed and the gov-ernment and business needed totake stock.

‘‘For too long, government andbusiness have taken prosperity forgranted. We have developed badand lazy habits,’’ he said.

‘‘The strength of the resourcesboom has masked the weakness ofa slowdown in productivity im-provements.’’

Co-operation and collabor-ation of business and governmentat an industry and company, fed-eral and state level was needed foreffective reform in Australia, hesaid.

When questioned about thetensions between Australia andIndonesia, Mr du Plessis said na-tions spying on each other wasnothing new, but it had becomemore personalised, citing the ex-ample where US President BarackObama apologised for the tappingof German Chancellor AngelaMerkel’s mobile phone.

‘‘The personal nature of some ofthe things we have read recentlymakes these things very difficult.’’

BUSINESS P23

Australia rejects climate compoCABINET TOUGHENS STANCE

EXCLUSIVE

GREG SHERIDANFOREIGN EDITOR

Climate tax,aid and feesoff the table

Generator tobe hit by thecarbon repeal

Callide C — has told the Abbottgovernment that the repeal billcould exacerbate problemscreated by Labor’s carbon tax.

In a submission to thegovernment’s Carbon Tax

How The Australian brokethe story on November 11

Continued from Page 1

agreed on a negotiating position atWarsaw that would not agree toany new taxes, charges or contri-butions. That approach has led de-veloping nations to blame Austra-lia, along with others, for stallingthe ‘‘loss and damage’’ talks in re-cent days to assist countries thatsuffer from storms or floods thatmight be linked to climate change.

The draft agreement on ‘‘lossand damage’’ has left out refer-ences to compensation — the keydemand from China and theGroup of 77 developing countries— and concentrates instead onsetting up an unspecified mechan-ism, according to reports fromWarsaw.

European Commissioner forClimate Action Connie Hede-gaard also expressed concernabout payments.

‘‘We cannot have a systemwhere we have automatic com-pensation whenever severeweather events happen aroundthe planet,’’ Ms Hedegaard said ina Bloomberg report.

Developing nations gainedsupport from Australia and othersone year ago to put the ‘‘loss anddamage’’ idea on the UN agenda assome advocates called for about$100 billion in annual compen-sation. That would require $2bn or$3bn a year from Australia if thenation’s contribution was mea-sured by its share of global GDP orgreenhouse gas emissions.

Separate talks on climate fi-nance, focused on helping de-veloping countries adapt to cli-

mate change consequences suchas rising sea levels, are meant tolead to about $100bn in contri-butions from wealthy countriesevery year by 2020.

In his only public comments onthe negotiating position at War-saw, Mr Abbott stood by his vow tocut domestic emissions by 5 percent by 2020.

‘‘We will meet our 5 per centemissions reduction target but thisgovernment has made no commit-ments to go further than that,’’ thePrime Minister said.

‘‘We certainly want to get emis-sions down as far as we reasonablycan but we are certainly in no waylooking to make further bindingcommitments in the absence ofvery serious, like binding commit-ments in other countries andthere’s no evidence of that.’’

Mr Davey’s comments on com-pensation do not indicate abroader support for Australia’sposition on the 2020 target, giventhe British Energy Secretary hascriticised Japan for abandoning itsplan to cut emissions.

Australian diplomats at War-saw drew rebukes in recent days

for wearing T-shirts to a session,flouting the summit’s dress code,but Climate Institute deputy chiefexecutive Erwin Jackson said thebigger issue was not helping to getagreements.

‘‘We shouldn’t overplay the ac-tions of the diplomats when allthey’redoing is carryingout the in-structionsof theirpoliticalmastersin Canberra,’’ Mr Jackson said yes-terday.

The Climate Institute said Aus-tralia’s broader ambition on cli-mate change, to cut emissions by 5to 25 per cent by 2020, remained inthe UN agreements.

Mr Abbott’s repeal of the car-bon tax, begun in parliament thisweek, has fuelled criticism of Aus-tralia at the UNsummit alongwithJapan, Canada and Norway.

Indian Environment MinisterJayanthi Natarajan expressed‘‘dismay’’ at the scaling down ofambitions by developed countriesand Chinese negotiator Su Weiwas scathing about the talks.

‘‘This week . . . saw ‘loss anddamage’ talks that have stalled be-cause developed countries refusedto engage,’’ Mr Su said, accordingto Bloomberg. Mr Su did not men-tion Australia by name but his re-marks were reported as a criticismof the country.

South African EnvironmentMinister Edna Molewa namedAustralia as one of the culprits inthe negotiations.

‘‘We are deeply concernedabout recent announcements byJapan and Australia to signifi-cantly reduce their commit-ments,’’ Ms Molewa said.