Australian leader changed over climate change

In what may come to be seen as a pivotal moment in the global politics of climate change, members of Australia's ruling Labor Party dumped Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in favour of his deputy, Julia Gillard. The basis of the sudden and largely unexpected coup was a slide in polls which many commentators attributed to Rudd's April decision to abandon efforts to push a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) through a hostile Senate. A poll commissioned by WWF Australia which showed collapsing government support and a soaring Green Party vote in key marginal seats may also have contributed to Rudd's ousting. He's been replaced by Julia Gillard � Australia's first woman prime-minister. Leading national daily newspaper, The Australian, made reference to "voter anger at the Prime Minister's decision to delay the emissions trading scheme (ETS)", reporting that nearly two thirds of voters in the marginals surveyed supported an ETS while only a quarter opposed it � and nearly two thirds said it would affect the way they vote. "We believe the Labor Party's backflip on the emissions trading scheme and its associated decline in the polls is a key reason we now have a new leader," said WWF-Australia CEO Greg Bourne. "It is not surprising that support for an emissions trading scheme is still a key factor in voters' minds, given it was a major platform for both major parties at the last election and both have since backflipped," said Kellie Caught, WWF-Australia's Climate Change Policy Manager. "What this poll makes clear is that taking serious action to reduce Australia's carbon pollution is a vote winner." Australia's new Prime Minister said after her election that she would make a priority of establishing a "community consensus for action". If re-elected at the forthcoming elections, she said "I will re-prosecute the case for a carbon price at home and abroad".