Prime Minister Julia Gillard:

“… just because the dominance of coal has been the status quo doesn’t mean it should remain the status quo. In fact, the exact opposite is the case: as the climate changes it is up to this generation of people and the generations coming up fast behind it to take the action necessary to tackle climate change and its potentially devastating impacts on the Australian economy. Australians want action on climate change, and that means cutting carbon pollution. And that, inevitably, will involve a gradual shift away from carbon-intensive power generation.”

Forgive us when we say we’ve heard all this before.

This government allowed public sentiment on the issue of climate change to fall off a cliff. Now they need to work twice as hard to earn it back.

Lucky for us, there are people ready to give governments such as ours a push. The Los Angeles Times:

A group of international investors responsible for more than $15 trillion in assets called Tuesday for the world’s nations, particularly the United States, to move decisively to combat climate change or face economic disruptions worse than the global recession of the last two years.

The statement, signed by 259 asset managers and asset owners whose holdings account for one-quarter of global capitalization, was aimed at world leaders who will meet in two weeks in Cancun, Mexico, for a United Nations conference on climate change.

Here is the full list of signatories. As Climate Specator reports, the “group includes 33 investors that come under the Australian-based Investor Group on Climate Change, including AMP, AXA, Colonial and BT, which has called for Australia to implement a carbon price”.

At the risk of repeating ourselves, hurry up and get on with it.