MELBOURNE: Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday asked India and China to be 'prepared to make commitments' in the fight against climate change and pressed the US to follow Canberra's lead and sign Kyoto protocol.
Rudd, who ended Australia's decade old resistance to the treaty on reduction of greenhouse emissions yesterday leaving the US as the only developed nation not to have endorsed Kyoto, said his country had a 'bad' record on climate change.
"It's time to put that behind us. I believe that we now need to do whatever we can to bridge the gap between the developed and developing worlds, because right now the gap is huge," he said.
China and India must be prepared to make commitments in the fight as well as the US, Rudd said.
"Our position vis-a-vis Kyoto is clear cut, and that is that all developed and developing countries need to be part of the global solution," Rudd told the Southern Coast Broadcasting Radio network.
"When it comes to developed countries, we need to see our friends in America as part and parcel of that as well. And therefore we do need to see the United States as a full ratification state when it comes to Kyoto," he said.
Rudd's election, which ended 11-year Conservative rule under John Howard, has dramatically changed Australia's climate change policy, with his first act as prime minister on Monday being to ratify Kyoto.
Rudd, who expects to visit Washington next year for talks with George W Bush, dodged questions on whether he would urge the US president to ratify the treaty.
