"It's like planning home renovations as they re-possess your house,'' a journalist in the Canberra Press Gallery muttered as Australia's chief climate change adviser, Prof. Ross Garnaut, hosted a press conference immediately following [Kevin Rudd]'s to explain his economic modelling.

This week, the annual Lowy Institute Survey examining local attitudes found climate change had slipped in ranking from first to fifth most important, with the economy and job security now uppermost in people's minds. A few hours after Garnaut's press conference, the Australian Chamber of Commerce issued a blunt warning not to allow emissions reductions targets knock the legs out from under an already shaky businesses community.

"I can't think of another threat to major stability, to organized humanity, to organized society, than this,'' he said. "If we fail, on a balance of probabilities, the failure of our generation will haunt humanity until the end of time.''