Oxfam were very kindly invited by one of our newest Rockingham Group member, Minister Gary Gray, to a meeting with Minister Simon Crean on climate change and the carbon tax.

At the meeting I asked Simon Crean if Australia is prepared to do its part to support the Green Global Fund to address climate change in developing countries and also how we might get the money to fill this 100 billion dollar a year fund. Without long-term financial support, the fund will become an empty shell and the chance of a global deal on climate change will crack up. I suggested the carbon tax, a levee on shipping and aviation (Bunker Tax) or a financial transaction tax (Robin Hood Tax) could provide long-term sources of finance.

Thankfully Minister Crean said Australia will support the fund. He said the government were not looking at getting this money from the carbon tax but that they were interested in talking about other sources of funding including the bunker tax on shipping and aviation.

At the meeting we were also able to disseminate a lot of our Oxfam materials, which the ministers both showed an interest in.

Gary Gray has now invited us to a meet with the Minister for Climate Change Greg Combet where we will keep up the pressure on the government to support innovative long-term forms of finance which will ensure the success of the fund.