John Brumby is making a pitch for the strongest climate leader in the country with his new climate white paper being announced today.

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/brumby-lays-down-gauntlet-on-carbon-20100725-10qkr.html

While his targets are not where the science tells us we need to be (he's proposing 20% by 2020) and his plan to replace only a quarter of Hazelwood is timid (one of the two turbines he'll retire is busted, anyway!) there's still plenty of daylight between him and the rest of the field.

There are still a number of questions about where the 30 megatonnes of reductions will come from but unlike the federal CPRS, this is very much a step in the right direction.

My two-bob's worth is that federally, Abbott is cutting through with his 'great big new tax' line and Gillard is running scared (and climate change is only one issue still being haunted by the ghost of John Howard). Whereas in Victoria the Libs are not strong enough to tie Brumby's hands and the Greens threaten Labor in a number of inner-city seats. Amazing how a few flaky seats can bring out the leader!

Let's keep up the pressure, folks. We're really starting to see results!