Post #539113 by christiki295 on Sat, Jun 26, 2010 9:06 AM

http://media.adelaidenow.com.au/multimedia/2008/10/tuvalu/tuvalu-perthnow.html

If Tuvalu disappears, who will take its population of 10,000? Australia has rejected Tuvalu's plea.

In 2000, the Tuvaluan government appealed to both Australia and New Zealand to take in Tuvaluan residents if rising sea levels reached the point where evacuation would be essential7. The Australian government refused to implement a program to grant Tuvaluan environmental refugees residency in Australia. In response to Tuvalu's crisis, Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock stated that accepting environmental refugees from Tuvalu would be "discriminatory"8.

With regard to Australia's response, Senior Tuvalu official, Mr Paani Laupepa expressed that while New Zealand has helped out their neighbours, "Australia on the other hand has slammed the door in our face"

As Tuvaluans have advocated, disastrous consequences of climate change will be avoided only if world leaders accept their global responsibility for implementing policies that will restrict greenhouse gas emissions.