Canberra: Australia has sweltered through
its hottest decade on record and the federal government says
that`s proof that global warming is real.
The Bureau of Meteorology has crunched the numbers for
2009 and found it was the second-warmest year in the past
century.
Heat waves hit in summer and in winter, dust storms
wreaked havoc, and there were drought and floods to boot as
2009 rewrote the weather record books.
The decade 2000-2009 was the hottest on record, and
since the 1940s each decade has been hotter than the last.
This is all "consistent with global warming", the bureau
concluded in its annual climate statement, issued on Tuesday.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the
report showed Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was wrong on
climate change.
Last month, Abbott told Macquarie Radio that "the
world`s warming has stopped".
Garrett called on Abbott to "fess up" that he was
wrong. He said the report showed the importance of passing
the government`s emissions trading scheme (ETS) through
Parliament next month.
PTI
