Via Tim Blair: A John Howard speech:

AS A government, no doubt we've made our mistakes. All governments do.

But we have never lost sight of the big things that affect people's lives – jobs, decent healthcare, choice in education and a good social safety net.

We've also never lost sight of the need to strike a balance. That's not the same as always seeking consensus and always looking to please.

Hard choices imply trade-offs. When these are ignored, that's when costly mistakes are made.

Why do I dwell on this? Because my opponent pretends to have discovered a different brand of politics – a politics without hard choices.

Kevin Rudd argues that in this world Australians face one overriding moral challenge: climate change.

Now this is a major priority of the Government. At the same time, we know independent action will not materially affect our climate.

No one – not the IPCC, not Sir Nicholas Stern, not even Al Gore – makes this argument. Australia emits less greenhouse gases in a year than the US or China emit a month.

Do we need to lower carbon emissions over time? Of course we do. But to say climate change is the overwhelming moral challenge for this generation of Australians is misguided at best – misleading at worst.

It de-legitimises other challenges over which we do have significant control, other challenges with moral dimensions just as real and pressing.

Of course, Australia already has an emissions target through to 2012. And unlike many of the European countries that regularly lecture us on this issue, we are on track to meet it.

Any decision on a post-2012 long-term target will be the most important economic decision Australia takes in the next decade. It will affect every industry and every household.

I want to ensure any decision is made in a way that takes full account of jobs and investment in Australia, of climate change action by others and of technology developments.

Australia fully accepts its responsibility. We have committed more than $2 billion to climate change action involving regulation, economic incentives and voluntary measures.

But I will not subcontract our climate policy to the European Union.

Indeed, I worry about the consequences of Mr Rudd's policy of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent from 1990 levels.

Mr Rudd panders to the gesture politics of anti-capitalism. His environment spokesman Peter Garrett once said economic growth "almost always" leads to a worse environment.

Both are wrong. History shows economic growth and technological change have given mankind not just greater material wealth, but also cleaner air and water.