Greenpeace

The new Chief Executive Officer of Greenpeace Australia Pacific calls on Kevin Rudd to be a true leader when he heads to Copenhagen for crucial climate talks.

"The best thing Kevin Rudd could do for Australia is to stop playing politics with climate change and commit to real action at home and in international negotiations," said Dr Linda Selvey.

Dr Selvey took on the top job at Greenpeace because she wanted to be more active in tackling the world's most urgent problem - the looming climate change crisis. She held senior management positions in Queensland Health for the last 12 years, including Executive Director, Population Health Queensland.

"It's heart-wrenching when you go out to regional towns that have suffered unbroken drought for years, or walk through tropical rainforest with tinder dry leaves," said Dr Selvey. "With record November temperatures and catastrophic fire warnings in several states already this summer, we are facing the grim reality of a warming planet. Towns are losing their water supply, whilst millions of coastal homes are at risk from rising sea levels."

"It worries me that the government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will do nothing to reduce carbon emissions which are the cause of global warming. It reinforces business as usual for polluting fossil fuel companies while the rest of the world starts turning away from coal power."

"The truth is we're at a cross roads and this is an opportunity for the government to embrace a low-carbon future which has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs."

Dr Selvey says that it's up to us all to make sure that Kevin Rudd delivers on his election promises:

"Kevin Rudd needs to hear from all of us that he must take the strongest possible position to Copenhagen."

Dr Selvey's appointment comes just a week after African human rights activist Kumi Naidoo was appointed to head up Greenpeace International. Both say they were drawn to the organization because of it's fierce independence and commitment to non-violent direct action to highlight global environment problems and inspire solutions.