Howard Government spends to tell local government the bl**dy obvious

On 3 October 2007 Malcolm Turnbull released a report into climate change adaptation actions for local government.
See link:
http://www.greenhouse.gov.au/impacts/publications/pubs/local-government.pdf

The Howard Government spent $70,804.67 [Dept. of Environment and Heritage,annual report 05-06] to have the Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) take almost sixteen months to produce a report which reiterates the obvious to Australian local government.

Simultaneously a pitifully small amount of $4 million in new funding was announced by Mr. Turnbull "to help local governments and professional and educational organisations build their capacity to respond to the impacts of climate change."
[www.malcolmturnbull.com.au]

It seems that the Howard Government continues to see political window dressing as a legitimate response to potential climate change impacts predicted for local government areas like the Clarence Valley.

The NSW Northern Rivers local government areas alone could legitimately spend the entire $4 million in building capacity to respond to climate change.