Five percent reduction good enough for Abbott

The Abbott government appears to be walking away from a long-standing bipartisan agreement to lift Australia's target for cutting carbon emissions if global action on climate change is strengthened.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday said the federal government had made "one commitment and one commitment only" to reduce Australia's emissions by five per cent by 2020.

But both Labor and the coalition have since 2009 pledged to increase Australia's emissions reduction target to 25 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020 if there's genuine global resolve Fairfax