Follow Donald Trump on Climate, Tony Abbott Urges Prime Minister

"Over time, the change in temperature seems to be more correlated with sunspot activity than with carbon dioxide levels," he says. 19659002] This fall has been the fourth warmest of Australia in more than a century of data according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

But Mr. Abbott said that the public was "inclined to believe that something is happening" "and that" something must be "But our children will not thank us when their energy bills continue to climb and that their jobs will continue to go abroad in a futile attempt to do the same thing, "he says. Mr Abbott said he and John Howard had been unaware of all the implications of their own climate change mitigation policies, including the renewable energy goal and the reduction of international emissions.

"I'm not sure that the Howard government fully anticipated the goal of renewable energy when it made the decision to impose one," he said.

When he was prime minister, Mr Abbott signed the Australian should reduce his emissions by 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. But he said on Tuesday that this should only be an aspiration

"I certainly had not anticipated, as Prime Minister, the objectives we accepted in Paris would become, in different hands, binding commitments. "

million. Abbott said that President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from the Paris agreement, Australia should follow. The target, after all, was based on the fact that the agreement would be "applicable to all … parties," he said.

"In the absence of America, my government would not have signed the Treaty of Paris.

"Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is what motivates the National Energy Guarantee which would be the best way to keep prices down and increase the number jobs and save our party from a political legacy that could haunt us for at least the next decade. "

Abbott's successor in The Lodge, Malcolm Turnbull, has already re-engaged the Australia to the Paris Agreement despite the decision of Mr. Trump. was reaffirmed by one of Mr. Turnbull's junior ministers, Angus Taylor, who was a supporter of Mr. Abbott during the 2015 oil spill.

"We are committed, we have reached this agreement and honored our agreements, "he told Fairfax Media in London

We are committed to this and we are honoring our commitments. "

Mr. Abbott threatened to counterbalance the government's national energy guarantee policy that would impose bonds on Latika Bourke