Activists occupy oil plant

The Great Barrier is at risk, protesters say

Environmental activists in Australia have shut down an oil plant in protest over the collapse of the international climate change talks in The Hague at the weekend.

Several activists from Greenpeace chained themselves to a conveyor belt at the Stuart Oil Shale project in Queensland state.

They also hung up a banner saying, "Climate change starts here".

Greenpeace says shale oil creates four times as much pollution as conventional oil, making it the dirtiest of all fossil fuels.

Suncor Energy, one of the plant's owners, said the protesters had disregarded site safety.

Environmental groups have criticised Australia for supporting the United States over greenhouse gas emissions - which have been linked to a warming of the planet - during The Hague summit.

On Monday, the Australian Government admitted its support for the US position was a factor in the derailment of the talks.

The US - backed by Australia, Canada and Japan - has argued that targets to cut emissions by at least 5% should include "carbon sinks" - areas of vegetation that absorb carbon dioxide.

Government criticised

"Greenpeace is doing what governments at the... climate negotiations failed to do - taking action to protect the climate," Greenpeace campaign co-ordinator Corin Millais said.

Environmentalists also made their presence felt at The Hague

"Developing shale oil is only going to worsen an already critical situation."

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) called on Australia to stop looking for carbon credit "loopholes".

"The Australian Government's record on climate change is extremely poor," said the WWF's Imogen Zethoven, adding the problem presented the greatest threat to the Great Barrier Reef's survival.

The Climate Action Network Australia (CANA), representing 30 groups, said the move to weaken agreements on cutting emissions were driven by the "narrow self-interests of big polluting companies".

Resource sector happy

Australian Environment Minister Robert Hill told ABC radio that Canberra's alignment with the US position meant that there was still a long way to go before an agreement could be reached on cutting emissions.

But he added that the US "did have a strong scientific argument for their position".

Australia's resource sector hailed the government's position.

Michael Pinnock, joint executive director of the Australian Coal Association, said it would lead to a "much more practical outcome". Australia is a major coal producer.