(CNN) -- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday embraced the same policy on climate change that her predecessor failed to pass, but said in a campaign speech that any action would be delayed until at least 2012.
"The price of inaction is too high a price for our country to pay," she said at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. "Because the price of inaction is price rises, job losses and innovations lost".
The topic helped topple her predecessor, Kevin Rudd, whom Gillard had served as deputy prime minister until the Labor Party transferred its support to her last month. With elections less than a month off, Gillard laid out her plans to address the issue if the party retains power.
Gillard said she would embrace the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) that Rudd delayed after the conservative coalition and the Greens Party failed to sign on.
Rudd's move -- after referring to the issue as the "great moral and economic challenge of our time" -- was seen as key to his rapid tumble in popularity polls.
CNN
