The government will “very shortly announce detailed plans on many issues including a climate change policy that balances our obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with the need to keep our economy growing,” the Prime Minister said in a YouTube message released yesterday.

What might this involve?

Crikey understands that his Environment Minister, Malcolm Turnbull says signing Kyoto would be “worth three per cent” for the Coalition vote.

Crikey understands Turnbull says Australia is very close to meeting its Kyoto targets anyway.

But Crikey also understands that Turnbull says “that f—king c—t” (his description of his boss, John Howard) won’t ink the treaty for fear of offending President Bush.

Labor needs a uniform swing of 4.8% to win office. It needs to pick up 16 seats without losing any of the electorates it currently holds. That’s a formidable barrier, even on the current polling.

Anything that offers any government a three per cent poll boost any time normally gets leapt upon.

Will “that f—king c—t” sign Kyoto?