Prime Minister John Howard is too ashamed to see former US vice president Al Gore's film on climate change, Greenpeace says.
Mr Gore was in Sydney on Sunday on a brief visit to Australia to launch the documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, about the dangers of global warming.
In the film, Mr Gore singles out Australia twice, along with the US, accusing both countries of lagging behind the rest of the world on climate change.
Both the US and Australia have refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Mr Gore has urged Mr Howard to join the fight against global warming.
"It's the embarrassing truth - not the inconvenient one - that (in) Howard's administration (there) has been pretty well 10 years of inaction on the solutions," Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Danny Kennedy said.
"He's been spoiling Kyoto on behalf of the Bush administration and pushing and pimping coal exports wherever he can.
"That's why he can't go. He's too ashamed to expose his real record."
Mr Kennedy said Mr Gore's visit was welcome because he had the stature to expand the Australian climate debate beyond just a conversation on whether it's fossil fuels or nuclear power.
"We've been saying for a long time that really the choice is between clean and dirty energy," he said.
"That's where Mr Gore is pushing (the debate).
"Maybe it's only an American that could remind the prime minister on 9/11 that climate change is a more dangerous threat than terrorism."
Mr Kennedy said he hoped Mr Howard would go and see the film.
"Mr Beazley and (opposition environment spokesman) Anthony Albanese were conspicuous at the premiere last night in Sydney," he said.
"If Howard had gone and heeded his sober warnings, he'd realise that there's still time for the Howard government to rescue their reputation from their embarrassing climate change legacy and actually do something positive, even in the next year or so."
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