Trio climbs parliament flagpole 20aug02 THREE Greenpeace protesters have climbed the Parliament House flagpole to protest against government policy on climate change. The protesters had reached the halfway point of the flagpole using industrial and rock-climbing climbing equipment, with four support crew at the base of the pole, by 11am (AEST). "It's quite a slow process because as you can imagine they are having to be very careful and it's quite a difficult climb," Greenpeace spokesman Shane Rattenbury said. "So at this stage it might take them a bit longer to actually climb the flagpole." Security staff were nearby, talking to the support crew, but were unable to stop them, with the climbers in an inaccessible position. The protesters planned to unfurl a banner voicing concern about government climate change policy. "The reason Greenpeace is doing this today is to protest against the Howard government's failure on climate change," Mr Rattenbury said. "The rejection by the Howard Government of the Kyoto Protocol is a backward step for Australia; it's ignoring Australia's responsibilities to act on climate change. "Opinion polling has shown that 80 per cent of Australians support ratification of Kyoto." The protest comes just days ahead of the United Nations-sponsored World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa, where the Government will face world pressure to ratify the protocol to combat climate change.