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Australia's position has been all over the place here in Bali. On day 1, it was showered with praise for ratifying Kyoto (a politically costless task as it is already on track to meet its target).

Since then, it has flip flopped over targets for industrialized countries. Today, its trade minister has further fanned the flames of discontent.

"Australia's task is at the appropriate time to commit to targets but it's also to try and secure binding commitments from developing countries," Simon Crean is reported as saying by ABC News.

It took up only a few innocuous words in the unofficial record of yesterday's proceedings. Delegates here in Bali had agreed to ‘prepare options for consideration by the ministers, focusing on the form, substantive scope and timeframe of the process and its budgetary implications.'

Doesn't sound like much, but according to Yvo de Boer, Executive General of the UNFCCC, it's something of a triumph and one that, for a while, it seemed that Saudi Arabia would block.

The ‘contact group' will allow delegates to take negotiations about future options out of the full plenary and should allow them to prepare a menu of possible solutions for Ministers to sign up to when they arrive next week.