Racy balloon act heats up climate meeting

A skimpily dressed burlesque dancer, who asked scientists to pop balloons on her costume, proved too hot for a climate-change conference in Australia.

Some scientists stormed out of the conference dinner when Rebecca Gale, covered in red balloons, started her act and asked delegates to pop her balloons, revealing a racy costume underneath.

Organizers stepped in and cut the spectacle short. But Tuesday night’s performance angered Australia’s environment minister, who withdrew the government’s sponsorship of the Australian and New Zealand Climate Change Forum.

Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday he thought booking burlesque entertainers for a science conference was probably inappropriate.

“But I’m not going to list it for discussion at the next meeting of the national security committee of cabinet,” he joked.

Gale, however, said her act was a traditional burlesque dance and was not offensive and did not feature any nudity.

“With the balloon-popping incident, I went down to vintage corsetry. There was not even midriff on display,” Gale told Australian television.

“It’s just been blown so far out of proportion.”