SCIENTISTS who had gathered to discuss global warming at a government-sponsored conference were left even hotter when a troupe of risqué female dancers wearing balloons turned up to entertain them.

A dinner at Parliament House in Canberra — the highlight of the three-day Australia-New Zealand climate forum — was thrown into chaos after the dancers appeared and asked the male scientists to start pricking their balloons. Delegates, mostly women, began to walk out as their male colleagues rushed to oblige.

The disappointed dancers had to stop their 45-minute routine after only ten minutes. The next day the Australian Government withdrew its sponsorship of the conference.

John Howard, the Prime Minister, was drawn into the controversy yesterday when he said he thought that the entertainment 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 said.

Howard Bamsey, deputy head of the Australian Department of the Environment and Heritage, who was one of those who led the walkout, said yesterday that the entertainment should not have been booked. The organisers of the conference agreed and apologised.

Rebecca Gale, the lead dancer of Miss Kitka’s House of Burlesque, said that she was disappointed her troupe was being compared with strippers. “We are not like that,” she said. There was no nudity, and the balloon dance, crafted especially to appeal to the scientists, was more cabaret than anything else.

She added that one woman delegate had taken offence, making others feel uncomfortable. “Some of them were enjoying it,” Ms Gale said, adding that women were among those popping her balloons. “I went down to vintage corsetry. There was not even midriff on display. The balloon dance has been blown so far out of proportion.”

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