BRISBANE (Reuters) - Greenpeace climate activists on Thursday shut down a coal-fired power station north of Sydney to protest against government climate change policies. A team of 15 activists from the environment watchdog entered and shut down the Munmorah power station, about 110 kilometers north of Sydney, during the early morning.

"Climate activists have taken non-violent direct action to shut down the power station ... by locking onto the conveyor system and preventing coal from feeding the plant," Greenpeace Head of Campaigns Steve Campbell said in a statement.

Other demonstrators hung a banner on the plant reading "Climate change starts here" and "Coal Kills."

Australia is the world's biggest coal exporter and conservative Prime Minister John Howard, behind in polls ahead of a November 24 parliamentary election, has refused to sign the Kyoto climate pact, arguing it would harm Australia's economy.

Opposition Labor leader Kevin Rudd on Wednesday promised to sign Kyoto and put more money into renewable energy research, but has pledged continued support for the coal industry and innovations to make coal-fired power cleaner.

Campbell said both Howard and Rudd's policies were "dismal" and would not change Australia's position as the world's largest per head greenhouse gas emitter.

"With just one week until the election, both major parties are backing climate policies that will see emissions increase," he said.

Local police were at the plant as the protest continued.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor, editing by Jonathan Standing)