Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The 2022 federal election saw a groundswell of support for candidates that support reducing Australia's emissions. Not only is the public support there for reducing emissions; it's also the necessary thing to do if we want to avoid further catastrophic climate change. So Australia, hosting a Conference of the Parties, or COP, meeting, to work together globally to prevent a mass extinction, should be a good thing. But hosting an international climate change conference is a not-so-cheap exercise in public relations, if you're committed to opening up more coal and gas mines, like this government is.

You can't have climate action while opening up more coal and gas. They are literally incompatible.

Vanuatu is absolutely correct to put conditions on its support for Australia's bid to host the COP. The government likes to talk about regaining our place on the international stage and how our partnerships with the Pacific are about respecting the Pacific family. Well, using island nations to greenwash Labor's fossil fuel agenda is a pretty atrocious way of showing respect to the Pacific. Pacific nations know this, and they aren't going to let it happen. They have proven themselves more than adept at lobbying richer and more powerful nations on climate policy, and they will continue to make decisions in the best interests of their people and their region.

If Labor were serious about climate action, they would put a stop to all new coal and gas mines, stop using public money to subsidise the fossil fuel sector and commit to phasing out fossil fuel use and exports. We need to transition to a clean-energy future. Giving $1.9 billion to a new petrochemical and LNG facility undermines our interests in the Pacific, it undermines Australia's credibility and, quite frankly, it undermines our chances of keeping global temperatures to a survivable level.