David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, I would like to raise a concern with this bill and what it means for our national security. In the lead-up to the last election, national security was something that got a lot of air time, and a lot of that hinged on our relationship with the Pacific island nations. The Prime Minister is currently in the Cook Islands, talking to Pacific island nations' leaders, and we know that one of their calls is for Australia to sign the Port Vila call for a just transition to a fossil-fuel-free Pacific. On the same day that Prime Minister Albanese is meeting Pacific island nations who face an existential threat in the form of climate change, the Labor Party is intent on passing a bill that would allow the expansion of the fossil fuel industry.

I find it appalling and deeply troubling that we hear all the talk about national security, about the way that we treat our Pacific family, and, on the exact same day that Prime Minister Albanese is meeting in the Cook Islands, the Labor government is putting through a bill that does a range of things. One of them is facilitate an expansion of the fossil fuel industry. We'll hear arguments against that—'That's not really what it's about; it's about all these other things'—but you won't vote for amendments that ensure that this isn't used to expand the fossil fuel industry.

I really think that Australia's inability to actually put our actions where our talk is on the issue of climate when it comes to the Pacific is a very real risk, because who's going to trust an Australian government that says to Pacific island neighbours, 'You're our family. We care for you. We're with you. We're working alongside you,' when at the same time we are undermining their ability to live on their Pacific islands?

I would like to read something from Vanuatu's climate change minister, Ralph Regenvanu:

The Pacific Islands Forum next week will bring together nations who share what we call the Blue Pacific Continent, stretching from the hundreds of islands and atolls of Micronesia in the North all the way down to the Alpine like conditions of New Zealand's Southern tip.

Together, we are custodians of almost a fifth of the earth's surface, and at the great crossroads of strategic interest for many nations. We are also some of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change and have contributed the least.

One issue looms large and demands our attention. Our neighbour Australia is bidding to preside over Cop31, a crucial meeting of the world's climate negotiators in 2026 in partnership with the Pacific.

As part of the United Nations group known as Western Europe and Others, it will be primarily European countries that decide whether that bid goes ahead. I urge that these countries consider not just Australia's words, but its actions as it plans some of the largest fossil gas expansion in the world in the run up to 2050.

Mr Regenvanu continues:

This year's 'global stock take' of decades of climate action will tell us what none of us wants to hear. That we have not, collectively, brought emissions under control—indeed the world's CO2 emissions are set to rise by about 1% to new record in 2023—when they need to fall very rapidly. It is beyond time that we did the one thing that we've not yet tried—keeping fossil fuels in the ground.

Australia has claimed it is "back in the tent" in international climate circles. Indeed, Pacific nations welcomed Australia's renewed commitment to climate action after the 2022 election, where the government won on a platform of greater environmental responsibility. Yet after a year, Australia's commitment to reduce emissions still falls short of what they promised by signing the Paris Agreement.

Pacific Island nations, including my home country, Vanuatu, sit on the front lines of the climate crisis. We face rising sea levels that threaten to swallow our homes and increasingly frequent and increasingly destructive weather events.

Our ability to adapt will be made impossible by Australia's hypocritical gas expansion plans. Vanuatu has been at the forefront of climate action—we led a coalition of countries to secure an advisory opinion on climate change from the United Nations International Court of Justice, and we are working towards a fossil fuel free Pacific.

At great cost, we are decarbonising our shipping register. We understand that climate action may require short term adjustments and we are willing to do that. I'm not confident that all countries share our resolve.

The Pacific Island nations are in desperate need of genuine allies who will stand with us in our fight for survival. Australia, with its financial resources and international influence, should be such an ally. However, for Australia to be seen as a credible leader of climate talks, it must first resolve glaring inconsistencies in its climate policies.

The fact is that Australia remains the world’s third-largest fossil fuel exporter, with 116 new coal and gas projects in the pipeline, some of which are slated to operate until at least 2070. This persistence in fossil fuel expansion is fundamentally at odds with the spirit of the Paris Agreement and poses a direct threat to the climate goals set by the international community.

Australia's bid to lead Cop31 is a momentous opportunity for the nation to prove its dedication to addressing the global climate crisis. The world is watching, and the Pacific Island nations are looking for unwavering support, not empty promises.

And part of that must be conditionality attached to approving its Cop bid. We cannot afford another climate summit brought to you by the fossil fuel industry. The time has come to demonstrate that commitment to climate action is more than just rhetoric. It's time to do the right thing, securing a climate safe future for all our countries.

It is pretty devastating to read that statement from a Pacific Island leader, given the rhetoric we hear from the Albanese government about the Pacific family, about climate action and leadership. It is clearly ringing very hollow in the Pacific.