Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Because there was quite a preamble there—a very interesting preamble in terms of some of the language used—I would make the point that I have made for years on this issue, which is: as long as people are pointing their finger at other countries rather than taking action themselves, and as long as the climate negotiations bifurcate around that or shatter around that, then we will not get what humanity needs. It is the case that there are many countries who have benefited greatly from their reliance on fossil fuel. Australia is one of them, and we have contributed to what we have now. We also know, going forward, that there are a great many developing countries who are, if not the largest, then amongst the largest emitters. In other words, we all need to do something, rather than blame each other, and that is the constructive approach we will take to the climate negotiations and to the work we're doing with Pacific partners.