Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

The other myth perpetrated by those opposite is that somehow Australia agreed to a funding arrangement, when in fact what we agreed to—and every country in the world agreed to—is for further work over the next 12 months on the establishment of a fund.

I'll tell you who would have been happiest if Australia had not participated. I'll tell you what country, to be frank, would have been happiest. That country is China, because that would have sent the message to the Pacific, in a geopolitically contested region, that Australia's not interested in the Pacific. That just underlines why this man is not fit for the office he seeks to hold. He would be a risk to our national security. In 20 years in parliament he's mentioned climate change three times. That's what the Leader of the Opposition thinks about climate change. His biggest contribution to the climate change discussion in Australia was to joke about the impacts on Pacific islanders, who are fighting for their very survival. That's why he is not fit for the office he purports to seek to hold.

See this speech in context