House debates Questions without Notice

United Nations Climate Change Conference

Wednesday, 14 October 2026 House of Representatives

Chris Bowen

Chris Bowen McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy

2:28 pm

I thank the honourable member for the question. I can confirm that the Fiji energy system does primarily run on fossil fuels. Yes, absolutely, that is the case. It is something the Fiji government is very keen to remedy. It is something the government of Palau is very keen to remedy something. It is something that governments around the Pacific are keen to deal with, because some Pacific islands spend 25 per cent of their GDP on fossil fuel imports, and they know that reducing their emissions is good for the climate and good for their economy and good for their sovereignty. So we are working with the Pacific. We are working with the president of Palau, who was here earlier this week, to help them on the transformation of their energy system.

Now, in relation to the cost of pre-COP, of course, it's a matter of public record that the Australian government financed and paid for pre-COP out of the reallocation of the $500 million for international climate discussions that the member for Hume had allocated when he did my job. He had half a billion dollars allocated for international relations as they repaired the damage of the Glasgow COP. We are spending that money better.

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