Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—At the request of the member for Jagajaga, I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges Australia's important role as a member of the Pacific family;

(2) recognises the renewed engagement of the Government in the Pacific, and the importance of Government ministers demonstrating this through recent visits across the region to reaffirm shared priorities;

(3) commends the many Pacific island countries that continue to be world-leading in their commitment to addressing climate change;

(4) notes that climate change poses an existential threat in the Pacific, including the likelihood of:

(a) more frequent and extreme weather events;

(b) impacts on access to fresh water;

(c) changes to industries such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry and tourism;

(d) coastal erosion and inundation; and

(e) impacts to biodiversity; and

(5) welcomes the Government prioritising the need to take action on climate change for the sake of future generations in Australia, elsewhere in the Pacific, and around the world.

A decade ago, I was lucky enough to live in Samoa. It was the most stunningly beautiful country, and everything about that place was vibrant. The landscape was lush, the ocean was made up of brilliant shades of blue and the sunsets felt like they were in technicolour—something I'd never experienced before. And the people, they were vibrant too: friendly and embracing—full-body laughs and outfits that were bright and loud. On special occasions, I still pull out my favourite pink-and-orange puletasi to wear. Besides Australia, it's one of my favourite places on earth.

But that country is under threat from climate change. When I was there a decade ago, climate change wasn't an existential threat: it was very real and it was very present. On this tiny island in the middle of the Pacific there were no climate change deniers, because the effects of climate change were being felt and seen every day. And it's gotten worse; if we do not act, Samoa will be wiped off the face of the earth. With the help of international assistance, the Samoan government has built sea walls to try to hold back the rising tide. Their efforts, while valiant, may have had some limited success in the short term but will ultimately prove to be futile. By 2030, the island's surrounding sea level will increase by up to 17 centimetres. Samoa and island nations in the Pacific are on the front line of climate change. Their pleas for action have gotten louder, and no-one can forget the image of Tuvalu's foreign minister, Simon Kofe, delivering his speech to the UN COP26 climate summit while standing knee-deep in seawater. He said:

… we are living the reality of climate change and sea-level rise, as you stand watching me today at COP26. We cannot wait for speeches, when the sea is rising around us all the time.

He wasn't engaging in melodrama he was engaging in reality, because Tuvalu is sinking, with 40 per cent of the atoll nation's capital already below sea level at high tide.

I feel their palpable sense of loss now. I felt it more than a decade ago when I lived in Samoa, but I feel it even more acutely now. To our friends in the Pacific: we have not forgotten you. The Albanese Labor government is deeply committed to taking real and significant action on climate at home, and establishing Australia as a climate leader internationally. We recognise that climate change is the single-greatest threat to the security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific. We will listen to our Pacific partners as we stand, shoulder to shoulder, responding to this crisis, and we will deliver new climate finance for the region.

At COP26 we announced $2 billion in climate finance for 2022 and 2025, a doubling of Australia's previous pledge. This includes a commitment of $700 million to build climate-change and disaster resilience in the Pacific. Early visits by our foreign minister and minister for international development across the Pacific islands sends a clear message about the importance of our relationship with the Pacific. It's a relationship where Australia will listen, learn and work together to build a stronger Pacific family.

I was in Samoa when they celebrated their 50th year of independence, in 2012, and I saw firsthand the pride Samoans had in their country. It was during the week-long festivities where I got to witness the celebratory exuberance of Samoans, and it was then that this island nation captured my heart and has held it ever since. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Samoa's independence. I hope we do everything we can to ensure that Samoans are able to celebrate their independence on home soil in another 10, 20 and 60 years to come. I commend the bill to the House.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Reid. Is the motion seconded?

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister. The question is that the motion be agreed to and I call the member for Riverina.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the member for Reid and her very personal story. I acknowledge what she said but do want to point out, at the outset, that the private member's motion states that it recognises the 'renewed engagement of the government in the Pacific' and so forth. The word renewed is interesting, offensive, as the former speaker says, because as the former government we did so much to help the Pacific—rightly so, deservedly so, justifiably. Let's not let the current government just wipe all over that and rewrite history. Let's not let the current government make out as if nothing was done, because if there is one important area in the world, right now, it is the Pacific, and the day of reckoning for this government is soon going to arrive.

The government accused us, when we were in government, of being there only for photo opportunities, and that was certainly not the case. But what we have seen over the past three months, in many cases, is just that—the photo-op, the media opportunity. What we are about to see is this government having to make important decisions about the Solomons and their controversial security agreement with Beijing, signed earlier this year, and what that means for visiting ships. Certainly, the Conflict Islands and what the government's going to do about the ownership of those important islands, just east of Papua New Guinea—we haven't seen, thus far, anything coming from the government that suggests that any sort of decision is going to happen any time soon.

What the government also needs to remember, and remember well, in its rhetoric, in its narrative, is that whenever there was a disaster in the Pacific—they're not all, let me tell you, due to climate change; certainly not. Whenever there was a natural calamity, it was Australia sending HMAS Adelaide, or whatever ship, plane loads of fresh water, personnel, equipment and, most importantly, our defence people to help out those islands when they were in their hour of dire need. That's what we will continue to do as a responsible neighbour, as a responsible country. That's what Australia does. It rolls up its sleeves and it helps.

So it worries me, sometimes, when we hear the narrative coming out of the mouths of the government members and ministers that nothing was done over the nine years of the former government. That is very disturbing, because we did a lot. As former Prime Minister Morrison told fellow G20 leaders on 26 March, 'Our Pacific island family must be a focus of international support. There has never been a more important time for Australia's Pacific step-up as we all face these massive challenges.' He was right then just as anybody is who says the same thing now, and they should. Australia's support for our Pacific island family must and has always gone far beyond climate.

But, worryingly, what the current government hasn't actually stated is what is going to happen with this new 43 per cent target as to some of the infrastructure that needs to be, and is going to be, built in the Pacific. What happens when, let's say, a new runway is funded, partly helped by this government and partly helped by other good friends and neighbours? What effect might that potential infrastructure have on emissions into the future? Will it be built because of the new 43 per cent target? Will it be able to be constructed? Those are the questions that the government needs to answer. Those are the questions that people are starting to ask. Those are the questions that, indeed, our Pacific friends need to know the answers to.

What we did for the Pacific, apart from provide funding, was establish the Office of the Pacific in 2019 to support Australia's engagement with our valuable friends, to enhance whole-of-government coordination and to drive implementation of our regional activities. These were activities, I have to say, that went far beyond climate, far beyond the apocalypse that was described by the member for Reid. I too, like her, wish the Solomons and all the other countries all the very best as they celebrate all that is great about them. (Time expired)

Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Reid, who, on behalf of the member for Jagajaga, has brought this motion before the House. Whilst advanced and wealthy countries argue about the realities of climate change, the changes they may have to make to their way of life and the costs that those changes may cause, developing countries of the world, such as Australia's near neighbours in the South Pacific, live with the greatest fear, the greatest cost and the least ability to defend themselves from what may happen in the future if the climate change trajectory continues.

People of the South Pacific have, for decades, been close friends and partners of Australia. They have relied on Australia in times of need and they have been allies and reciprocated whenever they could. Regrettably, over recent years—and particularly during the term of the last coalition government, contrary to the comments of the member for Riverina—Australia's relationship with our Pacific neighbours has deteriorated. They have been particularly disappointed in Australia's paltry response to climate change, which in turn signalled an indifference to the serious consequences that climate change predictions posed for their people, particularly those people living in the South Pacific. These are predictions that they take seriously and which they, understandably, cannot ignore. For them, the consequences could be catastrophic.

If climate change projections continue, sea-level rises will very likely see much of their land disappear, while in the interim extreme weather events will cause massive destruction to what little infrastructure they already have. We are seeing that currently in Pakistan, with a third of that country under water and a humanitarian crisis that the world needs to respond to in order to help the people of Pakistan.

Over the past five years, in both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere, extreme weather events, including cyclones, hurricanes, floods, fires, extended droughts and changed climates, have caused the loss of thousands of lives and billions of dollars of destruction, and countless new weather records have been broken. In the Pacific region, sea-level rises of 30 centimetres have occurred since 1990 in some places, causing extensive coastal erosion, seepage of salty water into land areas, the loss of biodiversity and agricultural land and even the loss of housing. If current trends continue, by 2100, sea-level rises are predicted to reach between 0.6 metres and 1.3 metres. That level of rise would be catastrophic for many of the Pacific islands. Indeed, some of the Pacific atolls, I understand, have already disappeared.

Climate change problems in the Pacific will ultimately impact Australia as well. As a member of the Pacific Islands Forum, which was founded in 1971, Australia will be expected to respond, as it has in the past, with aid, resettlement, food, medicine and so on. It's not simply a matter that we say, 'Climate change might affect people elsewhere but our priority is here in Australia.' What happens elsewhere directly impacts on the people of Australia, and, in turn, on what we need to do to support them.

If Australia is to regain the trust and confidence of its Pacific neighbours, we must take the threats of climate change seriously—in particular the threats to the people in the Pacific area. We must take them seriously by responding with meaningful mitigation policies. That's why the Albanese government's climate change legislation, currently before the Senate, is important. That legislation represents a credible response to climate change and its impacts throughout the world.

This motion highlights the importance of Australia, once again, rebuilding its relationship with the Pacific island countries with whom we have worked together for so long—which, as I said earlier, deteriorated under the last coalition government. It's pleasing to see the Albanese government recognises that and is trying to reshape the relationship with those islands.

Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Some years ago I covered Cyclone Pam, in Vanuatu. It was an experience, as a journalist, that was very challenging, in a community that was devastated by an unusual storm. This is happening in communities now all over the world. Although this government has stepped further into the Pacific as a priority, I think it's important we note that much more needs to be done. It is a welcome development, particularly, that the foreign minister, Penny Wong, has recognised that renewed engagement in the Pacific is a priority; her first foray to the Pacific was an important signal of this fact. But my position is that we have ignored this region for far too long, and it will take long and consistent efforts in restoration to restore the confidence of those nearest neighbours. It's very easy to lose such confidence but much harder to restore it.

Many years ago, some will recall, we won plaudits for standing up to and opposing French nuclear testing in the Pacific, and taking concrete steps to back up that opposition. But that was a long time ago. It should come as no surprise that, at a time of geopolitical fragility and uncertainty, the Pacific should once again be a cockpit of big-power rivalry. We left a vacuum, and big powers seek to fill that. As a middle power, but a middle power with an outsized role in the Pacific, we need to tread carefully, and we need to use our relations with our most important ally and our biggest trading partner to make sure the Pacific does not become the cockpit not merely of big-power competition but of conflict. We've played this role before, and we can do it again.

Engagement, though, is one thing; actions are another. We've not yet done the one thing that the islands of the Pacific desire above everything else. This motion asks us to commend the many Pacific island countries that continue to be world leading in their commitment to addressing climate change. Yes, they deserve our commendation but actions speak louder than words. They deserve the quality of actions on our part that will help minimise the real likelihood that some of these island nations will disappear beneath the waves as a result of climate change. Like us, they will suffer from extreme weather events and higher temperatures that will affect fishing grounds on whose resources many of them depend.

As I said, some years ago I was in Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam had hit the archipelago and caused untold devastation. Trees were stripped of leaves as if a bushfire had been through. Crops, like bananas, were flattened, houses were wrecked, and food and clean water were in short supply. Recovery from these events is slow. As they occur closer and closer together, recovery will become more and more challenging and expensive. Real climate action is needed and so is risk management and mitigation, as the impact of climate change has already been baked in for decades.

This parliament took a significant step by entrenching climate change action in law, but we all know that a target of 43 per cent is not enough. It is not enough to ensure we keep global warming below an increase of two degrees, let alone 1.5 degrees. Drought in China, extreme heat in the EU and US and floods in Pakistan show clearly that we do need to do more. What will be our response to the next disaster in our neighbourhood? How do we think the nations of the Pacific, our nearest neighbours—our family, as this nation calls the largely low-lying islands of Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia—think of us, given what we do, rather than what we say?

Less than two weeks ago, this government announced approval of nearly 47,000 kilometres for new offshore gas and oil exploration. As others have noted, the terms the minister used to justify this could easily have spilled from the mouth of her coalition predecessor: 'vital for the economy'; 'central to alleviating future domestic gas shortfalls'. Yet these sites would take years, if not decades, to go into production. The message this announcement sends to our Pacific friends is contradictory. We talk about our commitment to net zero, yet nothing has changed. The islands of the Pacific need us to do better. Thank you.

Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In a 2020 analysis by the Institute for Economics and Peace, we were told that, by 2050, as many as 1.2 billion people in 31 countries could potentially be displaced by the climate crisis. Additionally, 5.4 billion people face extreme weather stress and 3.5 billion could face food insecurity. It's not an exaggeration to say that climate change is the most significant challenge humanity is yet to face.

All around the world—just in the last few months—we've seen what extremes in climate can do. There have been fires in North America and last week Pakistan suffered devastating floods, killing more than a thousand people and displacing more, with waterborne diseases rife and many struggling to find food. I provide my condolences and thoughts to the residents of Werriwa whose families have been devastated by these events.

None know the threat of climate change more than our neighbours in the Pacific islands, who have been urging the global community to take this crisis seriously. This is not a distant threat to them; this is a lived reality. Those in the Pacific islands have unfortunately experienced the worst of the effects of climate change: sea level rises affecting coastal infrastructure, more intense cyclones and droughts, crop failure and water shortages. Some Pacific islands are drowning. This is not a laughing matter and it creates stress for the people who are facing these crises.

Biodiversity loss will be significant, with incredible, unique ecosystems being disrupted by the continuous onslaught of climate change related events. Unfortunately, the loss may be greater than estimated, as larger areas are unsurveyed. But we do know that the Pacific region holds three of the world's 35 biodiversity hot spots, and they will experience disproportionate effects of climate change.

Displacement is also a major current and future issue for our Pacific neighbours. With more coastal areas becoming uninhabitable, those who live there will have no choice but to move further inland or abroad. Kiribati and Tuvalu could become completely uninhabited within 50 years due to sea level rises. With over 2.3 million people estimated to be living in the Pacific region, this will cause extreme instability and a severe humanitarian crisis. This is a human and cultural catastrophe. Thousands of people will be left homeless, with many more becoming food and water insecure as climate change decimates already scarce resources in the region. With this displacement comes loss of cultural and indigenous knowledge. The loss is invaluable to both the people of the Pacific and the entire world.

More specifically, our partners in the Pacific have been urging Australia to treat climate change like the threat that it is. Despite what we know of climate impacts in our region and in our country, they were met with silence by the previous government. When the government did respond, it did so with embarrassing climate targets that it didn't believe in and a policy of disengagement and denial.

The last 10 years of inaction saw Australia under the former government become a pariah on the global stage. We were out of touch with our closest allies in the Pacific as well as historical allies the US and the UK. The work that our government has done in three months to legislate our carbon emissions and work with all parts of the economy to reduce greenhouse gases has finally provided certainty. Remember: these targets are a floor, not a ceiling. We were at risk of isolating ourselves from our Pacific partners. We need to take climate change seriously. There is no role in the Pacific for an Australia that fails to listen to the issues that are effecting our shared region.

The government has been working to repair our relationship with neighbours, with the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, initiating a series of meetings with the Pacific family. We know that, because of the disrespect that was shown over the last nine years, Australia must work hard to regain the trust of the Pacific island nations. With the climate crisis becoming more and more evident as we experience it firsthand, we must ensure our region is forging a path forward to a carbon neutral future. The whole world deserves a better outcome and for us to make sure that we look after them and understand their reasons and their concerns.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of this motion. The member for Jagajaga's motion moves that the House acknowledge the importance of Australia's role as a member of the Pacific family and recognises the reinvigorated engagement of the Australian government in this region, including through the significance of recent ministerial visits to the Pacific which have reiterated our shared priorities. Further, this motion recognises and applauds the numerous Pacific countries that have positioned themselves as world leaders in their commitment to addressing the growing challenge of climate change, noting its existential threat and potential consequences, including increased likelihood of extreme weather events; limited access to fresh water; changes to dominant industries, such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry and tourism; increased coastal erosion; inundation; and detrimental impacts upon biodiversity. This motion, therefore, welcomes the government's commitment to act on climate change to seek to protect further generations within Australia and abroad.

The challenges faced by our Pacific neighbours are significant and, without international support, may seem impossible. However, longstanding ties between Australia and the Pacific, evidenced through our cultural, social and economic connections, places us in a prime position to build upon our existing partnership and establish a genuine friendship founded on respect for our mutual pursuits. The threat posed by climate change in the Pacific is no longer speculative; it is imminent. In the nine years between 2011 and 2020, close to half of the people in the Pacific were impacted by a major disaster. In 2015, over 180,000 people in Vanuatu were effected by Cyclone Pam, and the following year Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston devastated Fiji.

I travelled to Vanuatu in the 2017-18 summer, hired a car and spent time around the other side of the main island, particularly the northern part of the main island, Efate, which was well away from resorts and tourist accommodation but was the area where Cyclone Pam certainly hit hardest. It was devastating to see that, years after Cyclone Pam, school halls and churches were still covered in tarpaulins—in fact, they were becoming threadbare—and the ring road was still washed away in so many places. I felt at that time that Australia was not doing enough to work with Vanuatu to rebuild and build back better, and I feel that, for years, we have largely forgotten or overlooked our Pacific neighbours and that we have not valued these relationships as we should.

I've visited Fiji many, many times. Outside of Mayo, it's probably the place in the world I feel most at home. And we can learn so much from the Pacific island nations. They are resourceful, and they care for each other in ways that I wished we cared for each other in Australia. Villages are tight-knit communities. They are welcoming and generous. They deeply value their elders. And family is everything.

The Pacific is facing the brunt of climate change. I therefore urge members to consider the potential consequences of inaction and the associated outcomes, with projections anticipating a thousand-fold increase in storm surges across this region by the end of this century.

In recent times, we've seen the ease with which international relationships can deteriorate, highlighting the importance of consistently fostering and valuing connections. As a member of the Pacific family, Australia must rise to this challenge and we must work with our neighbouring nations. This is not about working for them; it's about working with them. They are sovereign nations, and we must work in true partnership to ensure that these vibrant island communities have secure and prosperous futures.

Peter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I recall that, in this place in March, I reflected on the then government's Pacific step-up, and I actually termed it 'the Pacific stuff-up'. It was really a failure of the former government in positioning Australia as the partner of choice for our Pacific neighbours. The sheer incompetence, at every post, at every milestone, at every turn, when it came to managing our international relationships, was stark.

Well, that period of ineptitude is over. Already, Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Wong have engaged significantly with our neighbours in the Pacific in the last few months. In doing so, they have re-established the foundation for engaging with our partners on substantive issues of mutual importance—issues like climate change, which represents an existential threat, particularly to the Pacific, with the impacts likely to be more immediate and particularly severe in our region. Prime Minister Albanese joined Pacific leaders in July to declare that the Pacific is indeed facing a climate emergency that threatens the livelihood, security and wellbeing of its people and ecosystems.

That is why one of the first pieces of legislation introduced by the Albanese government was to legislate ambitious emission-reduction targets to achieve net zero by 2050 and limit the global temperature increases that are threatening the existence of our Pacific neighbours, including shifting our national energy market to be made up of 82 per cent renewables by 2030, so rejoining our key partners—not just those in the region, but Canada, South Korea and Japan—in our ambition towards 2030.

We have also committed to increasing official development assistance to the Pacific by $525 million over the next four years. This will include assistance for climate change adaptation and resilience programs. These programs will be developed, designed and implemented in consultation and partnership with our Pacific partners, because they don't need us to tell them how to do it; already they are at the forefront, globally, on adapting to the impacts of climate change and are indeed world-leading in their calls for greater commitments to address the climate crisis. These programs will form part of the Pacific climate infrastructure financing partnership, supporting the building of the infrastructure and clean energy sources that will make Pacific communities more resilient to the impacts of climate change. This is what true commitment to our Pacific partners is all about.

Now, the previous government's engagement was marked by paternalism, disrespect and, frankly, condescension. For our government, it is about engaging with our Pacific neighbours as co-equals, as sovereign states, treating them with the respect that they deserve and ensuring that Australia remains their partner of choice for the region. The Albanese government continues to demonstrate Australia's commitment to this, across areas of shared priority with our partners, whether it be the $5.6 million e-commerce fund that has helped over 850 small businesses across our region to participate in digital trade or our commitment of an extra $12 million a year for aerial surveillance to help combat the illegal fishing that threatens the region's fishing industry and costs Pacific island governments more than US$150 million in lost revenue. We will also deliver an Indo-Pacific broadcasting strategy that will provide funding for the ABC to boost Australian content to the Indo-Pacific region, expand regional transmission and train media partners. We will make improvements to our Pacific mobility scheme, such as allowing primary visa holders to bring their partners and children. We'll also boost permanent migration from Pacific countries.

Up to 3,000 Pacific engagement visas would allow people from Pacific Island nations to move to Australia. All of this is real. All of it is substantive. All of it matters to our Pacific neighbours in ways that will make a real difference to their lives, to their nations. That's why this is real engagement. We understand the value of people-to-people exchange. We understand the value of cultural links not only for our mutual benefit but for the benefit of the entire region and for regional unity. Generations of migrants have shaped the modern Australian story, and our Pacific friends should continue to play an even larger part in that. We will welcome people from the Pacific Islands with open arms and give true meaning to that term 'Pacific family', and we will continue to deepen our ties and ensure Australia remains the partner of choice in the region.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for a later hour this day.