Kara Cook (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering credible action on climate change and why is this important to the region?

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. The entry point for Australia's engagement with the countries of the Pacific is by our nation's meaningful action on climate change through a credible pathway to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Three of the four coral atoll nations in the world are in the Pacific—Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. The fourth, the Maldives, is in another region of strategic importance to us—the north-east Indian Ocean. These countries occupy thin strips of land, and their people have an understandable, deep connection to the sea. The sea is their source of food and nourishment, their place of recreation and where they practise culture. In short, the sea has been their source of security. But, with the effects of climate change—with rising sea levels which threaten to engulf their nations, with more frequent storm surges which are fouling their water lenses—suddenly the sea is a source of threat. It is hard to describe how viscerally this impacts the peoples of the Pacific, their national psyche and their very way of life. They are left to wonder whether their towns and villages will be liveable, and governments are faced with decisions which, for us, would be unimaginable. So part of our responsibility is to help the Pacific tell its climate change story to the world.

Back in 2011, I was honoured to be able to take the then secretary-general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, to Kiribati, where we stood in a kitchen and literally watched the sea lap up against the front door. Today, our government's bid to host COP31 next year is an incredible opportunity to tell the story of the Pacific, and indeed all small island states around the globe, in a way which places it front and centre on the world stage. How different is that to what we saw from those opposite? When they were in government, the Pacific Islands Forum was a meeting where Australia had absolutely nothing to say, and the only time they spoke about this issue was when they made jokes at the expense of the Pacific.

Meaningful action on climate change is central to our economic prosperity. To be clear, that is the core driver of our government's policies. But, at the same time, meaningful action on climate change is at the heart of Australia's standing within our region and within our world, and that in turn is fundamental to our nation's security.