House debates Questions without Notice

United Nations Climate Change Conference

Wednesday, 14 October 2026 House of Representatives

Dan Tehan

Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction

2:27 pm

on indulgence—Speaker, I know you're a Brisbane Lions supporter and I think you were pretty humble in your introduction today, and I'm sure the Prime Minister will join with me in this. We have one of the AFL greats here today, Leigh Matthews. He and Dusty Martin were great players, but he also was a brilliant coach. Leigh, it is great to have you here.

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

We might just get to the question.

Dan Tehan

Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Can the minister confirm that the pre-COP meeting held at Tuvalu convention centre was powered by diesel generators? And can the minister rule out whether Australian taxpayer dollars were used to deliver this diesel powered event?

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.

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

The manager, on a point of order?

Dan Tehan

Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction

Yes, it goes to relevance. It was a specific question about Tuvalu.

Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Dan Tehan

Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction

It was. Do you want me to read the question again to you? You weren't listening. It was Tuvalu.

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

Order! The manager will resume—

Dan Tehan

Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction

Your ego gets in the way of your ears!

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

No, the manager will resume his seat. The manager is warned. I'm going to deal with this in a reasonable way. Just resume your seat for a moment. I made it clear yesterday that, if abuse of points of order were made in that way, I wouldn't take them. This is an area that I'm going to be very firm on. I don't want extra commentary or any kind of personal or extra commentary. You raise the point of order within the standing orders. This is a slippery slope, and I don't want us to go down that. The manager is now warned because that is an absolute abuse of the standing orders. He's raised his point of order. The minister now will continue with his answer and will be directly relevant to the question he was asked.

Chris Bowen

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

Whether it is Fiji or Tuvalu or Palau, they are all powered by diesel, and they're all trying to change that. So that's a great revelation—something you could look up on Wikipedia—that, yes, Pacific islands are powered by diesel, primarily, something they are trying to change. This question from the Manager of Opposition Business and the tenor of the comments from the opposition all week have underlined two things.

Milton Dick

Milton Dick Speaker

Order! The member for Herbert is warned.

Chris Bowen

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

The coalition does not support climate action domestically or abroad, and they show utter contempt for the Pacific. They show utter contempt and arrogance for the Pacific. The member for Hume called pre-COP 'boring'. Tell that to Melelusi, a year 8 student at Tuvalu who spoke to the Prime Minister and me and ministers and prime ministers and presidents about what's at stake for her and her future and her country. Tell that to the minister for climate change of Tuvalu, who is in the building today, who has said the visit to Tuvalu was important in showing what is at stake for their country as Australia is working with them to deal with land reclamation. The member for Wannon and the member for Hume have shown utter contempt, as well as the Leader of the National Party, who criticised the Prime Minister and me for going to Fiji and wearing what we were asked to wear by the Fijian government and called them Hawaiian shirts. Fiji is not Hawaii. They are different countries.

We will work with the people of the Pacific. We honour and respect our Pacific family and those from Samoa who we welcome to the chamber. We welcomed the President of Palau earlier this week, and we welcome the minister for climate change of Tuvalu. We don't joke about climate change in the Pacific. We don't crack jokes about rising sea levels. We work with our Pacific family, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. (Time expired)