‘Really disappointing’: SA premier slams Turkey after Australia cedes COP31
Australia has lost its bid to host a major international summit in Adelaide despite a three-year campaign, angering South Australia.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas says it is “really disappointing” that Turkey went against the “rest of the world” to cost Adelaide the chance of hosting COP31.
Adelaide was expected to host the world’s top climate summit in 2026 but a surprise bid from Turkey derailed that, frustrating the Albanese government and other countries backing Australia.
After a long diplomatic stand-off, Canberra confirmed on Thursday it had ceded COP31 to Turkey.
“It is really disappointing that Turkey’s expression to veto despite the will of the rest of the world to have the event here has resulted in this outcome because we would have done it really well and everyone knows that,” Mr Malinauskas told reporters in Adelaide.
“But the fact that everyone knows it is a good legacy to have.”
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced the federal decision from the COP30 summit in Brazil.
Mr Malinauskas said he knew “negotiations were changing tack” on Tuesday but only learned of the outcome “this morning”.
“My last conversation with the Prime Minister was on Tuesday night and I spoke to Minister Bowen yesterday and it was clear that the position of the Commonwealth was changing,” he said.
‘We can’t have it all’
Announcing the concession, Mr Bowen said talks for a COP31 “held in Turkey” but with him as “COP president for negotiations” were ongoing.
Under that role, he would “have all the powers of the COP presidency to manage, handle the negotiations, to appoint co-facilitators, to prepare draft text, to issue the cover decision”.
He also said a “pre-COP … in the Pacific” was being worked through, as well as a “pledging event for the Pacific Resilience Fund, which is so important to us”.
“Obviously, it would be great if Australia could have it all, but we can’t have it all,” Mr Bowen told media.
“This process works on consensus.”
The outcome came despite Australia and Turkey hashing it out in high-level talks, including between Anthony Albanese and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
If it was unresolved, the conference would have automatically reverted to Bonn – the German city home to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat.
Mr Bowen acknowledged it was a “significant concession”, but argued Turkey had also significantly compromised.
“It’s also a significant concession for Turkey to agree that Australia will be the COP president for the purposes of the negotiations,” he said.
“Significant concession is what’s required when you are trying to find consensus.”
‘Absolute disgrace’
At home, the Greens have accused the Albanese government of bowing to fossil fuel companies and failing the region.
“There’s a reason that the fossil fuel industry did not want Australia to host the COP and it’s because they didn’t want that needle to be shifted,” Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“They didn’t want the pressure to come on the exports of coal and gas out of Australia, so rather than standing up for our region and the Pacific, we’ve had the Prime Minister and his government bow to the pressure of the fossil fuel industry.
“An absolute disgrace, lack of leadership and a failure on all levels.”
Meanwhile, Sussan Ley welcomed the news, saying Labor should not have pursued COP in the first place.
“We’re facing a $42bn deficit in the ’25-26 year,” the Opposition Leader told media in Melbourne.
“The fact that this government even considered spending $2bn of taxpayers money on this exercise just goes to show how their priorities are all wrong.
“So Chris Bowen’s very disappointed today, I’m sure, but Australians should be very pleased with a decision that was taken away from this country and made overseas.”
With China aggressively expanding its influence in the region, Labor had portrayed its bid to host COP 31 as a strategic play to shore up support for Australia among smaller Pacific neighbours facing the worst consequences of climate change.
Speaking in Perth a short time after Mr Bowen, the Prime Minister said his government’s “priority was to support the multilateral system, but also to get a good result for Australia and the Pacific”.
“We consulted our Pacific neighbours,” he said, adding that he had spoken with counterparts before conceding the bid.
“What we did is come up with an outstanding result.”
He said the pre-COP meeting would give world leaders the chance to see the effects of climate change on the region first hand.
“That will enable us to invite world leaders to make sure that the issues confronting this region – the very existence of island states such as Tuvalu and Kiribati, the issue of our oceans – all of those issues will be front and centre so it’s an outstanding outcome,” Mr Albanese said.
“I congratulate Minister Bowen on the work that he has done.
“I thank Turkey as well for the constructive engagement – two countries putting bids, they both have compromised which is in the interests of climate change action.”
He also said Mr Bowen would have no trouble balancing his ministerial portfolio and his COP negotiations role.
Originally published as ‘Really disappointing’: SA premier slams Turkey after Australia cedes COP31
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