Warning on ALP plan to host climate summit in Australia

Critics have signalled a major warning ahead of a Labor Party pledge to host a United Nations climate summit in Australia.

A Labor promise to host a United Nations climate summit in Australia would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, be a magnet for violent protesters, spark a short-term housing crisis and cause traffic chaos, critics have warned.

Earlier this week opposition climate spokesman Chris Bowen said that if elected, Labor would bid to host a so-called COP, or Conference of the Parties, climate meeting in Australia as it would “send a clear message that Australia is under new management.”

However publicly released figures show that to compensate Scotland for hosting last year’s COP-26 summit in Glasgow, the UK government paid more than $170 million to cover its costs.

Activists protest as the UN Climate Change Conference takes place, in Glasgow last year. Picture: Reuters

During the conference, more than 10,000 police were deployed to provide security for 25,000 delegates and deal with protests of as many as 100,000 demonstrators.

As well, an army of 220 public servants whose salaries were not including in the $170 million was deployed in a dedicated “COP unit” in London.

Rental costs in Glasgow also skyrocketed, with some landlords charging as much as $62,000 to let a flat for the COP-26 fortnight, and most major roads in the city were closed for the two weeks of the meeting.

Figures from 2007 when Sydney hosted the APEC summit, which was a smaller event but with similar security requirements for a host of international leaders, suggest that event cost more than $450 million in inflation adjusted dollars.

A man being arrested by police during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) demonstration in Sydney in 2007.

COP meetings are designed to track progress towards implementing climate change protocols and adopting “decisions to further develop and implement these instruments”.

After the Glasgow COP meeting, UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres described it as a failure and said future conferences must focus on “end(ing) fossil fuel subsidies (and) phas(ing) out coal,” which pays billions of dollars in royalties and taxes to government.

Energy, Industry, and Emissions Reductions Minister Angus Taylor said bidding for the conference was a bad idea.

Angus Taylor has slammed the idea of holding the climate conference in Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“Labor are showing their true priorities … they care more about pleasing foreign bureaucrats in the UN and the Twitterati than fighting for the Australian jobs that rely on our strong manufacturing and resources industries,” Mr Taylor said.

“The hundreds of millions of dollars they’ll spend on hosting a conference like this would be better spent upgrading hospitals, schools and roads, or funding national security initiatives in the Pacific that actually deliver a tangible benefit to the region.

“What secret climate deals will Labor do to get the UN and others to allow Australia to host a COP?,” he asked.