Anthony Albanese stares down questions about Australia’s climate commitments in Suva

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared to grow defensive when he was asked this question after the Pacific Islands Forum.

Anthony Albanese has stared down questions about Australia’s climate commitments amid pleas from the Pacific Islands to do more.

The Prime Minister appeared to reject the idea that other regional leaders had criticised Australia’s position on fossil fuels at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji this week.

Mr Albanese told travelling media on Thursday afternoon he had received enthusiastic support from the Pacific leaders for Australia’s bid to host a UN Conference of Parties on climate change within the next three years.

He insisted he hadn’t been asked by any other leaders at the forum about his government’s decision not to rule out new coal and gas projects in Australia.

“You can’t then ask me a hypothetical. You asked me the question. The answer to the question is they haven’t. I was not asked about that,” said Mr Albanese, who appeared to grow defensive.

“Pacific leaders and people who actually follow the climate change debate in a serious way, and who are impacted by it – not one person, today, raised those questions in the meeting.

“Nor was it raised in any of the meetings that I held.”

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has welcomed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s climate targets but says more needs to be done. Picture: William West / AFP

Fijian President Frank Bainimarama also spoke after their leaders’ meeting on Thursday, saying he had been “clear and consistent” throughout the forum in asking for more ambitious climate commitments.

“Most urgently, it requires that we end our fossil fuel addiction including coal. That is our ask of Australia, that is our ask of New Zealand, the USA, India, the European, China and every other high emitting country,” he said.

“It is also what Fiji asks of ourselves … although our emissions are negligible. The world faces a global energy crisis.”

Australia's new climate pledge is a step-up that Fiji has long sought –– but out of the duty I owe every young person in the Pacific, I have urged @AlboMP to go further for our family's shared future by aligning Australia's commitment to the 1.5-degree target. pic.twitter.com/xXtPoc3Hnu

— Frank Bainimarama (@FijiPM) July 13, 2022

Mr Bainimarama said the survival of the 18 Pacific Islands Forum member nations depended on the world halving its collective greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieving net zero by no later than 2050.

He said on Wednesday he had urged Mr Albanese to deepen Australia’s commitment to cutting emissions beyond its target of a 43 per cent reduction on 2005 levels by 2030.

“Australia’s new climate pledge is a step-up that Fiji has long sought – but out of the duty I owe every young person in the Pacific, I have urged (Mr Albanese) to go further for our family’s shared future by aligning Australia’s commitment to the 1.5 degree target,” Mr Bainimarama wrote on Twitter.

Mr Albanese, pictured at the Suva airport on Wednesday, appeared to grow defensive when he was asked about Australia’s fossil fuel interests the following afternoon. Picture: Joe Armao/Getty Images

The Australian prime minister was pressed on Mr Bainimarama’s tweet on Thursday afternoon, given his government’s short-term emissions reduction goals aren’t in line with an international pledge to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

“The prime minister of Fiji, who chaired this conference, supported very strongly the actions that Australia is taking and that is reflected in the communique,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Albanese said Australia’s resources and industries meant it faced a more difficult transition to net-zero than some other nations.

“How you determine things is global action,” he said, noting his government’s plan had been welcomed by international allies from “across the political spectrum”.