Australia spending $300m more on Pacific than NZ

Australia will have spent $300 million more than New Zealand to help Pacific island nations fight climate change by 2025.

New Zealand PM Jacinta Ardern. Picture: AAP

Australia will have spent $300 million more than New Zealand to help Pacific island nations fight climate change by 2025, ­despite Jacinda Ardern yesterday saying Australia “will need to answer to the Pacific” for its actions.

By the middle of next decade, Australia will have spent $800m in taxpayers’ money directly helping Pacific island nations — not including $200m committed to the United Nations Green Climate Fund.

Scott Morrison is under pressure this week from fellow leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum in ­Tuvalu to replenish the UN fund and dedicate more money for ­action against ­climate change and disaster resilience.

The PIF’s “small island states” have demanded more money for the fund, which Tony Abbott committed $200bn to when he was prime minister.

Australia’s $200m for the UN fund ran from 2014 to last year but the Prime Minister has rejected a continuation of it in favour of directly funding climate change resilience measures.

In contrast, New Zealand has committed only $3m to the Green Climate Fund since 2015.

Australia’s Pacific Minister, Alex Hawke, issued a reminder to Pacific island nations, saying Australia was the “No 1 contributor” to protecting them from the effects of global warming. “Here in Tuvalu, obviously climate change is a real and present issue. And leaders are regularly telling us they want to see more action from the international community,” Mr Hawke told the ABC. “Australia is at the forefront … (in terms of) helping with climate adaptation, climate mitigation, projects that are climate-resilient.”

The Coalition government’s first Pacific climate package included a $26m program to monitor the climate and the oceans as well as a $10m plan to integrate climate change risks into the policies of Pacific island nations.

Earlier this week, Mr Morrison announced $500m in fresh funding for the Pacific to last from next year until to 2025 to help tackle climate change.

The $500m is to be delivered as grants rather than loans and is aimed at encouraging Pacific ­island nations to turn to renewable energy sources. “The Pacific is our home, which we share as a family of nations. We’re here to work with our Pacific partners to confront the potential challenges they face in the years ahead,” Mr Morrison said this week.

Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said Mr Morrison needed to do more on climate change at home to retain the “trust” of island nation leaders.

“Your step-up will falter unless you act on climate change. The reality is that the Pacific island leaders have made clear they don’t trust the Morrison government on climate change,” she said.

Australia’s direct spending on Pacific climate action will reach $800m by 2025, $300m more than New Zealand is set to spend in the same period.

Malcolm Turnbull pledged $300m when prime minister, for 2016-20. Mr Morrison announced this week $500m more for Pacific island nations’ climate action plans.

New Zealand spent $200m in the region between 2015 and 2019 and is on track to spend a further $300m by 2023.

Ms Ardern said yesterday that Australia would “need to answer to the Pacific” for its actions on climate change, arguing that “we all have to take responsibility”.