King Charles draws attention to climate change and ‘particularly vulnerable’ Australia

The King has intervened in Australia’s climate change debate, saying the nation was ‘particularly vulnerable’ from rising temperatures and backing the Albanese government’s rollout of renewables.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla visit the Australian War Memorial. Picture: Victoria Jones / Getty Images

King Charles III has intervened in Australia’s climate change debate just months out from the federal election, saying the nation was “particularly vulnerable” from rising temperatures and backing the Albanese government’s rollout of renewables.

The king said Australia could combat climate change by embracing energy generation from “wind or its famous sunshine” but made no mention of nuclear energy, which is favoured by the Coalition.

Speaking at Parliament House in Canberra, Charles declared to politicians and dignitaries that “it’s in all our interests to be good stewards of the world”.

“Australia has all of the natural ingredients to create a more sustainable regenerative way of living,” he said. “By harnessing the power with which nature has endowed the nation, whether it be wind or its famous sunshine, Australia is tracking the path towards a better and safer future.”

Labor MPs welcomed the king’s comments on climate change and recognition of the global nature positive summit, held by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek in Sydney earlier this month.

A spokesman for Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said “we have always said Australia has globally recognised advantages in our sun and our wind assets”.

“Our plan is the only plan backed by experts to deliver the biggest benefits from our clean, cheap, reliable renewables.”

Anthony Albanese used his speech at Parliament House to endorse the king’s passion for combating climate change. “You take seriously the threat that it represents, as well as the necessity – and, crucially, the capability – of humanity to take meaningful and effective action against it,” the Prime Minister said.

Climate change is expected to be a key issue at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, which the king is attending along with Mr Albanese at the end of the week.

Commonwealth secretary-general Patricia Scotland has said the meeting was taking place “at a defining moment in our history”.

“The effects of climate change are no longer distant threats,” she said this month.

“They are at our doorstep, disrupting lives and livelihoods with intensifying frequency and severity, especially in the Pacific, where sea levels in some countries are rising four times faster than the global average.”

The opposition environment spokesman, Jonathon Duniam, said the king had a track record of environmentalism and it was “right” for him to point to all sources of renewable energy. “Renewables (are) part of our answer as well,” he said. “We haven’t ruled out solar, we haven’t ruled out wind, we haven’t ruled out hydro, nor nuclear – all of them clean energy technology.”

Numerous Nationals’ MPs took veiled swipes at Charles, with Keith Pitt saying the monarch was “entitled to say whatever he likes … fortunately, he’s not in control of Australia’s budget or design of its electricity network”. Nationals senator Matt Canavan said it would be best if he “stays out of contemporary political debates”.

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce added that “there are a lot of people who don’t live in ­regional areas who might not fully understand what intermittent power is doing to us”.

“There are other issues that inform the king, and I understand that completely,” he said. “The issue is (renewables) provide only intermittent power and risk destruction of landscape and pensioners’ ability to pay.”

Charles said the Australian “character” was revealed particularly during times of disaster and listed recent ones such as the Black Summer bushfires, the “relentless floods of 2022 and 2023”, and cyclones Jasper and Kirrily.

“Life here has always entailed these extremities of survival and endurance,” he said. “Yet, in their magnitude and ferocity as well as their frequency, they are new. The regular role of unprecedented events is an unmistakeable sign of climate change, to which Australia is so particularly vulnerable.”

The king said the Commonwealth was well placed to tackle climate change and other global crises such as wars. “The Commonwealth spans six continents and as a group has the size and influence to play a significant role on the global stage, while being small enough to nurture personal relationships,” he said. “It has the diversity to understand the world’s problems and the sheer brainpower and resolve to formulate practical solutions.”