PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms BOELE (Bradfield) (11:48): I welcome this motion, as I welcome the recent signing between Australia and Vanuatu of the Nakamal agreement, which strengthens our relationship with one of our most important Pacific neighbours. As the vice chair of the Australia-Vanuatu parliamentary country group, I recently had the privilege of meeting the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, the honourable Jotham Napat, as well as the new high commissioner to Australia, His Excellency Mr Jimmy Nipo.
It was a great opportunity to discuss Australia's close relationship with Vanuatu and to affirm that I believe Australia can do better in combating climate change, Vanuatu is on the front line of climate change impacts and has consistently led the charge for stronger climate ambition. In recent years, Vanuatu spearheaded the remarkable campaign for the International Court of Justice to deliver an advisory opinion on the obligation of states to combat climate change.
This globally significant legal document confirms what we all know instinctively: that states have a binding duty to avoid climate harm, which includes reducing not only the consumption but the production of fossil fuels. The latter is particularly important for Australia because we're the fourth largest fossil fuel exporter in the world after Russia, the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Since it was delivered last year, the ICJ's advisory opinion has been rippling through governments and courts around the world by unambiguously showing all countries, including Australia, what needs to be done to address climate change and putting them on notice where they're falling short, so it's great that the Nakamal Agreement commits to cooperation. It recognises the existential threat posed by climate change, and it commits to drive the transition to renewable energy sources.
These are sound and respectful bilateral terms. But Australia is giving with one hand and shovelling coal and gas with the other, and this government, like many before it, continues to kowtow to the interests of the coal and gas lobby. It's not everyday Australians who benefit from Australia's gas and coal exports.
It's not our Pacific family who benefits from Australia's continued expansion and peddling of fossil fuels to the region. It's a small number of highly profitable, mostly international fossil fuel companies. This government, like many before it, continues to prioritise the interests of those fossil fuel company owners over the interests of Australians and our Pacific family.
Our continued fossil fuel exports are inconsistent with what Vanuatu and our other Pacific neighbours are asking for. Earlier this year, Pacific leaders came together in Port Vila, Vanuatu's capital, to issue a joint statement called the Tassiriki Call for a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific. It was a clear expression of the Pacific's priorities on climate change.
It calls very clearly for a rapid phase-out of coal, oil and gas through a fossil fuel treaty. Last week, when Australia attended the Pacific Islands Forum, Vanuatu's climate change and energy minister, Ralph Regenvanu, rightly criticised Australia's climate record. I'm going to quote him here, because his message bears repeating.
He said: Australia is not doing enough. Australia is a major producer of fossil fuels … The very least a country like Australia should be doing is stopping future expansion, and it's not doing that. This means a rapid transitioning away from fossil fuels and fossil fuel subsidies.
There's no other way. While the Pacific Islands Forum convened, the UN released a report finding that the world will likely exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius average global warming in the year 2030. This is devastating news.
Pacific countries have fought so hard for the 1.5 degree target, recognising that climate impacts will be far more severe once that level of warming has been achieved. Next month, Australia's leading a pre-COP climate summit in Fiji and Tuvalu. This is an excellent opportunity for Australia to build on the Nakamal Agreement to show Vanuatu and other members of the Pacific family that it really can be trusted to deliver on climate.
The way to do this is to make firm commitments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, stop opening new fossil fuel projects and phase out existing production in an orderly manner. Our Pacific family, including Vanuatu, expects and deserves better from us, and I urge the government to listen to their demands.