The president of Palau has delivered a pointed barb at Peter Dutton while strongly backing an Australian bid to host a UN climate conference on behalf of the Pacific, arguing that it would boost regional solidarity and he would be “deeply disappointed” if the attempt was abandoned under the Coalition.
Speaking at a renewable energy conference in Sydney on Wednesday, Surangel Whipps Jr described seeing two-thirds of an island in his archipelago country disappear under water in his lifetime. “For those of us in the Pacific who have lived through storm surges, rising ocean levels and increasingly high tides, the phrase ‘water lapping at our door’ is not a metaphor or a punchline. It’s our fear and reality,” he said.
The comment was an apparent reference to a 2015 incident in which Dutton, while immigration minister, was overheard on a hot mic joking with then-prime minister Tony Abbott about delays during a visit to Papua New Guinea, saying “time doesn’t mean anything when you’re about to have water lapping at your door”. Dutton later apologised for the incident.
In an earlier interview with Guardian Australia, Whipps said leaders should heed the results of a Lowy Institute survey that suggested 70% of the population supported Labor’s proposal for the country hosting the Cop31 climate summit late next year.
Dutton last week toldjournalists that hosting the annual UN conference would cost “tens of billions of taxpayers’ dollars” and describing it as “madness” and “not something we’re supporting”.
Whipps, who was re-elected as leader of the US-aligned western Pacific nation in November and is in Australia to speak at a Smart Energy Council conference on Thursday, said it did not make sense to say Cop31 would cost billions – “maybe they need to retool the math” – and that whatever was spent should be seen as an investment.
“It’s an investment in your Pacific brothers and sisters, it’s an investment in ensuring that we have a healthy planet, it’s an investment in ensuring that we build that Pacific solidarity and partnership that we need to have,” he said.
“Australia is the biggest island in the [Pacific Islands Forum] and needs to take that leadership role, and I’m hoping that the Australian public will continue to support us. I know it’s easy these days to look inwardly, and any dollar spent sometimes we think is a waste of money, and it’s important that we scrutinise – but at the same time let’s be fair and use facts and really weigh the benefits.”
Palau is an archipelago of more than 500 islands north of West Papua and east of the Philippines with a population of about 20,000. It is due to host a Pacific Islands Forum meeting three months before next year’s Cop. Asked what its people would think if Australia decided not to bid for the event after three years of lobbying under Labor, Whipps said: “I think we would be deeply disappointed.”
He said countries in the Pacific were a “civic family” and Australia was like “an older sibling who is taking the lead and supposed to be caring for all of us”. “We have common challenges and it’s so important that we support each other in whatever endeavours that we’re doing,” he said.
Australia is vying with Turkey to host Cop31. A decision is due by the Cop30 summit in the Brazilian city of Belem in November, and possibly earlier. Australia has had broad support within a group of 29 largely western European countries responsible for deciding next year’s host but the negotiation is a consensus process and Turkey has resisted significant pressure to withdraw its bid.
It is not clear which city would host the event if the Pacific were successful. The South Australian government has launched a campaign that it should be in Adelaide, suggesting it would draw more than 30,000 people and could be worth $500m to the state. Sydney is also a possible candidate.
Whipps said he hoped a Pacific Cop would help trigger investment in renewable energy across the region similar to the increase in Australia’s main grid from about 20% to nearly 50% over the past five years. Labor has a goal of 82% of the country’s electricity coming from renewable sources by 2030. The Coalition says it would slow the rollout and use more gas and coal if elected.
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He said much of the Pacific still relied on diesel generators for electricity. Palau gets about 20% of its power from solar energy but Whipps said it would need support to expand further and overcome challenges in integrating it into their system.
“I think it would be fantastic to push for 100% renewable energy in the Pacific,” he said. “We know the cost of diesel for us is much higher than coal.
“If we can have renewable energy at competitive rates to coal, as you have already demonstrated is possible in Australia, that seems like a win-win.”
Some critics have said Australia should not host a Cop31 due to it being one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporters. Whipps said his view was that countries that sold coal and gas were meeting a global demand and if they wanted to host a climate summit “we should embrace them and we should help them because they’re trying to be part of the solution”.
“It’s a good thing that Australia will be willing to host because this is their opportunity to lead and show the world that there are alternatives,” he said.
In his speech at the conference, he urged whoever was leading the Australian government after the election “to take the next steps and stop approving new fossil fuel projects and accelerate the phase-out of coal and gas”. “This is not just a technical issue. It’s a moral one,” he said.
Whipps said if the bid were successful he hoped a “Pacific champion” would be appointed to promote the region and the challenges it faces as the planet heats, including the importance of what is happening in oceans. “We should look at how we can ensure that we have these healthy oceans, which are so critical to the survival of the planet,” he said.
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, last month said Labor hoped to host a climate summit and he would have “more to say about that in the campaign”.
