<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/analysis-australia-had-the-opportunity-to-be-a-climate-champion-but-its-not-in-the-business-of-being-bold/>
"The Turkish tea queue was double that of the Australian coffee line on
Thursday morning in Belém, Brazil, host of the COP30 UN climate talks.
Next door, in the Australian pavilion, a clutch of staffers and departmental
reps milled around chatting in the cold light of day.
The news, of course, broke the night before: Australia would not be host to
COP31. Instead, tens of thousands of delegates and their camp followers – civil
society and the fossil lobby included – would travel to the Turkish resort town
of Antalya in 2026 for its “lower carbon” climate COP.
Negotiations were still ongoing – until they weren’t. That was the line to the
bitter end. For days, it had been used to keep civil society groups on the
ground in check, and to brush off media enquiries from the only two Australian
reporters present.
Departmental reps and ministerial advisers faithfully repeated the phrase in
response to every enquiry, every request for clarity, every reasonable
question, even as the reports citing anonymous sources piled up and the Turkish
delegation were overheard celebrating.
“I am informed negotiations are ongoing.” There was nothing more to say,
apparently. No clarification or explanation about what exactly was being
negotiated. Negotiations were happening, and they were ongoing. That was it.
That’s all anyone needed to know.
When an answer did come, it was swift: a clipped, five minute doorstop
delivered by climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen outside the
Australian delegation office.
Its thrust was predictable: state Australia’s goals, glance furtively in the
general direction of Russia without naming names when talking about vetoes,
frame the defeat as a tactical retreat in defence of multilateralism, unpack
some of the detail and offer condolences.
“I know some people will be disappointed in that outcome. Other people, of
course, would be even more disappointed if it had gone to Bonn without a COP
president in place,” Bowen said.
This last bit was misleading. Had the bid defaulted to Germany, Brazil would
have remained the COP President – but that’s a technicality. If anyone was
disappointed in the outcome, it would have been Bowen, who had championed the
bid, as had his department.
Staff had been seconded, plans formed. COP31 could have been the first ever
climate negotiation held in Oceania, a bold chance for Australia, a major
fossil fuel producer, to weigh in on international affairs and to show, for
once and for all, it was serious about climate change.
It was not to be – an outcome that might be welcomed in some quarters. Since
the failed Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum, Australia isn’t in the
business of being bold. It does business as usual. Boldness, after all,
attracts attention. Boldness is risky and doesn’t carry the same return on
investment as gas or coal."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
