Anthony Albanese has defended his decision to skip the next round of global climate talks, saying he “can’t be everywhere at once”.
The prime minister is bidding to host the UN climate summit in 2024 but has declined an invitation from the Egyptian president to attend next week’s COP27 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The COP27 leaders’ summit will take place when parliament is sitting in Australia and Albanese is also preparing for a number of other conferences abroad, including the G20 in Bali and the APEC summit in Bangkok.
“I have a very busy parliamentary schedule, then the international conferences and then back to parliament,” said Mr. Albanese to reporters on Wednesday.
Albanese said COP27 would focus on “implementing” existing commitments rather than making new ones, in contrast to last year’s meeting in Glasgow.
He said he would stay in Australia to legislate his government’s first federal budget and other policies, including climate change, in the final weeks of the year’s parliamentary session.
“I can’t be in every place at once. It’s as simple as that. If we could do it, I’d make it,” he said.
“I’m sure if I went, people would say, ‘Why don’t I attend parliament?'”
Mr Albanese previously criticized Scott Morrison for his indecision over whether to attend COP26 in Glasgow last November, saying at the time it would be “tragic” if Australia was not represented.
The former prime minister came under significant public pressure to participate in COP26 and eventually agreed to attend the event.
Morrison flew to Glasgow straight from the G20 summit in Rome, where he formally committed Australia to net zero emissions by 2050 after months of dithering over the policy.
Albanese claimed on Wednesday that his criticism of his predecessor had been about the Morrison government’s failure to “commit to anything new” in Glasgow.
“The Glasgow conference was about increasing contributions (toward greenhouse gas reduction targets) by 2030,” Albanese said.
“The old government didn’t and it probably would have been better if they hadn’t gone at all.”
The Morrison government would not raise its 2030 target above a 26-28% reduction in emissions from 2005 levels.
In the absence of Mr. Albanese, the federal government will be represented at COP27 by Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Deputy Minister Jenny McAllister.
Read related topics: Anthony Albanese Scott Morrison