Chris Bowen was then asked about the prime minister’s announcement he would like to see the UN climate conference, COP, held in Adelaide. Australia is bidding to host COP31, in conjunction with the Pacific (were they told Labor wanted it in Adelaide ahead of the announcement?) and is going against Turkiye which has refused to back down from its own bid, despite some diplomatic nudges

Well, the Conference of the Parties, the COP, which we are bidding to host in 2026, COP 31, which the Prime Minister has confirmed Adelaide would be the primary host, is the world’s most important climate conversation. There’s a few other things. It’s a chance to elevate the issues of the Pacific. We’re a Pacific country that hasn’t been a Southern Hemisphere COP in many, many years. That’s very important. It’s also an opportunity. It’s the world’s largest trades fair. We can take our renewable energy industry and show the world.

And I think Australia, as a traditional fossil fuel economy, which is well advanced on its transition, can say to the rest of the world, look, here’s our journey. It’s not easy. It’s not uncontroversial. There are bumps along the road, but if we can do it, others can do it too. That’s been a great opportunity for our country, a great opportunity for Adelaide.

And I do want to just pay tribute to Peter Malinauskas’ leadership in bidding to host COP31 to us. We are hoping to have this bid resolved, obviously, this year. There’s two countries bidding at the moment, but we’re getting lots of support from around the world, and I’m hopeful and confident that we can host it successfully in Adelaide.
 

Bowen also defended the conference.

Q: And I take your point about raising awareness about what’s happening in this part of the world and particularly what’s happening in Australia and making that point on a global stage. But there are a lot of people out there, Minister, who are very sceptical about these sorts of events and the value of them. What do you say to that sort of criticism?
 
Bowen

Yeah, I get it. But what’s the alternative? Countries don’t work together? Countries don’t push each other for more action? I mean, when this COP process started, you know, the world was on course for more than four degrees of warming. You know, are we down to 1.5 yet? No, we’re not. But we have made progress. And I can tell you, having been to these conferences, they do change behaviour. And they do send a signal to the companies of the world when the parties, the countries agree, for example, to transition away from fossil fuels, as we did at the COP before last. That sends a very clear signal to economies and to investors about the direction of travel of the world’s governments. So I completely get if people are sceptical, stroke cynical, I understand that.

But the alternative is to give up. So this is all too hard. We’re not going to bother. No point talking about it. Well, I don’t agree with that course of action.

This is a massive opportunity for Australia to restore international leadership, as we’ve been doing over the last few years, tell South Australia’s story as much as any. I mean, South Australia has the highest rooftop solar penetration in Australia and Australia has the highest rooftop solar penetration in the world. So South Australia leads the world in many instances. So the sort of COP I’d want to host and run here in Adelaide would be a very practical outcomes-focused COP. I would agree with those people who say we don’t need a talk fest. We need outcomes-focused implementation COP and that’s certainly the sort of COP that I’d be hoping to put on here in Adelaide.