PICAN says Australian climate claim not rational

Transcript

KRISHNEIL NARAYAN: He just said the other day that it's creating jobs for people in India but if you're promoting coal mines, which contributes to the effects of climate change; climate change intensified poverty levels, so the chain reactions are not justifiable.

DON WISEMAN: Do you think Australia's genuinely committed on the issue of climate change and its impact on the Pacific if they have someone like this in that role as the climate change ambassador?  

KN: No I don't think so. It's not doing justice to the role of climate change ambassador. Australia needs to be taking leadership on climate change. Like, in the Pacific, they're saying that they're helping the Pacific in terms of aid and finance but at the domestic level they are creating more coal mines and sort of more expansion of fossil fuels and, according to Mr Suckling, he said that the mix of coal mining, gas and oil would be part of the energy sector for the next decade or so. But in the next decade or so, if that keeps happening, it's going to doom Pacific islanders with further intensified impacts of climate change, so how is Australia helping the Pacific in return? It's counteracting what it's claiming is support for Australia towards climate change in the Pacific, and here he was travelling to countries like Tuvalu, Samoa, Fiji during last week's visit and these are the countries that would be [inaudible] of people migrating because their lives are not suitable there anymore because of intensified impacts of climate change. He was also here saying $30 billion had been put aside by Australia in the Green Climate Fund to help Fiji adapt to climate change, which was false really because it was not put aside by Australia itself, it was put aside by the Green Climate Fund which is responsible to the UN Convention and the decision is made by the board which has representatives from the member states of the UN. It's not Australia that's putting it up, it's the UN under the climate convention and the Green Climate Fund.

DW: Australia, of course, is contributing to the Green Climate Fund, though.

KN: Yes, it is. But his spin was that it was Australia who has specifically put aside a separate amount of $30 million which is not entirely true. It's sort of picking up on those claims that he's been making here in the Pacific not matching up with what Australia is really doing.