The president of Palau supports the offer of Australia to host the Cop31 climate after dutton label “Madness” | Pacific islands

The president of Palau delivered a Punta Barba Peter Dutton While strongly supports an Australian offer to host a conference on the United Nations climate on behalf of the Pacific, claiming that it would increase regional solidarity and would be “deeply disappointed” if the attempt had been abandoned under the coalition.

Speaking at a renewable energy conference in Sydney on Wednesday, Surangel Whipps Jr described to see two thirds of an island in his country of the archipelago disappear under water in his life. “For those of us in the Pacific who have experienced storm overcoming, increased ocean levels and more and higher tides, the phrase” water lapping at our door “is not a metaphor or a final joke. It is our fear and reality,” he said.

The comment was an evident reference to a 2015 accident in which Dutton, while the minister of immigration, was listened to on a hot microphone that jokes with the then minister Tony Abbott on the delays during a visit to Papua New Guinea, saying “the weather does not mean anything when you are about to have water lapping at your door”. Dutton Subsequently he apologized for the accident.

In a previous interview with Guardian Australia, Whipps said that leaders should follow the results of an Lowy Institute survey that suggested 70% of the population supported the job proposal For the country that houses the top of the Cop31 climate at the end of next year.

Last week Dutton told Journalist that hosting the United Nations Annual Conference Cost “Tens of billion dollars of taxpayers” And describing it as “madness” and “not something we are supporting”.

Whipps, who has been re -elected as the leader of the nation of the western Pacific aligned in the United States in November and is in Australia to speak in an intelligence Energy The conference of the Council on Thursday, said that it did not make sense to say that Cop31 would cost billions – “perhaps they need to reorganize mathematics” – and that everything that has been spent should be seen as an investment.

“It is an investment in your Pacific brothers and sisters, it is an investment in ensuring that we have a healthy planet, it is an investment in ensuring that we build that solidarity and partnership of the Pacific that we must have,” he said.

“Australia is the largest island of the Pacific islands) and must take on that leadership role, and I hope that the Australian audience will continue to support us. I know it is easy in these days to look internally, and any dollar spent sometimes is a waste of money, and it is important that we scrutinize – but at the same time being equally and using the facts.

Palau is an archipelago of over 500 islands north of the western Papua and east of the Philippines with a population of about 20,000. He should host a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum three months before the COP next year. When asked about what his people would think if Australia had decided not to make offers for the event after three years of pressure under work, Whipps said: “I think we would be deeply disappointed”.

He said that Pacific countries were a “civic family” and Australia was like “an older brother who is taking command and is supposed to take care of all of us”. “We have common challenges and it is so important that we support each other in any effort we are making,” he said.

Australia is in the running with Turkey to host Cop31. A decision is due to the top of the Cop30 in the Brazilian city of Belem in November, and perhaps before. Australia has had a large support within a group of 29 countries in most western Europe responsible for the guest decision next year, but negotiation is a process of consent and Turkey has resisted the significant pressure to withdraw its offer.

It is not clear which city would host the event if the Pacific was successful. The government of South Australia has has launched a campaign that should be in Adelaidesuggesting that it would attract more than 30,000 people and could be worth $ 500 million per state. Sydney is also a possible candidate.

Whipps said he hopes that a Pacific policeman would help trigger renewable energy investments throughout the region in a similar way to the increase in the main network of Australia from about 20% to almost 50% in the last five years. The work has a target of 82% of the country’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Coalition He says he would slow down the launch and would use more gases and coal if elected.

He said that most of the Pacific was still entrusted to diesel generators for electricity. Palau gets about 20% of its power from the sun energy, but Whipps said that it would need support to expand further and overcome challenges in integration into their system.

“I think it would be fantastic to push for 100% renewable energy in the Pacific,” he said. “We know that the cost of diesel is much higher for us than coal.

“If we can have renewable energy at competitive rates for coal, as you have already shown it is possible in Australia, it seems a victory.”

Some critics have said that Australia should not host a Cop31 Because of the fact that it is one of the greatest exporters of fossil fuels in the world. Whipps said that his point of view was that the countries that sold coal and gas were satisfying a global question and if they wanted to host a top of the climate “we should embrace them and we should help them because they are trying to be part of the solution”.

“It is a good thing that Australia will be willing to host because this is their opportunity to guide and show the world that there are alternatives,” he said.

In his speech at the conference, anyone who was guiding the Australian government after the elections “to take the following steps and stop approving new fossil fuels projects and accelerate the eliminated transport of coal and gas”. “This is not just a technical problem. It’s moral,” he said.

Whipps said that if the offer was successful, he hoped that a “peaceful champion” would be appointed to promote the region and the challenges he has to face while the planet resonates, including the importance of what is happening in the oceans. “We should look at how we can make sure we have these healthy oceans, who are so critical for the survival of the planet,” he said.

The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, last month said that Labor hoped to host a top of the climate and would have “more to say about the countryside”.