Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won’t be attending the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, despite once claiming Labor would “end the climate wars”. Hmmm.
COP27 is the United Nations climate conference, which is being held in Egypt from November 6 to 18. You might remember the ‘yuge COP26 summit in Glasgow last year. The goal of COP27 is now to “build on” the outcomes of COP26, per the UN.
Instead of attending, Albanese is sending the Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen in his stead. But given the fact the environment was a not-insignificant part of this year’s federal budget, it seems pretty wild the PM won’t be going.
You might remember Albanese himself rightfully slammed Scott Morrison when he said he wouldn’t attend the Glasgow summit. Morrison then backflipped on that decision.
Scott Morrison has been absent from the debate on climate change globally.
It would be a pity if he was also absent from the Glasgow conference.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) October 11, 2021
Albanese has defended his decision to stay home because this COP will be focused on “implementation”, whereas COP26 was about establishing new policies.
Per Sky News, Albanese told reporters on Wednesday he “can’t be in all places at once”.
“And I am sure that if I was going people would be saying why aren’t I attending Parliament,” he said.
“I have a very busy schedule of Parliament then… international conferences then back to Parliament.”
I won’t lie, making up hypothetical people to be mad at you doesn’t seem like the best debate device but hey ho.
It’s also kind of ironic given the fact Australia literally wants to co-host a COP summit with the Pacific Islands. So like… surely it’s a good idea for the PM to attend this year’s conference and show we’re committed?
The new British PM Rishi Sunak (the one who’s richer than King Charles, not the one who was outlasted by a lettuce) was criticised after initially saying he was too busy with domestic affairs to attend COP27. He then U-Turned on that decision and will now be at the conference.
I’m giving a little side-eye to Albanese here.
