Life on the West Island - A drop in the ocean

In recent days, the West Island Prime Minister has attended the Pacific Island Forum meeting at Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, putting forward our nation’s position on dealing with climate change to Pacific leaders who raised questions about the effectiveness of current policies.

At the conclusion of the Forum Meeting, Prime Minister Albanese met with Prime Minister Kausea Natano of Tuvalu on One Foot Island to sign a landmark agreement between the two nations. This was reported by international news service Voice of America on 9^th November:

Australia has signed a security, climate change and migration accord with Tuvalu, a grouping of several low-lying coral atolls in the South Pacific Ocean. Analysts say the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili union also highlights Canberra’s attempts to counter China’s growing influence in the region. For the first time, the Canberra government is offering residents facing displacement from global warming in other countries the opportunity to resettle in Australia.

Tuvalu’s government says rising sea levels pose an existential threat to its population of 11,000 people, who live on nine low-lying islands. A new visa plan will allow 280 islanders to move to Australia each year. Analysts say the numbers are modest but could increase if climate risks accelerate. There will also be funds for reclamation in Tuvalu to expand land in the capital, Funafuti, by around 6%. The archipelago lies about halfway between Australia and Hawaii.

The Guardian reported on the “security guarantee” aspect of the new treaty:

It states that Australia will act on requests from its partner to respond to major natural disasters, pandemics or “military aggression against Tuvalu” (although there is the caveat that this action is subject to things like “domestic processes” and “capacity”).

In return for this security guarantee, Tuvalu will be required to “mutually agree with Australia” if it wants to strike a deal with any other country on security and defence-related matters. These topics are defined broadly to include “defence, policing, border protection, cybersecurity and critical infrastructure, including ports, telecommunications and energy infrastructure” – all of which are of interest to China.

To sweeten the deal, the West Island has also promised to work with Tuvalu “in the face of the existential threat posed by climate change”. That could include helping the country with schemes to adapt to a changing climate. Such projects might include increasing the disaster-resilience of coastal areas and improving warning systems.

While it is probably true that the West Island had one eye on China in reaching its agreement with Tuvalu, a more pressing issue was the need to deflect criticism from its Pacific neighbours of the slow pace of its transition towards phasing out fossil fuels and developing alternate clean energy sources.

This was highlighted in commentary prior to the Forum meeting by The Australia Institute:

Following important and successful visits to the US and China, this week Prime Minister Albanese touches down in the Cook Islands. Despite the handshakes and smiles, the PM faces real questions about Australia’s continued support for the fossil fuel industry. The pressure is on Australia to move beyond the symbolic and commit to more ambitious climate policies in line with both established science and the needs and aspirations of our regional allies. As the Pacific Forum unfolds, it will be on Australia to prove it is serious about working together with its closest neighbours.

Based on research from the Institute, Greenpeace Head of Pacific Auimatagi Joe Moeono-Kolio was quoted by in The Guardian as saying:

In the past year, Australia has handed out $A11billion to the fossil fuel industry. That’s seven times the amount of money it would take to fund a renewable energy transition for eight Pacific countries.

Writing in The Monthly, Rachel Withers reported that Prime Minister Albanese was …waging a climate change offensive, eager to secure Pacific support for a jointly hosted COP31. He is also widely expected to announce a contribution to the Green Climate Fund, after last month announcing plans to rejoin it. But it’s unclear what – other than a commitment to phase out fossil fuels – could placate countries that are going to be “under the water” if things continue as they are, amid warnings that petrostates such as Australia are still expanding their national output well beyond what the world can handle.

Many Pacific leaders are seeking to use the forum to put pressure on Australia to rein in fossil fuel subsidies, with Vanuatu Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu calling for a “sustained, radical” phase-out of coal and gas. On Monday, Pacific Elders’ Voice released another damning open letter, reiterating calls for the Albanese government to stop subsidising fossil fuels. It follows August’s open letter, which called on Pacific leaders to “defer their decision” on COP until Australia showed a concrete commitment to phasing them out. Withers concluded that it would take more than Albanese’s charm to help Pacific nations get through the climate crisis.

Albanese apparently assured the Forum that the West Island is serious about tackling climate change, and acknowledged that consequent sea level surges are posing an existential threat to many low-lying Pacific atolls. This is in stark contrast to the attitude of the previous government, which was caught out on a live microphone mocking concerns of Pacific Islanders about rising sea levels. When a meeting with them on Cape York was late starting, then senior minister Peter Dutton joked to ministerial colleagues Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison that time doesn't mean anything when you're about to have water lapping at your door.

But when measured against the West Island government’s continuing opening of new coal and gas mines and its $11 billion annual subsidy to fossil fuel companies, the commitment of a modest amount of taxpayer funds to resettle some Tuvaluans on the West Island and ameliorate a few effects of climate change pales into insignificance..

It’s ironic that the latest West Island initiative is a tiny drop in the ocean, portrayed optimistically as a strategy to combat a massive rise in the ocean!