TRANSCRIPT:
Australia has withdrawn from its bid to host the United Nations climate conference next year, after three years of competition with Turkiye.
Speaking from Belem where the COP30 is being held, climate change minister Chris Bowen has confirmed COP31 next year won't be hosted in Adelaide, as Australia has hoped for.
"So obviously, it would be great if Australia could have it all, but we can't have it all."
Mr Bowen says the withdrawal is in the best interest of Australia and also the summit.
According to the U-N rules, if Australia and Turkiye couldn't reach a deal, Germany would have stepped in as the host of the United Nations climate organisation.
"This process works on consensus, and consensus means if someone objects to our bid, it would go to Bonn. That would mean 12 months with a lack of leadership, no COP president in place, no plan, that would be irresponsible for multilateralism and this challenge will... And don't want that to happen."
Chris Bowen says the in-principle compromise will see the summit held in the Turkish resort town of Antalya, and a role of presiding over negotiations handed to Australia, which he would hold.
He says the Pacific will be kept front and centre through the negotiations for the event next year.
"Pre-COP will be held in the Pacific, in a pacific island, and it's a pledging event for the Pacific Resilience Fund, which is so important to us."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told ABC he has spoken to his counterparts in Papua New Guinea and Fiji and that everyone should be happy with the compromise - but P-N-G's foreign minister Justin Tkatchenko has told the A-F-P that he's disappointed.
The development has made previous reports moot about the cost of hosting COP31 in Adelaide being around the $2 billion mark, a figure Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has questioned.
"The fact that this government even considered spending $2 billion of taxpayers' money on this exercise just goes to show how their priorities are all wrong."
South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskus has also dismissed the figure, after expressing his disappointment that the event won't be held in Adelaide.
"In terms of the $2 billion figure, we hadn't seen evidence of that, but we had seen evidence of some very big numbers indeed that would have been a substantial expense."
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has also expressed her disappointment, accusing the federal government of being compromised because of its relationships with fossil fuel companies, and therefore failing to secure the bid.
"They didn't want to pressure to come on the exports of coal and gas out of Australia. So, rather than standing up for our region and the Pacific, we've had the Prime Minister and his government bow to the pressure of the fossil fuel industry. An absolute disgrace... lack of leadership... and a failure on all levels."
Meanwhile, for advocates who travelled to Brazil this year, they hope the federal government does take more action to support the Pacific countries on the issue of climate change.
Dr Simon Bradshaw is the COP31 Lead at Greenpeace Australia.
"We need to be backing in Pacific calls for fossil fuel phase out and for limiting warming to 1.5 degrees."
