Despite a Pacific charm offensive, the Albanese Governments COP31 campaign risks collapse as First Nations voices remain excluded, writesDavid Paull.

WHETHER OR NOT Australia hosts theCOP31round next year is still up in the air, with a strong bid from Trkiye to be settled.

Nevertheless, the AustralianDepartment of Climate Changeis pursuing a confidence trick in the Pacific and leaving Australian Indigenous voices behind. I talked toPolly Cutmore, a leading First Nation advocate for reducing Australias carbon emissions.

There has been considerable conjecture about the final decision regarding COP31 and its destination in Adelaide. UN climate chiefSimon Stiellrecentlyurged Australia and Trkiyeto sort it out very quickly. But Australia is digging in and now pushing hard for the event to come down under, with PMAlbaneseexpected to seek a meeting with Trkiyes PresidentErdogan.

A damning FOI investigation reveals the Albanese Governments deliberate efforts to undermine environmental protections, sparking urgent calls for a royal commission.

The charm offensive from Foreign Affairs MinisterPenny Wongand Climate Change and Energy MinisterChris Bowenin the Pacific is part of the strategy to secure support for Australias bid for COP31. However, another key issue was foremost on the Australian Governments mind keepingChina at bay.

Sceptics may say this was top of the list of concerns (we are the U.S.s deputy dog after all), but the Australians have used the pressing issue of rising sea levels to assure the Pacific that we are very concerned with the threat to their survival. Implicit is the decision by the Albanese Government to put the interests of the Pacific front and centre for COP31.

The biggest problem is, of course, that emissions in Australiacontinue to rise; nothing describes the Australian reluctance to rein them in than the recent approval of WoodsidesNorth West Shelfcarbon bomb and the list of approvals for coal and gas projects, which dont seem to be getting smaller. Rather, the inverse is true. Pacific leaders would also be aware that fugitive emissions are under-reported.

As Vanuatu's Climate Change and Energy Minister,Ralph Regenvanu, pointed out, Australia is now legally obliged to follow international law andPacific leaders are uneasyabout Australias decision to grant approval for Woodsides massive expansion in Western Australia.

The charm offensive to get the Pacific leaders on board and involved with COP31 has been repeated by NGOs that have a financial interest in attending the COPs and representing the interests of Indigenous people, with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) being the lead organisation in this regard.

At a recentmeeting in Fijito discuss options for COP31 in Australia, the view of putting the Pacific front and centre was also expressed by WWF CEODermot OGormanand backed by several other Australian ENGOs in attendance.

Australias reliance on imported goods masks the true scale of its carbon footprint and lets us off the hook for pollution we helped create.

The meeting called for:

In the end, the leaders of the Pacific Nations have decided to get behindAustralia's bid for a Pacific COP asleaders hope to not only amplify the urgency of the climate crisis but also to ensure that global decision-making reflects the lived realities of frontline communities across the Pacific.

But can the Pacific take the Australian Governments reassurances seriously? Mr Albanesesaidcategorically that Australia will make decisions in its own interests despite calls from Pacific leaders to wind back its reliance on coal and gas.

Australia has its own ways to make the carbon balance work, mainly through the discredited system of carbon offsets, particularly as the carbon capture and storage and the sequestration throughLand Use Changeoptions have run dry. The offset ruse, by all accounts,will not deliveras an acceptable pathway, but this is precisely the road the Australian Government proposes.

And what of the interests of the Indigenous people of Australia? Their voice has been left out of the international climate debate. But so have Indigenous people from around the world who find there is just not the space for non-government actors at these forums. Chris Bowen has even sounded out the Australian intention toscale back the total attendanceat COP31.

Polly Cutmore, who went to theCOP29gathering in Baku last year, claimed that there were over 100 government workers and university professionals at the Australian pavilion. The few Indigenous people present were representing those interests. There has never been a strong Indigenous community voice at COP from Australia, a voice that expresses the concerns of Indigenous people here.

Continuing last year's tradition, the COP29 summit was less about saving the planet and more of an opportunity for the fossil fuel industry to prosper.

TheIndigenous Peoples Organisationis supposed to represent Indigenous people from around the Pacific, but only takes a few reps from Australia. The IPO has consistently distributed government funds to a few Pacific and PNG groups, and has neglected support for representation and input from the First Nations of New Zealand and Australia.

AsThe Conversationstated:

WWF, which backs the IPO, set up a troika between Brazil, Pacific and Australia to represent Indigenous people at COP, but with little consultation with actual Indigenous groups. Like the Government and other NGOs, the top-down approach seems to be the way to go, as consulting with communities appears to be just too hard.

Cutmore, an Australian Indigenous Elder who went to the WWF-sponsored gathering in Fiji in July, found it was attended by only six Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) representatives out of a total meeting of about 100 people, including non-Indigenous groups. The intention to put the Pacific interest front and centre for COP 31 was clearly stated, though of course, Indigenous support for the event next year by Indigenous people in Australia is certainly not assured, given the Governments poor record of allowing increasing emissions and destruction of country.

The impacts of climate change are not restricted to the Pacific. Heatwaves and fire, droughts and river death are at the top of the list in Australia. First People are more exposed to suffering the adverse impacts of climate change, given their lower socio-economic status and their greater reliance on the natural environment directly for their medicine, food and water.

Australia is also bound by other oceans, the Southern, the Indian, the Gulf and the Timor Sea. All areas of Australia are susceptible to sea level rise, although the public wouldnt know it. Even the Torres Strait Islanders, whose islands are just as threatened by sea level rise as the Pacific, have receivedlittle assistanceor time from the Australian Government or even a voice at these forums.

Nuclear lobby set to sabotage COP29 through destabilising efforts to secure government support and investors.

As Polly Cutmore stated:

The country clearly has a moral obligation, no matter how seriously it takes it.

But the Australian Government just prefers not to deal with Indigenous communities or listen to their views. This was made clear in the recentVoice Referendum, where many parts of Australia received virtually no engagement or truth-telling. Now it seems accommodating First Nation views is just a bit too hard. SenatorMalarndirri MaCarthyis facing a massive job to turn this around.

Reflecting her frustration at the lack of interest the Australian Government shows for its own Indigenous people,Polly Cutmore says:

David Paullis an Australian ecologist and blogger on politics and the environment.