Labor Defends $4.2 Million Fiji Resort Bill for Climate Meeting

Melanesian children float on a bamboo pontoon on the resort-studded Coral Coast of Fiji, on Nov. 11, 2003. Torsten Blackwood/AFP via Getty ImagesThe Labor government has defended spending around $4.2 million (USD $2.9 million) on luxury resort accommodation to host international delegates at a pre-COP31 meeting in Fiji from Oct. 5 to 8.According to government documents, guests will be staying at Fiji’s Radisson Blu, Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa, and Sheraton Fiji Golf and Beach resorts, where online listings show prices from $400-$1,200 per night.Together, the five-star hotels boast a number of luxury features from an infinity pool and 18-hold golf course, to night clubs and in-house spas.A search of hotel booking site booking.com shows some three-star hotel and conference rooms starting at $206 per night, while some four-star resorts are listed around the same price.Minister for Pacific Island Affairs Pat Conroy said the government had paid to secure the rooms, and that money would be mostly paid back.“Most of the costs will be recovered from foreign leaders and their delegations coming to those hotels and paying for their rooms,” he told Nine News.“We’ve just reserved as you do when you organise these conferences.”Conroy also stressed that the spending is necessary to counter the influence of China and other countries in the region.“Other countries like China are trying to become good friends with the Pacific. If we’re not seen to be taking strong action on climate change, we cede ground to other countries, we cede influence and that makes Australia less safe.”COP31 is the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—an annual global summit where countries negotiate and coordinate action on climate change.For this year’s conference, to be held in Antalya, Turkey, in November, Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen will serve as president of negotiations, a position separate from his ministerial duties, with Australia expected to spend about $150 million supporting the presidency.Political commentator and former executive member of the New South Wales Liberal Party Matthew Camenzuli took to social media to criticise the Labor government’s spending on COP31.“For what? For a big conference to get ready for [Bowen’s] presidency of the big COP conference in Turkey,” he said on X.“And Turkey’s going to be the one that gets all of the commercial benefit from having done all these silly things.”The Epoch Times has contacted the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water for comment.