Latest / The Front / Taxpayers stump up for a $34 million five-star climate junket

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Taxpayers stump up for a $34 million five-star climate junket · The Front

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  Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with
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  Speaker 1: the front's afternoon headlines. Energy Minister Chris Bowen threw a
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  Speaker 1: climate change conference in Fiji that will cost taxpayers $ 34. 6 million.
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  Speaker 1: But it wasn't the actual conference. It was preparation for
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  Speaker 1: a bigger conference later this year, which is itself preparation
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  Speaker 1: for a United Nations process, which is all about fixing
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  Speaker 1: the climate. Back in 2015, countries including Australia agreed at
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  Speaker 1: a UN meeting to limit global warming to 2% above
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  Speaker 1: pre-industrial levels. That was the Paris Agreement. By 2035, everyone's
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  Speaker 1: supposed to ensure that 35% of energy use comes from electricity,
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  Speaker 1: not fossil fuels. So strap in. The meeting in Fiji,
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  Speaker 1: which cost $ 34 million, is called PRE-COP. COP stands for
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  Speaker 1: Council of the Parties. That's a climate change conference that
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  Speaker 1: happens every year where these things get agreed. Australia, led
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  Speaker 1: by Chris Bowen, bid for and tried to get COP31,
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  Speaker 1: which is due in November. We got outdone by Turkey.
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  Speaker 1: But Chris Bowen still said it was vital for Australia
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  Speaker 1: to host the pre-COP meeting in Fiji. And to do that,
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  Speaker 1: he needed to host a bunch of pre-pre-COP meetings in
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  Speaker 1: places like Darling Harbour in Sydney at the Sofitel. That
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  Speaker 1: cost us $ 682, 000 for rooms and venue hire. The government's
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  Speaker 1: also spent $ 50, 000 flying a, quote, youth climate representative, Sally Higgins,
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  Speaker 1: to events in Fiji, Korea, Germany, Kenya, Britain, Denmark and Turkey.
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  Speaker 1: There's a class action against Jetstar for allegedly failing to
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  Speaker 1: make customers aware they were entitled to refunds for cancelled
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  Speaker 1: flights during COVID-19. The same law firm that reached a
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  Speaker 1: $ 105 million settlement with Qantas said over its handling of
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  Speaker 1: pandemic travel credits, is now going after the airline's budget offshoot.
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  Speaker 1: Echo Law claims Jetstar deliberately pushed customers to take a
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  Speaker 1: voucher rather than a refund for the services it cancelled
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  Speaker 1: in 2020 and 2021. The law firm is also claiming
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  Speaker 1: Jetstar cancelled more than 180,000 bookings worth about $ 66 million
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  Speaker 1: without offering a refund or a voucher. Jetstar says it'll
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  Speaker 1: defend the case and that customers with COVID travel vouchers
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  Speaker 1: are still able to use them to book flights. Check
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  Speaker 1: out those stories live right now at theaustralian.com.au and come
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  Speaker 1: back to the front first thing in the morning for
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  Speaker 1: our look at a sudden outbreak of niceness in federal parliament.
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  Speaker 1: Will it last and is this the solution to the
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  Speaker 1: kind of attack we saw last week on independent MP
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  Speaker 1: Helen Haynes anyway? That's right here Tuesday morning.