Nationals leader David Littleproud says if the Coalition wins office it will urge Pacific nations to take a "more aggressive stance" towards China's climate policies, suggesting they don't "understand" how much leverage they have with Beijing.
Labor has taken aim at the Coalition's record in the Pacific, and has warned that its climate policies will sabotage Australia's strategic position in the region in the face of relentless pressure from Beijing.
Last week, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also vowed to ditch Labor's plan to co-host a major United Nations climate meeting with Pacific nations, calling the idea "madness".
Mr Littleproud defended the Coalition's climate policies, saying it wanted to focus on "practical" ways to help Pacific nations deal with climate change.
He also said the Coalition wanted to encourage the Pacific to "take a more aggressive stance in trying to pressurise China to reduce their emissions" saying that would have "real impact" because Beijing's contribution to global warming dwarfs Australia's.
"We … need to work with the Pacific to understand their power in leveraging countries like China in reducing their emissions," he told the ABC.
"The Pacific leaders have made very clear, their biggest threat is a rising sea level and one of the biggest emitters [in the world] is China."
The comments are likely to draw attention in the Pacific, where politicians and officials are monitoring the Australian election closely.
Last year, the Coalition announced it would dump the government’s commitment under the Paris Agreement to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, saying it was unachievable.
The Coalition argues Labor will fail to meet the target, while significantly damaging Australian industry in the process of trying.
But the director of Clean Energy Finance, Tim Buckley, said Mr Littleproud’s comments on China were an example of "misdirection" and the Coalition shouldn't offer advice to Pacific nations on climate change.
"People in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks," he told the ABC.
Mr Buckley said Opposition Leader Peter Dutton should "keep his views to himself" if he "doesn't accept or act on the climate science and is suggesting Australia should walk away from our own Paris agreements".
Mr Buckley said while China was still the "biggest importer and investor" in coal it was also "by far the largest investor in zero emissions technology".
"For every coal plant it built last year, it built six clean energy projects," he said.
"I wouldn't be taking advice from politicians who are in the same breath advocating for us to abrogate our commitments."
Mr Littleproud is not the first Australian politician to raise China's climate policies in the Pacific — some Australian officials have privately complained before that the region places much more pressure on Australia over climate change than it does on Beijing.
But Pacific leaders have argued that Australia has a particular responsibility to cut emissions as a full member of the Pacific Islands Forum and the "Pacific family".
Last year, PNG's foreign minister, Justin Tkatchenko, announced that PNG would not participate in COP citing "empty promises and inaction" at previous summits.
"The pledges made by major polluters amount to nothing more than empty talk," he said.
Several Pacific leaders and diplomats have also raised climate change policies when meeting senior Chinese counterparts.
Coalition prefers 'practical outcomes'
While the Pacific has not featured heavily in the current election campaign, both sides have been trying to burnish their credentials in the region as Australia engages in what Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called a "permanent contest" with China.
Labor argues that Mr Dutton is "lost" in the region, and Senator Penny Wong says leaders still bring up the opposition leader's 2015 joke about rising sea levels swamping Pacific nations.
The Coalition maintains that it's still committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050, but argues nuclear power will have to play a key role in getting there.
Co-hosting the climate summit with Pacific Island nations was a Labor election commitment in 2022 but Australia's bid to host COP31 has not yet succeeded because Türkiye — which is also in the running — has yet to withdraw from the contest.
The Coalition would make "tough decisions" and would "prefer to focus on practical outcomes" than host COP31, Mr Littleproud said.
"We've signed up to those international (climate) commitments, but I think what the Pacific wants is practical action that can demonstrate we can achieve it," he said.
He also argued that Australia had to balance its commitments to the Pacific with the "cost of living crisis here in Australia."
"It's not just about the Pacific, it's also about Australians," he said.
"If we don't have a strong country here, we can't support the Pacific in the future."
The Labor Party was contacted for comment.
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