Premier brands Adelaide’s failed bid to host climate conference ‘obscene’
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has revealed the cost to taxpayers of the state’s failed COP31 bid, branding the selection process “obscene” and claiming he is keen on taking another shot at hosting.
Federal Climate Minister Chris Bowen confirmed this morning that Adelaide had failed in its bid to host the COP31 global climate conference next year, saying, “Obviously, it would be great if Australia could have it all. But we can’t have it all. This process works on consensus”.
Australia will be left with the crumbs. Bowen said at a press conference in Brazil that negotiations were still continuing, but it was likely a pre-COP would be hosted on a Pacific island and Bowen would be the COP President for Negotiations when the sought-after global event would now be held in Turkiye.
Premier Peter Malinauskas revealed he only learned of the failed bid this morning and told a press conference that the selection process was “obscene”.
He revealed the state government had already spent almost $4m on its failed COP31 bid and that his last conversation with Prime Minister Albanese about the event was on Tuesday evening.
“I understand the position that the Prime Minister has taken. He has taken a position to try and navigate the, quite frankly, obscene process that exists internationally,” Malinauskas said.
“It’s very clear that the rest of the world largely would have preferred COP to be in Adelaide, but that Turkiye was going to exercise their veto right.”
Malinauskas said that of the $8.3 million set aside in the 2025-26 State Budget, $1.3 million had been spent mainly on wages, while $2.5 million had been spent by SAPOL.
However, Malinaukas believed there were still benefits of Adelaide’s COP bid, saying it put the city on the map globally and did not rule out taking another shot at hosting COP in the future.
“The South Australian government wasn’t set to host COP; when the federal government first announced back in 2022 that they would be pursuing the hosting rights for COP, it was slated to be on the eastern seaboard somewhere,” he said.
“This government worked really hard to change the federal government’s mind. We put it into motion, a quite strategic effort at a political level, but also at a bureaucratic level, to demonstrate to the rest of the country that, in the event that Australia won the hosting rights of COP, that it should be in Adelaide.
You might like
“One of the legacies of us winning the right to [host COP at] a city level, nationally, is as a demonstration that increasingly Adelaide is on the map of major events.”
Malinauskas did not rule out the possibility of Adelaide bidding for a future COP event, pointing to Turkiye’s withdrawal from COP26, which went to Glasgow.
“Turkiye have won the rights for next year’s COP, and in no small part, their position was informed by their withdrawal from the Glasgow bid. That option is now available to the federal government, and they should treat it seriously,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that “Turkiye put in a bid last time round and said they wouldn’t consider pulling out because they say they conceded to Glasgow”.
“So, we’re in a situation where it would not have advantaged multilateral action on climate change if we couldn’t even agree on where a conference was, which would have been a real setback. So, what we’ve come up with is a big win for both Australia and Turkiye,” he said.
Asked about hospitality businesses and accommodation providers who had set aside bookings for COP31, Premier Malinauskas said he was confident they would not be out of pocket, claiming that only three to five per cent of bookings were made this far out.
“Bearing in mind, there was nothing to stop them taking the bookings. In fact, if they were reserving or holding back stock, that was their choice and they knew the way it works,” he said.
When asked about the significant loss for Australia, the federal minister Bowen said this morning, “It’s also a significant concession for Turkiye to agree that Australia will be the COP president for the purposes of the negotiations”.
“Significant concession is what’s required when you are trying to find consensus,” he said.
South Australian Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis on Thursday morning told ABC radio that the state government had not heard from federal counterparts to confirm or deny media reports about Adelaide’s lost bid.
It was another blow for the state government after news emerged last week that world-class opera AIDA, also bound for Adelaide in 2026, was delayed until 2027.
Following today’s news, Shadow Tourism Minister Penny Pratt said, “This is a huge blow for our tourism sector”.
The SA Liberal Party have called on Labor to release a “full and transparent” report on how much has been spent on the state’s COP31 bid and to divert any remaining funds to environmental initiatives.
Stay informed, daily
“Peter Malinauskas must come clean with South Australians about how much money spent so far is beyond recovery – and he should take steps to recover those funds from the federal government,” Shadow Government Accountability Minister Ben Hood said.
“If Adelaide is no longer in the running to host COP31, the focus now needs to shift to ensuring the funding set aside for the bid is used on initiatives that will actually help our environment, not just help people talk about it.”
Under United Nations rules, the hosting rights to the event are decided by consensus and negotiation, not a vote.
If Australia and Turkiye had not agreed on hosting rights, the conference would have been held at the UN climate headquarters in Germany – an outcome both the Prime Minister and the Pacific Island Affairs Minister said this week they were keen to avoid.
Adelaide Lord Mayor Dr Jane Lomax-Smith returned from COP30 held in Belem, Brazil, this week, where she lobbied for Australia’s bid.
“I couldn’t do more than I’ve done,” Lomax-Smith told InDaily on Wednesday.
“I was at every event, speaking at every event, going to every lobby group and spruiking about Adelaide. Interestingly, globally, South Australia is known.
“I spoke to the Governor of California, who knew about South Australia. I spoke to Al Gore, who knew about South Australia. We have a global reputation for reliable renewables, and they know that we’re now moving on to the more complicated issues in our state.”
Lomax-Smith said she believed Adelaide had put its best foot forward to host the event, despite Australia’s representatives missing South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who instead remained in Adelaide to see through a deal to prop up an embattled disability provider.
“I regarded my visit as supporting Team Australia,” Lomax-Smith said.
“I left nobody under any illusion that we weren’t experienced, capable and will be ready.”
The Turkish embassy in Australia said the Pacific would be taken into account if COP31 were held in its resort city of Antalya.
“We will ensure that no one is left behind, particularly the regions that are most adversely affected by climate change, including the Pacific,” the embassy said in a statement to AAP.
“The Mediterranean, on the other hand, is a recognised climate hotspot warming 20 per cent faster than the global average, and facing growing threats from extreme heat, water scarcity and biodiversity loss.”
The embassy also argued that Turkiye was well-positioned to bridge the gap on climate policy between developed and developing nations.
Adelaide Deputy Mayor Keiran Snape was scathing in his assessment saying: “The fact that the most senior elected representative (state) at COP30 for the most part was the Lord Mayor shows that this was a piss weak effort by the state and federal governments”.
He added that “Jane Lomax-Smith gave her absolute all”.
– with AAP
