Chris Bowen climate summit bid cost taxpayers $7.3m as Mark Butler defends 156 overseas trips

Labor was forced to defend spending $7.3 million in taxpayer money pursuing Australia’s unsuccessful bid to host a major global climate summit, after it was revealed more than 100 bureaucrats embarked on 156 trips spanning 31 countries.

Health Minister Mark Butler was grilled over what Australians actually got for the multimillion-dollar bill as households grapple with cost-of-living pressures, while Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume branded the push a “Chris Bowen vanity project”.

The spending reportedly included 107 bureaucrats making 156 trips to 64 events across 31 countries in just eight months, with travel costs reaching $3.5 million before other expenses including officials and security took the total bill to $7.3 million.

Australia ultimately failed to secure the climate summit.

Mr Butler defended the spending appearing on Sunrise on Friday morning, arguing Australia’s participation in international climate discussions was critical to its relationship with Pacific nations.

“Well, morning, Nat, and I understand your viewers would expect, rightly, that government is very careful about the way in which we spend money to send officials over to engage with international forums, but also with countries with whom we have an important relationship,” he said.

“The important thing about this is that this was not only a bid by Australia, but also our Pacific neighbours. Our Pacific neighbours consistently rate this question of climate change as their number one security and strategic issue.”

Mr Butler said Australia needed to play a significant role in international climate negotiations given its interests and those of its neighbours.

“There are very few countries, given our environment, that have bigger issues at stake in climate change than Australia, except our Pacific neighbours,” he said.

“They consistently rank it as number one. They expect their big, wealthy neighbour, Australia, to play a significant role on behalf of the region. And that’s what we’ve been doing.”

He acknowledged officials could use Zoom and Teams to communicate internationally but insisted there were circumstances where meeting in person remained necessary.

“Of course, on a constant basis, we’re using Zoom. We’re using teams to engage with international partners. But there are times when face to face meetings are important to engage with international partners.”

Hume brands climate push a ‘vanity project’

Ms Hume seized on the multimillion-dollar bill to attack Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, arguing the Government should have been concentrating on Australians struggling with power prices.

“Let’s face it, Chris Bowen looked taxpayers in the eye and said that he was going to take $275 off their energy bills, and he has failed to do that,” she said.

“Surely he should be focusing on the 1 in 3 Australians who are failing, who are struggling to pay their power bills right now.”

Ms Hume accused Mr Bowen of failing to meet domestic climate and energy commitments while pursuing the international summit.

“But Chris Bowen has failed on every domestic target that he has set himself. He hasn’t hit his 82 per cent renewables, he hasn’t brought down emissions, and he hasn’t delivered on the $275 that he promised off your energy bills,” she said.

“Surely he should be focused on that, not sending bureaucrats around the world on what is. Let’s face it, a Chris Bowen vanity project.”

Butler grilled over ‘bang for buck’

Pressed directly on what Australia received for the $7.3 million, Mr Butler said overseas travel requests were scrutinised and that he had personally rejected some requests or reduced delegation sizes within his own portfolio.

“I know when officials in my department are seeking approval for overseas travel, sometimes they’re approved by me, sometimes they’re not,” he said.

“Sometimes I reduced the size of the delegations that go overseas because I know your viewers would expect as taxpayers that we get value for money as a nation.”

But Mr Butler maintained issues such as climate change could not be dealt with by Australia alone.

“At the end of the day, so many of the issues that that are important to Australians health, climate change, obviously our foreign relations are not just issues confined to our borders, they are issues where we share interests with international partners. And at the end of the day, we have to engage with them.”