In the middle of Australia\u2019s fuel crisis, Australia\u2019s Energy Minister Chris Bowen jetted to Brisbane to attend a conference demanding \u201cjust climate action\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Australians are struggling to fill up their cars with petrol,\u00a0Mr\u00a0Bowen was at\u00a0the\u00a0third meeting of the\u00a0Climate Change Ministers Talanoa\u00a0–\u00a0leading the\u00a0Opposition\u00a0to\u00a0demand he stop trying to manage the fuel crisis \u201cpart-time\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Bowen and guests were gathered ahead of the pre-event for the Conference of the Parties (COP) \u2013 the United Nations\u2019 annual climate summit taking place in Turkey this year \u2013 which Mr Bowen will also be flying to.<\/p>\n
The Climate Change Ministers Talanoa, which aims at limiting emissions into the atmosphere, was held at Brisbane’s Customs House, featured a smoking ceremony and required extensive air travel to bring the ministers together from across the Pacific.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SkyNews.com.au understands Mr Bowen would have been accompanied by at least two staffers, whose flights and accommodation would have been taxpayer funded, and a number of departmental representatives from Canberra.<\/p>\n
Mr\u00a0Bowen himself was flown by the taxpayer to the conference from Melbourne, where he was with the visiting Danish Royals, before\u00a0rubbing\u00a0shoulders with fellow climate ministers\u00a0from the Pacific\u00a0in Brisbane.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u00a0remains\u00a0unclear whether visitors from the Pacific Islands would have been given free flights and accommodation by the Albanese government.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brisbane hotel costs throughout the event average at least $250 per room per night, an analysis of Booking.com shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The event comes as Australia\u2019s regions battle soaring diesel prices that are beginning to exceed $3 a litre.<\/p>\n
Shadow energy and climate change minister Dan Tehan\u00a0said\u00a0Mr\u00a0Bowen\u2019s attendance at the conference shows the\u00a0Energy Minister\u00a0is not\u00a0focussed\u00a0on the nation\u2019s energy needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cChris Bowen has called the fuel situation a national crisis, yet he\u2019s spending his time at a climate conference,\u201d\u00a0Mr\u00a0Tehan told SkyNews.com.au.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot manage a fuel emergency part-time. The Prime Minister needs to make him focus on the job Australians are paying him to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr\u00a0Tehan demanded his Labor counterpart \u201cimmediately step down\u201d from his COP position and\u00a0concentrate\u00a0on fixing the fuel crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This comes just after Labor was forced to appoint a\u00a0climate change bureaucrat as its\u00a0fuel supply tsar to handle oil shortages which have created immense price pain at the bowser.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact the Prime Minister has had to appoint a fuel tsar tells you everything,\u201d\u00a0Mr Tehan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cChris Bowen has been asleep at the wheel. In the middle of a national fuel crisis, Australians deserve a full-time Energy Minister focused on outcomes.\u00e2\u20ac\u00af\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a test of priorities and Chris Bowen has failed it. The Prime Minister must direct him to step aside from international commitments and focus entirely on securing Australia\u2019s fuel supply and bringing prices under control.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the middle of Australia\u2019s fuel crisis, Australia\u2019s Energy Minister Chris Bowen jetted to Brisbane to attend a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,28486,273856,273858,259235,273857,75,98767,267069,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-554180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-chris-bowen","11":"tag-climate-change-and-energy-minister-chris-bowen","12":"tag-climate-change-ministers-talanoa","13":"tag-energy-crisis","14":"tag-energy-minister-chris-bowen","15":"tag-environment","16":"tag-fuel-crisis","17":"tag-oil-crisis","18":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}