The negotiations lasted 12 hours, but even then, the resulting resolution was equivocal. It's hard to know how else to describe the compromises reached at the Pacific Islands Forum last week, when the wording of a climate change statement that began as strident and definitive ended as lukewarm and non-committal.
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In this sense, Australia has, by all accounts, thwarted efforts by small island states to get Pacific-wide consensus on their declaration for stronger action on climate change.
During the marathon talks in the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu last week, regional leaders, including Australia and New Zealand, eventually reached an agreement on a statement designed to address the existential threat faced by many in the region. But instead of agreeing over the Tuvalu Declaration made by smaller Pacific countries - many of whom face the very real threat of a climate crisis - leaders ended by drafting a separate Kainaki II Declaration, with different terms on coal use and emissions reduction.
The Tuvalu Declaration, for example, called on nations to "re-affirm the UN Secretary-General's call for an immediate global ban on the construction of new coal-fired power plants and coal mines and ... [call on them to] rapidly phase out their use of coal in the power sector.
The resulting Kainaki II Declaration has amended this to "[Call on] the members of the G7 and G20 to rapidly implement their commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies".
The end result even comes with a qualification that indicates the leaders do not support all of the declaration from the smaller nations. This is a disappointing outcome for all concerned, and not just for the nations who stand to gain the most from concerted action on the part of their stronger neighbours.
But it would be disingenuous to be surprised that Australia did not bow to demands from Pacific nations to abandon new coal mines immediately.
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Monumental moves to decimate a towering industry that is vital to an entire country's economy are not likely to come about after just one convention, even one where the talks last well into the night.
Scott Morrison did unveil a $500 million climate change and oceans package on Wednesday, promising that Australia would be a "champion" of the environment and ensure the Pacific remained economically stable. But ultimately, he said he was beholden to the Australian people, a euphemism which most Australians would be able to easily translate to "jobs and coal".
Tuvalu's Prime Minister, Enele Sopoaga, while welcoming the funding, said money alone wouldn't alter the deadly trajectory of climate change.
"No matter how much money you put on the table it doesn't give you the excuse not to do the right thing, which is cutting down your emissions, including not opening your coal mines," he said on Tuesday. "When we talk about this in isolation from the impacts on the real lives of people, it doesn't make any sense."
This was indeed a missed opportunity to show our country's commitment to a better future. But what the forum has ultimately highlighted is the ever more pressing need for Australia to come up with a future beyond coal, to begin to envisage a time when sacrifices are made in the name of a better chance for our near neighbours to have a future at all.