Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen doesn’t seem to be enjoying is multi-million-dollar pre-COP soirée.

Aside from criticism that his $140+ million COP obsession is a waste of money, Bowen became touchy when the press asked about his apparent rejection of a traditional head garland or ‘fou’.

‘Can we just focus on issues of sea-level rise and the impacts of the people of Tuvalu?’ Bowen moped, looking sour.

Albanese also wasn’t having a bar of the garland.

The flowers remained in their respective laps.

What, were they worried about accusations of cultural appropriation from the increasingly unhinged sections of the Left?

Did they think the colours would clash with their shirts?

It is certainly interesting that Bowen and Albanese are happy to play dress-ups with colourful island-inspired prints on their shirts, but a traditional offering is a bridge too far.

The performative nature of Labor’s politics is rather tiresome. Either go to the conference dressed as you normally would, or fully engage with the vibe.

Then Bowen ‘did a Biden’, appearing to nod off during proceedings.

(Others in the photo looked bored to tears.)

Australian taxpayers have every reason to be angry with the minister. Not only is the conference costing a fortune to set ministers, staffers, and bureaucrats up in beachside accommodation for what amounts to a talkfest, the government is giving millions of dollars away on the fake climate change grift of sea levels that never rise.

$13 million to help them switch from diesel to renewables. Would this make them more dependent on China? Probably! Is that the opposite goal of all this climate money? Yep!!! $3 million for a resilience fund… The list goes on.

And let’s be clear.

Bowen could drain the Treasury and send every Australian into the gulag with a shovel, and it would not shift the height of the ocean.

Every cent Bowen gives to the Pacific is a cent taken from an Australian family or business. It’s about time the Pacific Islands looked after their own people and stopped using ‘climate’ to pickpocket the Treasury which is already a trillion dollars in debt and driving up domestic inflation.

Bowen is helping Tuvalu tar its roads while most of regional Australia is stuck with dirt. While potholes are so severe that they have become an election-deciding issue in Victoria.

Shame on Bowen and shame on Albanese for throwing our money away when Australians should be at the front of the queue. Not only can we not afford to spend money, on anything, we certainly can’t afford to spend it on other countries. They have their own taxpayers, their own governments, and their own treasuries. Australians are not the magical socialist money tree that Bowen can shake to make his government look generous and important.

‘We know this is taking an increasing proportion of the GDPs of Pacific Islands, both in terms of disaster recovery, but also the need to invest in resilience, and investments now can reduce that cost in future after natural disasters,’ said Bowen.

Bowen, how many Australian regional areas need dams? How many need fire-fighting services before summer? How much time and effort have you put into the critical issues of your own people? There are still regional areas living with damage from the last flood. There are families, in Australia, who are homeless. There are food production areas going out of business because of unfair trade deals struct by Labor with foreign countries or tax hikes and labour costs. Even severe mismanagement and a lack of foresight regarding geopolitical instability has led to a fuel crisis with a continued cost making the transport industry unworkable. And what do we get from Bowen? More EVs. More evasion. More costly international climate festivals where Australian tax dollars are ritualistically burned.

Bowen napped through $20 million dollars and handed out even more. This is what Labor thinks of the Australian people. This is how Labor treats the money taken out of the budgets of working people who cannot afford to turn their air conditioners on or buy the food they need.

2GB called the conference a ‘flop’. I call it a ‘farce’.

‘Australians don’t need a $150 million overseas talkfest. The whole thing is a complete farce, sadly at the taxpayers’ expense. $150 million is being wasted because of Chris Bowen’s ego,’ said Dan Tehan.

Bowen claims all this money is important for our Pacific relationship, but it seems our ‘relationship’ has become an abusive financial arrangement that uses a green lie to underpin the unspoken threat of China.

It was fitting that the lights went out at the pre-COP conference, leaving the resort in total darkness. Bowen was given a preview of what Australia’s energy system will look like if he keeps pursing this path of climate nonsense.

Alexandra Marshall is an independent writer. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.