There was something nauseating about listening to former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull lean into the camera and sing the praises of Chris Bowen’s $32,000 coffee stand at COP.

The journalist asked:

‘Mr Turnbull, do you drink coffee? The taxpayers are paying $32,000 for this coffee stand. Just here. Will you be having a coffee and is it a good spend of money?’

Turnbull, practised in the art of journalist ‘gotcha!’ questions, replied smoothly, ‘Well, I don’t actually drink a lot of coffee. So, I probably won’t be having a coffee but, can I say to you, I think this is one of the smartest things the Australian government does at COPs because everyone knows Australian coffee is the best and it gets people to the pavilion. That is … it is the best of all the dollars that are spent on marketing here. That is probably the best dollar spent because it gets people to come to the Aussie pavilion.’

The reporter prodded further, ‘And do you think that taxpayers at home will be happy to hear that?’

Turnbull replied: ‘Well, if they want their money – if they – if taxpayers want their money well spent on, on, like, if you’re going to … if you’re going to be at the COP, if you’re going to have a pavilion at the COP, you want people to come to it, right? Having good coffee is a pretty cost-effective way of doing it.’

Sorry, I was under the impression that COP was full of politicians, lobbyists, and bureaucrats desperate to stave off some sort of impending Biblical doomsday. These individuals are prepared to overlook their own carbon-heavy flights for the privilege of COP attendance. Are we saying they need to be lured to climate-saving pavilions with free coffee paid for by Australian taxpayers?

Let us be gracious and say they make it to the pavilion, coffee in hand, what then? What is the actual tangible physical benefit to the Australian taxpayer? Are we making a return out of this? Or are we promising yet more money for yet more projects?

Turnbull is not responsible for this Labor indulgence. He drifted through the crowd and drew journalists toward him like the sun tugs unsuspecting comets off course.

And while he might have been trolling Labor’s notoriously wasteful and wildly unpopular $184 million COP spending spree, it’s also possible he was being entirely serious in his praise.

Current members of the Liberal Party went on social media to capitalise on the ‘$32,000 coffee’ headline. They have a point. It is inexcusable, indulgent, wasteful behaviour from a Labor government that has already excavated a debt-cavern under the Treasury.

News footage featuring some of the richest and most privileged dignitaries lined up for coffee at our expense should be played on every future Liberal campaign ad.

Bowen is essentially re-living the French aristocratic era in which the soon-to-be-deposed royals smothered each other in cake while the peasants starved.

Coffee has crossed the $7 mark in parts of Sydney. Ordinary Australians, who have done nothing wrong, have made the decision to give up their daily coffee. The small luxury that cost $2 when I began working in Pitt Street has become another sacrifice. The middle and working classes have gone from ditching their holidays to turning off the air-conditioner to skipping coffees. What next? That is a genuine question. How much tighter does this belt go before it becomes a health-hazard?

This is why the $32,000 coffee headline is worse than the $184 million COP bill that includes luxury paradise resort accommodation for a menagerie of hangers-on partaking in climate talks no one wants to attend and that achieve nothing except an even bigger future bill for the taxpayer.

It is not only coffee lovers who are angry with Chris Bowen and the rest of Labor’s tone-deaf ensemble, it’s the cafe owners who, only a few weeks ago, had to raise their prices thanks to Albanese’s ‘cheap coffee’ nonsense campaign that banned shops from passing on card surcharges separately.

If Albanese and Bowen aren’t careful, the price of coffee will sink their government just as gas prices sank the midterms for Republicans.

Coffee is a cross-cultural, cross-social, cross-generational, cross-class daily item.

Taxpayers are forfeiting their own coffee and paying for the coffee supply of the rich political and public service class.

Not only at COP conferences, but in general.

Politicians rarely pay for their own coffee, so it’s no surprise they fail to grasp the offence they’ve caused.

Every time we put our spoons in the brittle shards of misery associated with an instant coffee replacement, think about Bowen. Think about Albanese.

Think about how they are flying around the world, staying in luxury, dining first class, and sipping ‘free’ coffee.

Think about all the financial sacrifices being made by ordinary people. Everything Australians go without. The businesses that are closing. The homes that are being put up for sale. The renters who have to downsize. The pensioners counting coins at the cafe only to come up short. The signs of apology at the register from store owners. The thousands of people who will find themselves unemployed at Christmas while Labor champions the AI companies that took their jobs.

I know that every time I buy a coffee, I will think of Bowen.

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy should know that the coffee wasn’t free.

It just might cost Labor the election.

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