Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was caught in an awkward moment when he arrived at a crucial summit with Pacific Island leaders in the wrong shirt.
The Pacific Islands Forum, held recently in the Solomon Islands, saw the participation of 18 regional leaders who came together to finalize a multimillion-dollar pact dedicated to a resilience fund.
Albanese walked into the meeting in a pink shirt, not the matching navy blue shirt most of the other leaders were wearing for the event.
“For the small island nations of the Pacific, climate change is an existential threat,” he said at a press conference yesterday.
“This is more than a fund, though. It’s a promise to Pacific communities that they will not face climate threats alone.”
Some Pacific Island leaders, however, urged Albanese to do more given that Australia is one of the world’s largest fossil fuel exporters.
“If Australia makes a change for the better, I think it would lessen that tension,” Vanuatu’s climate minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said.
“If it doesn’t, the relationship will still be there, but there’ll still be that tension.”
The leaders from the Pacific further proclaimed the Blue Pacific as an “ocean of peace” and urged the global community to honor national sovereignty along with Pacific-driven methods to uphold peace and sovereignty.
