Opposition drops Net Zero and suddenly Labor are not so keen on hosting a $2b Climate Conference?

After campaigning for this for three years like it was the Olympics, Anthony Albanese is now suddenly worried about Germany.  If Australia and Turkey don’t sort this out between them, the climate circus will default to the poor Germans who will have to host COP31 — something they’ve said they don’t want to do.

Albanese puts COP31 truce on the table after blast from Turkey

By Ben Packham, The Australian

The Prime Minister was yet to withdraw Australia’s bid but said on Tuesday that if Turkey was preferred by delegates at this year’s COP (Conference of the Parties) then Australia would not challenge the decision.

He said there was “considerable concern” in the international community that the impasse between Canberra and Ankara would see the 2026 COP default to the German city of Bonn, as required by UN rules.

Amazing how fast political certainty can flip, isn’t it? One moment Anthony Albanese was hoping to stand beside Antonio Guterres on the glorious world stage and brag about how many solar panels Australia has, but now he probably wants a quiet exit.

It doesn’t help that the current COP30 is a flop where Russia, China, India and the US didn’t turn up and most countries didn’t update their plan. If the Australian opposition find their feet and wage a climate war, COP31 in Adelaide will be a sitting duck, radiating upper-class green out-of-touch vibes while voters struggle to pay their electricity bills. It would be a gift to political opponents. Two thousand million dollars is a lot to burn on a lame UN event.

The Opposition may have just saved Australia $2 billion dollars. Or maybe COP30 did.