Pacific head rebukes Australia's focus on pre-COP costs

Key points

• Palau President Surangel Whipps, head of an influential Pacific nations group, has criticised Australia's focus on the attendance and cost of the recent pre-COP climate event. Speaking in Canberra, he said critics were counting absent leaders rather than recognising those who attended.
• He argued Pacific states, which care for nearly 20 per cent of the Earth's surface, should be seen as big ocean states.
• Tuvalu's climate minister Maina Talia welcomed the outcome but urged Australia to stop opening new coal mines and gas projects.