MAJOR ECONOMIES FORUM: AUSTRALIA PLANS FOR MEXICO

UNCLAS CANBERRA 000525 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR S/SECC STERN, PERSHING, OES/EGC DEROSA-JOYNT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV KGHG AS SUBJECT: MAJOR ECONOMIES FORUM: AUSTRALIA PLANS FOR MEXICO REF: A. SECSTATE 53071 ¶B. CANBERRA 290 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Australian Climate Change Minister Wong will not attend the next Major Economies Forum (MEF) preparatory session in Mexico due to the need to shepherd domestic climate change legislation through the Senate that week. Parliamentary Secretary Greg Combet will lead the GOA delegation to Mexico. GOA is interested in a concrete discussion of leaders' statement goals between Mexico and the MEF Leaders' Meeting in July. They also put in a plea for any additional lead time in receiving pre-meeting documents from the U.S. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Econoff met with Harinder Sidhu, Acting Chief Advisor for Strategic Policy and Partnerships Branch at the Department of Climate Change on June 4. Sidhu is the backup to Climate Ambassador (and Branch Head) Louis Hand, who is currently in Bonn attending the UNFCCC meetings, and will attend the next MEF session in Mexico in Hand's place. WONG UNABLE TO ATTEND MEXICO SESSION -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Sidhu said that, due to the importance of passing the domestic Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) legislation in the Senate the week of the MEF meetings in Mexico, Minister Wong will not be able to attend. Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Greg Combet will lead the delegation. Sidhu asked for assistance from the U.S. in promulgating pre-meeting documents as early in the process as possible, especially as MEF countries are running up to a leaders' meeting and will need appropriate time to brief their heads of government, which will require more lead time than is currently in place. Australia will continue to work to lead positive discussions on clean coal and on financing issues in the upcoming MEF meetings. INTERESTED IN MORE INFO ON LEADERS' GOALS -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Sidhu also asked if the U.S. can provide a clearer view of U.S. goals for a leaders' statement at the L'Aquila meetings. She said that Ambassador Hand's readout of the May 25-26 Paris MEF session suggested there was a need for additional discussion on how best to achieve the goals being formulated for leaders in July. Alexandra Borthwick, Director for Global Issues at DCC, said that there needs to be some form of coordinating meeting or discussion between the U.S. and MEF partners about what we want from a leaders' statement. Sidhu also suggested that, if the goal of the MEF process was to bring key countries like China, India, Brazil or Indonesia to a place where they contributed to a successful outcome in Copenhagen, the U.S. and other "like-minded" countries should discuss what influences could be brought to bear in a coordinated fashion to insure that goal was met. Sidhu said that Ambassador Hand hopes to communicate this informally to U.S. officials in Bonn, and that she would likely direct a similar idea to Deputy Envoy Pershing before the Mexico meeting. ¶5. (SBU) Comment: Greg Combet is one of the fast-rising stars in the Australian Labor Party and a key actor in Canberra working to pass the CPRS legislation. The opposition to the Qworking to pass the CPRS legislation. The opposition to the CPRS in the Senate is significant and Wong must be on deck to work that issue. We don't see Wong's decision not to attend the next MEF meeting as indicating any reduced emphasis within the government on the MEF process. End comment. CLUNE