Enele Sopoaga says he was also ‘insulted and deeply angry’ at comments made by Australian deputy prime minister Michael McCormack

The former prime minister of Tuvalu has said he was “stunned” by Scott Morrison’s behaviour at the recent Pacific Islands Forum, which he thought communicated the view that Pacific leaders should “take the money … then shut up about climate change”.

Enele Sopoaga, speaking at the national conference of the Australian Council for International Development (Acfid) in Sydney on Wednesday, said Morrison’s behaviour at the forum, which Tuvalu hosted in August, was “dismissive” of the concerns of the Pacific regarding the climate crisis.

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“As the PIF chairman I was stunned by the un-Pacific tenor and manner of the Australian prime minister to water down the wording of the communique and to limit the concerns about climate change, much against the concerns and the tears that were shed by the Pacific Island leaders,” he said in his keynote address.

“I thought, perhaps too ambitiously, that hosting the 50th PIF in Tuvalu, my country, which is perhaps the most threatened atoll nation due to impacts of climate change, would secure genuine sympathy and loyal understanding on our Tuvalu plea calling for urgent and complete response to climate change.

“Sadly, making money took precedence over saving lives in [small island developing states].”

Sopoaga made the comments as 120 Australian international development NGOs backed calls by Pacific leaders for Australia to cease thermal coal exports by 2030, to increase Australia’s domestic climate ambition in line with the Paris agreement and to refrain from using Kyoto carryover credits to meet its goals under the Paris agreement.

The resolution mirrors calls by leaders at the Pacific Island Forum in Tuvalu, which was riven with tensions after Australia refused to back calls to commit to not opening new coalmines and to take action to limit global warming to under 1.5C.

Speaking to the Guardian after his speech, Sopoaga added that he was “very, very insulted and deeply angry” at comments made by the Australian deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, in August, as the Pacific Island Forum was going on in Tuvalu, in which he said Pacific Island nations affected by the climate crisis would continue to survive due to Australian aid and “because many of their workers come here to pick our fruit”.

McCormack made the comments at a business function in Wagga Wagga, adding that he got “annoyed” with Pacific Islanders “pointing the finger at Australia” over the climate crisis.

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Sopoaga called the comments, for which McCormack eventually offered a qualified apology, “condescending, irrational, disrespectful” and “unbecoming”.

While Sopoaga reserved most of his criticism for the deputy prime minister, he said he felt Morrison’s behaviour during the forum communicated the same attitude to Pacific leaders and did serious reputational damage to Australia in the region.

“The same sort of thinking was there, although he didn’t express it openly. It’s part of his thinking, governmental thinking: take the money, you should be thankful you’ve got that $500m and have got jobs to come to Australia to work, you should be thankful about that, then shut up about climate change.

“I think that’s the meaning of [McCormack’s] remarks, as far as I can understand it. And as the leader of the most vulnerable member country, I was very, very insulted and deeply angry about that.”

Before the Pacific Islands Forum, Morrison announced the Australian government would give $500m over five years to the Pacific region for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Sopoaga said that while Pacific nations “appreciate” funding from Australia, he criticised the Australian government for the fact that the promised $500m came from Australia’s existing aid budget and should not be seen by the Australian government as a way of stopping Pacific leaders from vocal advocacy on the climate crisis.

“This funding is repackaged from the existing ODA [official development assistance] to the Pacific and other sectors. It’s almost like taking this from one basket and turning it into funding,” he said. “Climate change financing is not ODA, it is a responsibility.”