The Australian Deputy Prime Minister is under fire for saying Pacific people will "continue to survive" despite climate change by picking Australian fruit.

Michael McCormack was at a business function in Wagga Wagga, a town in rural New South Wales, when he was caught on tape making the remarks.

"I also get a little bit annoyed when we have people in those sorts of countries pointing the finger at Australia and say we should be shutting down all our resources sector so that, you know, they will continue to survive," he said on the tape, according to the Guardian.

"They will continue to survive, there's no question they'll continue to survive and they'll continue to survive on large aid assistance from Australia.

"They'll continue to survive because many of their workers come here and pick our fruit, pick our fruit grown with hard Australian enterprise and endeavour - and we welcome them and we always will."

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama called McCormack's comments a "big step backwards" in relations between Australia and the Pacific, which are already strained thanks to Australia's unwillingness to curb its use of fossil fuels to the extent island nations would like.

"If this is the Australian Government's idea of a 'step up' in its relations with the Pacific, it's certainly not a step forward. It's a big step backwards," he tweeted.