Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has met with King Charles in Samoa on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting today.
Luxon said he wished the monarch well with his cancer treatment.
“I wished him all the very best from all of us in New Zealand, a speedy recovery, which is progressing well, and importantly it was very obvious in our conversation that he has deep, deep affection for New Zealand,” Luxon said.
The Prime Minister said King Charles was very hospitable and knowledgeable about New Zealand and he enjoyed speaking one-on-one with him.
Earlier today Luxon flew out to the HMNZS Canterbury to thank NZ’s defence contingent who have brought support fom both CHOGM and the response to the sinking of the Manawanui.
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was defending Australia’s progress on emissions reductions after weathering criticism from Pacific leaders for contributing to climate change.
Speaking at CHOGM Albanese argued ensuring energy security was essential to maintaining public goodwill for the energy transition.
Pacific leaders have been pushing for more action on rising sea levels at the meeting of the heads of 56 Commonwealth nations.
Albanese was responding to a report released by Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo, which pointed the finger at Australia, Canada and the UK over disproportionately high emissions from fossil fuel extraction among Commonwealth nations.
“They recognise the challenge of climate change doesn’t mean you can flick a switch and act immediately,” Albanese told reporters on Friday.
“We need to make sure energy security is prioritised to make sure we have that support going forward.
“The feedback from Pacific leaders has been very welcoming of Australia’s leadership in the Pacific with climate action.”
The impacts of climate change pose an existential threat to smaller island nations in the region.
It is the first time the summit, held every two years, was being hosted in the Pacific Islands region, giving leaders a welcome opportunity to shine a spotlight on climate impacts.
King Charles, who was presiding over the meeting for the first time since taking the throne, reiterated the need for greater investment in climate action.
“Lives, livelihoods and human rights are at risk across the Commonwealth,” he said in a speech.
“I can only offer every encouragement for action with unequivocal determination to arrest rising temperatures by cutting emissions, building resilience as far as possible to both the current and forecast impacts of climate change and conserving and restoring nature both on land and in the sea.”
Luxon was asked whether New Zealand would support the stand of the smaller island nations about fossil fuel emissions.
“It’s interesting, in my conversations with many of the small developing states, they understand New Zealand’s one of top five countries with respect to a high level of renewables as our electricity mix, we’re at 85%-87%,” Luxon told reporters.
“They haven’t raised that with me directly in my conversations with them, but clearly, we’re on a pathway to make sure we deliver on Net Zero 2050. In New Zealand, we have a slightly different challenge as you’re well aware of, which is we don’t want to be burning Indonesian coal, we’d sooner be using local, domestically provided gas. We know that’s not as good as renewables, but it’s certainly a lot better than coal.
“You’ve seen us contribute around loss and damage, you’ve seen us understand this issue and articulate this issue and lead on it very, very well. All I was acknowledging was that in my conversations at the Pacific Island Forum with individual leaders and again here, that hasn’t been an issue about New Zealand’s reliance of fossils fuels that’s raised with me.”
— additional reporting by AAP