Australia calls UK diplomat a climate change ‘bore’

BRITAIN’S High Commissioner to Australia has been branded a “sanctimonious bore” by senior political figures in Canberra, who have accused her of “haranguing” their government over climate change.

Senior sources in the Australian government have launched a deeply hostile attack on Vicki Treadell, who has been the UK’S most senior diplomatic representative to Australia since 2019.

She is understood to have angered Australian ministers by setting a public carbon reduction target for the nation in an interview with its public service network, the Special Broadcasting Service, last week. She urged Australia to slash its carbon emissions by 40 to 50 per cent below 2005 levels, arguing the coalition’s target of 26 to 28 per cent is inadequate. “No movement would not be acceptable,” Ms Treadell said.

“The global benchmark is that the majority of people are going for somewhere between 40 to 50 per cent. So ideally, that is what we would like to see,” she added, highlighting that Britain had gone ever further.

Critics argued that Ms Treadell’s proposition of the specific target went beyond Boris Johnson’s encouragement for Australia to go faster in its efforts to counter global warming. It is a divisive subject in Australian politics. One Australian government source said: “She’s a sanctimonious bore trying to wedge our Government on climate change … There are a lot of Cabinet ministers very unhappy with the situation.”

A second Australian government figure claimed that Ms Treadell had become “isolated” from Australian prime minister Scott Morrison’s office and the foreign minister’s team as a result of her “lectures”.

The source accused her of “repeatedly overstepping the mark on climate change by giving us lectures on what our sovereign domestic policy should be”, adding: “We don’t welcome that – even from our friends, or particularly from friends. We are happy to hear the views of the UK Government on these things and we take them very seriously. But we don’t need public lectures.”

The two government insiders both highlighted the recent trilateral security pact and submarine deal secured between Britain, Australia and the United States, known as Aukus, arguing that it should be the focus for diplomatic engagement. The second insider said: “Our governments can still work closely together, but have to work around her [Ms Treadell].”

British sources insisted Ms Treadell has regular contact with the Australian government on an array of issues. A UK Government source said: “She is very well qualified and is there for a reason.”

Tackling carbon emissions has been a central priority for Mr Johnson, given Britain is the host nation of the G7 and the Cop26 climate change summit.

However, UK ministers bowed to pressure from Canberra to leave out binding climate change commitments from a Uk-australian trade deal, a leaked Whitehall memo suggested.

Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow energy secretary, this week accused Mr Johnson’s government of hypocrisy over the agreement. “When we are telling every major emitter they must act, the UK has done a trade deal with Australia allowing them to delete Paris temperature commitments from the text,” he said in a speech.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “Australia is one of the UK’S closest allies.”

‘We are happy to hear the views of the UK Government on these things … But we don’t need public lectures’