On this day, July 11, 1989, the 20th South Pacific Forum closed
“Both Australia and New Zealand indicated that they and the rest of the world would undoubtably be prepared to take humanitarian action in moving people driven out by rising waters” reported Steve Burrell in an article titled “ENVIRONMENT DOMINATES FORUM” from Tarawa, Kiribati, The Australian Financial Review, 12 July 1989.
And everything Australia has done since then I am sure gives confidence to people living in that part of the world that everything will be just fine…
Why this matters.
Why should anyone trust Australian diplomats?
What happened next?
Australia expanded its domestic use of coal and – more importantly – its exports. So, for example, seven years later (see next post).
Oh, and folks made jokes about islands getting swamped.
See also –