Obama’s University of Queensland speech: President throws down gauntlet to act on climate change

Obama's Brisbane speech - climate change

PRESIDENT Obama has used his speech at the University of Queensland to throw down the gauntlet on climate change, urging Australia’s young people to act before it’s too late.

“If China and the US can agree on this, the world can agree on this. We need to get this done,” the President told a crowd of around 2000 students and politicians at the University of Queensland on a sweltering day in the city.
“I have not had time to go to the Great Barrier Reef and I want to come back and I want my daughters to come back and I want their daughters and sons to come back and have that be there in 50 years,” he said.
The reference will no doubt put pressure on Prime Minister Tony Abbot, who has been heavily criticised this week by media for refusing to put climate change on the G20’s official agenda.
In his opening address this morning United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said climate change was the “defining issue of our times” and it’s “only natural” G20 leaders should make it a priority.

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses an audience at the University of Queensland on November 15, 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. Source: Getty Images

President Obama also used the speech to announce a $3 billion contribution to the Green Climate Fund which aims to help developing nations deal with climate change.
“As we develop and focus on our economy, we cannot forget the need to lead in the global fight against global warming.
“I know there’s been a healthy debate in this country about this. Here in the Asia Pacific nobody has more at stake when it comes to thinking about and acting on climate change,” he said, adding that Australia is particularly subject to extreme temperatures and bushfires.
“No nation is immune and every nation has a responsibility to do it’s part.”

Obama makes his way through the crowd. Source: NewsComAu

The President’s speech earned him a rock star reception among students and other political leaders like Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, former Governor-general Dame Quentin Bryce and former Treasurer Wayne Swan in Brisbane.
Peppered with jibes on how he was excited to be in “Brisvegas” and had been brushing up on his ‘Strayan, he focused on the youth of the Asia Pacific and said they have the opportunity to live in a world that is “cleaner and healthier” than previous generations.
He also hailed China’s recent decision to cap emissions as a milestone.
“The reason that’s so important is that if China as a developed nation adopts the same carbon emissions as developed nations like the US and Australia, this planet doesn’t stand a chance.
“You’ve got to be able to overcome old divides ... look squarely at the science,” he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama at the University of Queensland. Source: Getty Images

While throwing in jokes about his more than 31 million Twitter followers — “not quite as much as Lady Gaga but still not bad” — and how he was keen for some XXXX beer, the President also used his speech to focus on the close relationship between Australia and America based on an “incredible commonality.”.
“I love Australia I really do — the only problem is every time I have to go to sit in conference rooms instead of to the beach,” he said.
“Australia is really everything you would want in a friend and an ally, we’re cut from the same cloth.”
He went on to talk about a United States “rebalance” towards the Asia Pacific in a world that is becoming smaller and smaller for young people.
“When you look at the facts, opportunities are limitless for this generation. You’re living in an extraordinary time,” he said.
However he also warned that “alongside those diamonds there are genuine dangers that can undermine progress. We can’t look at those through rose-tinted glasses,” citing territory disputes, failure to uphold human rights and extreme poverty as “dangers that could undermine this process.”
“The question we face is which of these futures will define the Asia Pacific in the century to come — do we move towards further integration, more justice, more peace or do we move towards conflict?
“We believe that nations and peoples have the right to live in security and peace; that any effective security order for Asia must be based — not on spheres of influence, or coercion or intimidation where big nations bully the small — but on alliances for mutual security, international law and norms that are upheld, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.”
The speech reaffirmed US commitment to alliance-based security and democracy and said that Australia can expect a much greater US military presence in the next decade, with the majority of US air force and Navy fleets based out of the region.
“We do this based on our belief that a region that is peaceful and is prosperous is good for us and is good for the world,” he said.
He also reminded Australia the security alliance with the US is “iron-clad” and will always be a fundamental focus of his foreign policy and ended with a commitment to the region and it’s youth.
“This region is you. All of you. Your optimism, your hopes,” he said.
“When you succeed our world will be better.”