TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:00:00
Speaker 1: David Penberthy and Wild Goodings five Double A Breakfast. Martin hazy is the chair of the Premier's Climate Change Council, with tasked with is it the biggest job in South Australia. COP thirty one comes here. It's been described as like essentially the only thing similar in sizes in Olympic Games. It's been to be the biggest job in South Australia and Martin Hazey joins us on five Double A Breakfast. Now, Martin, would COP thirty one be a bigger challenge as the head of the Premier's Climate Change Council or as the Lord mayor? Your uniquely positioned to answer.
00:00:34
Speaker 2: That, gentlemen, good morning, thanks for having me on the program COP thirty one. It's hard to comprehend the size and the scale of what that conference could bring to Adelaide in South Australia. I've been fortunate enough I attended my first COP in December twenty fifteen, which was in Paris, and I've been to a number of them since in my role as chair of the Premier's Climate Change Council. They are an incredibly complex event of which I believe that Adelaide and South Australia would host magnificently. Well, I think we are perfectly positioned, to be honest, to make a great success of an event like this. They are truly international, So when we hear the numbers quoted about people coming to visit a COP, that's really the international contingent. On top of that, of course, is the South Australian and Australian contingent who are often spending a lot of time in what's called the green zone. So the scale is extraordinary, the impact is incredible, and the reputational boost which South Australia will receive globally is immeasurable. And it's also got an economic side to it, because it's very well proven that with COP conferences there's a very big economic dividend for the city that hosts it.
00:02:00
Speaker 3: Do you think Martinon and you, as a former Lord mayor know the city better than anyone, is Adelaide logistically capable of hosting something of this scarlet? Where do we accommodate that many people? And is it true? I had to remember that they were thinking about bringing in cruise ships and having people staying on cruise ships off shore because there won't be enough hotel rooms, Adelaide.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: Can host a COP. There have been cities around the world that have hosted COPS that have been smaller than Adelaide, so yes, it's achievable. Interestingly, people will be quite happy to travel when they're at a COP in terms of distance. So when we'd go to a conference, we'd reasonably expect to stay in the CBD and walk to the convention center to attend the conference. That's quite a reasonable thing to do. But because of the size and the scale of a COP. For example, I was traveling fifty minutes either way when I was at traveling when I was at the last COP in Buku, which was last November, and most people do and so the accommodation people will stay from Gaula to the Fluryo Peninsula to the Adelaide Hills and everything in between, and that's not unexpected for a COP. So that just illustrates how big this thing is. Yes, we can do it. Infrastructure wise we can do it. Transport we can do it, Accommodation we can do it. Hospitality we can do it. And I believe we'd do it super well. I really do. I think South Australia this would be a defining moment should we be fortunate enough to host it.
00:03:35
Speaker 3: Well, it sounds like the Premier had a bit of a fire side chat with King Charles. We caught up with the Premier just after six thirty Martin and the King was all over it, very aware of it. And who knows, maybe given that he represents forty odd Commonwealth countries, there might be a bit of a tactical advantage of having him in our corner with Turkey also going against just for the bid, but it would certainly in an economic sense, as you say it would be, it would really be a huge boost for the local economy.
00:04:10
Speaker 2: I think King Charles has probably got an influential role because he quite literally since the nineteen sixties has been a very committed environmentalist. He's got proven credentials in that space, which I'm sure that he's been following all of these United Nations conferences every year. So that's wonderful news that the Premier al Anaskis has met with the King. Maybe he can become an advocate for Australia and for South Australia. So of course Australia needs to win this at the international level in order for Adelaide to host it. So and there's a ton of complexity around that, but this will reach its natural conclusion, possibly in September, but more likely in November in Brazil. So it has to reach a natural conclusion. I would suggest that South Australia is still in the pole position, but it's not done until it's done, so fingers crossed. I think for everybody in Adelade and South Australia, I think the beauty of this is is that a Univation's cop is a truly international event. And I was chatting with someone just the other day and I said, although we do lots of things where international people come to Adelaide, of course we do many great things, but we probably haven't had a truly truly international event since nineteen ninety five, when the last time we held the Formula one Ropery and at scale something that big. And I think it's our turn. I think we've earned the credentials with a lot of the kind of good policy work with successive governments have done in South Australia for many years around renewable energy and the like. And I think we're also very hospitable folks. I think we'll host this really well when people have a great experience when they come here.
00:05:57
Speaker 3: Martin Hazy, the former Lord Mayor and the Chair of the Press Climate Change Council, thanks for joining us.