Should Australia spend $32,000 on coffees for COP? Why Turnbull says yes

November 12, 2026 — 10:23am

Antalya, Turkey: I was 45 minutes into the queue for a free double-shot latte at Australia’s stall at COP31, in the Turkish resort town of Antalya, when former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull walked past and was asked to defend it.

The coffee cart has become an institution at the global climate conference, which draws close to 100,000 people a year. But this year, it’s gained some notoriety.

Australia has hosted a coffee cart ever since it put on its first pavilion at Glasgow’s 2021 COP event. It was encouraged by opposition leader Angus Taylor, the energy minister at the time. It only took five minutes to get a latte in those early days. Then word got out and the lines got longer. We are world-renowned for our barista brews, after all.

Fast forward five years, and the wait for coffee is upwards of an hour, I was informed as I stood in line on Wednesday. (That’s far longer than the wait at any other country’s stall, and paled only next to the four-hour queue for access passes and two-hour traffic jams to get to the event.)

The queue length is not the only thing that’s changed. The beloved coffee cart has lost its fans in Coalition ranks as the opposition makes cutting spending on Labor’s so-called green agenda a centrepiece of its savings pitch.

Australia’s coffee initiative was this year budgeted at $32,100.95, according to data dug up by Coalition energy spokesperson Dan Tehan. “It’s especially galling that $32,000 has been allocated just for fancy coffee at a conference, when back home Aussies are being forced to cut back because of Labor’s cost of living crisis,” he said last week.

Newcorp’s The Daily Telegraph also jumped on the issue, interviewing those in line and asking foreign delegates to thank Australian taxpayers for their free flat white (which several did obligingly, by the looks of the Instagram footage).

So when Turnbull walked past Australia’s pavilion on Wednesday morning, he was soon asked for his thoughts. I was nearing the front of the line, keen to see what the fuss was about, when I jumped out to hear what he had to say.

″I don’t actually drink a lot of coffee, so I probably won’t be having a coffee. But can I say to you, I think this is one of the smartest things the Australian government does at COPs because everyone knows Australian coffee is the best, and it gets people to the pavilion,” Turnbull said.

“Of all the dollars that are spent on marketing here, that is probably the best dollar spent.”

Sources familiar with the coffee cart’s output said it was serving about 80 cups an hour, with more than 1800 handed out since the conference began on Monday.

But of course, it’s not actually all about lattes and flat whites. The coffee cart controversy, like many things in the climate and energy space, has become a lightning rod. This time, it’s for debate over how much Australia should be investing in global climate talks when government spending needs to come down and inflation bites at home.

It’s been particularly fraught around this year’s COP because of the special role Australia secured for itself as president of negotiations – the consolation prize it received from Turkey after it lost its bid to host the event in Adelaide. This has come with extra cost.

There are 192 Australian officials there and according to Tehan’s research, it’s costing $2.2 million for hospitality and hotels, including $1,079,000 for the pavilion and $873,000 for hotels.

The Albanese government makes several arguments for why this role is important. One, it gives Australia a chance to promote its own clean energy journey and influence others. Two, it attracts more investment in its own energy transition. Three, it shows Pacific leaders that Australia is serious about the existential threats they face from rising sea levels, boosting regional security in the process. If anything, the criticism Australia faces in the conference’s early days is for not going hard enough on the issue of phasing out fossil fuels.

Still, domestic critics will see it as a frivolous use of taxpayer money. It’s not just Albanese’s opponents. Each COP guarantees a plethora of commentary about how the event has become a trade fair of increasing opulence, where fossil fuel representatives and corporate interests network alongside ministers, youth advocates and NGOs. This year is no different (L’Oreal has a stall promoting its environmental credentials).

So does COP still have a point? What should be Australia’s role?

Asked this outside the coffee line, Turnbull said: “Australia has been a participant in every COP as far as I can recall… We’re all living on the one planet. We’ve all got an interest in a move to renewables and addressing global warming, and Australia is actually a leader. We have had a few bumps, and frankly, News Corporations’ efforts to turn climate into a culture war issue has been one of the most corrosive things that has happened.”

He hopes to see Australia steer a commitment to 35 per cent electrification by 2035. “These COPs are all a question of their incremental progress, right? A lot of these institutions – I mean, you can say this about the UN itself – you can say, ‘Oh gosh, it doesn’t really do enough’,” Turnbull said.

“But then, would we be better off if we didn’t have it? And I think the answer is even worse. So we’ve got to see what incremental value is being created.”

Australians will each have their own opinions. But Labor is likely counting its lucky stars that it didn’t end up saddled with COP hosting duties, as initially planned. An alternate universe would have Australia this week putting on a giant global roadshow in Adelaide while Australians are venting over rising living costs. The bill would have been much more than this year’s $150 million COP budget – before getting started on the coffee.

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