Australian PM supports Charles continuing climate advocacy

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said King Charles III continuing to advocate for climate change action in his new apolitical role as monarch would be “perfectly acceptable.”

Albanese was speaking ahead of an Australian delegation's scheduled departure from Sydney on Thursday for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

Albanese said the new king would decide whether he continued to advocate for reduced greenhouse gas emissions has he had done for years as a prince.

“It’s important that the monarchy distance from party political issues. But there are issues like climate change where I think if he chooses to continue to make statements in that area, I think that is perfectly acceptable,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“It should be something that’s above politics, the need to act on climate change,” Albanese added.

Albanese’s new center-left Labor Party government has enshrined in law a target to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 42% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade.

Under the previous conservative government, Australia had been branded a laggard on climate action over its target to reduce emissions by only 26% to 28% by 2030.

Australia said it was helping officials from Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Samoa and a fifth unnamed British Commonwealth nation in the Oceania region travel to London for the funeral on Monday.

But those officials are not flying on the same Royal Australian Air Force plane as Albanese, his partner Jodie Haydon, Governor-General David Hurley and his wife Linda Hurley. They are accompanied by 10 so-called “everyday Australians,” including racehorse trainer Chris Waller and wheelchair tennis star Dylan Alcott, who have been invited by Buckingham Palace.

Horse trainer Gai...