An Australian broadcaster is blasting Jacinda Ardern, suggesting the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, should "shove a sock down her throat" over comments she made.
Talkback radio host Alan Jones said on his Breakfast Show that the Prime Minister is a "complete clown" after she was accused of calling out Morrison over Australia's climate change stance.
Speaking to the media in Tuvalu, the island nation hosting the Pacific Islands Forum, Ardern said: "Australia has to answer to the Pacific - that is a matter for them" over its climate change stance.
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Jones, 78, slammed Ardern for her comments, saying: "I just wonder whether Scott Morrison is going to be fully briefed to shove a sock down her throat."
He added: "She is just a joke this woman, an absolute and utter light-weight... These people are an absolute joke and Jacinda Ardern is the biggest joke."
Ardern's comments at the forum, which have been picked up by Australian media, followed Fiji and Australia squaring up in Tuvalu over Australia's reliance on coal.
Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama had tough words, saying: "I appeal to Australia to do everything possible to achieve a rapid transition from coal to energy sources that to not contribute to climate change."
Australia did not want a phasing out of coal to make it into the Pacific Island Forum's communique, the official statement that concludes the meeting.
In a Facebook post, Jones said he hopes Morrison "gets tough" on Ardern in Tuvalu. He said he doesn't "have a problem with carbon dioxide" and said it's "these swallowers of the hoax that seem to be worrying".
Morrison announced $500 million of funding for Pacific nations ahead of the forum to invest in renewable energy and "climate and disaster resilience".
By comparison, Ardern announced on Thursday that $150 million would be ring-fenced from New Zealand's $300 million global climate finance commitment to the Pacific for climate action.
Ahead of the forum, Greenpeace NZ executive director Russel Norman told The AM Show that Morrison would be "as welcome as diarrhoea in a wetsuit" by leaders at the event.
Ardern said in Tuvalu that she would like to think New Zealand's legislation, such as the Zero Carbon Bill going through Parliament, shows its "aspiration is to keep warning below 1.5degC".
New Zealand is still granting coal exploration permits, however, as Newshub revealed in June. An exploration permit for coal was granted to BT Mining Ltd in September.
Ardern said New Zealand needs to be "answerable for our own policies in these forums, in the same way every country around the table needs to be answerable".
Tuvalu wasn't the first time Ardern has had tough words for Australia.
In a bilateral with Morrison last month in Melbourne, she said she reiterated New Zealand's belief that Australia's deportation laws aren't fair.
"I think New Zealanders look at this policy and just think that's not fair dinkum," she said at the time.
Despite the constant rebukes from Ardern on the topic, the Australians will not budge.
Newshub.
