By Lucinda Garbutt-Young and Tess Ikonomou in Canberra

Australia’s energy minister has accused the coalition of being unpatriotic, as he defended taxpayer-funded travel and staffing costs for a major climate conference.

Chris Bowen is due to spend more than $150 million on the United Nations’ 31st Conference of the Parties meeting, known as COP31, in his role as president of negotiations.

While Australia is not hosting the annual summit, it is chairing the talks with Pacific nations as part of a diplomatic compromise with Turkey struck in 2025.

Staff were allowed to spend $485,602 on travel relating to the UN negotiations including Turkey, Fiji, Germany and Korea in January and February, according to documents obtained by The Australian.

Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan said there were issues with the cost of chairing the talks, labelling it a vanity project, and that there were concerns with international travel expenses racked up during a cost-of-living crisis.

“People are doing it tough in this country … and yet $500,000 (spent) so we can send bureaucrats around to look at venues,” he said.

“I think people are rightly angry about that.”

But Mr Bowen was quick to label Mr Tehan “the biggest hypocrite in the federal parliament” criticising his previous travel.

“In his last year as minister, he went to France, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, the United States, Indonesia, India, the Maldives – twice – at taxpayer expense,” he said.

In response, Mr Tehan said he travelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and had to fly with the Royal Australian Air Force due to the lack of commercial flights.

He said the RAAF dictated the flight plans, which included staying in the luxurious Maldives.

“I’m happy to go toe-to-toe with Chris Bowen,” Mr Tehan said.

In a Senate estimates hearing, environment department officials told Liberal senator Sarah Henderson the budget had allocated funding for 70 full-time equivalent staff ahead of the UN-run conference in November.

Australia is understood to be working closely with Pacific partners Tuvalu and Fiji, who will host pre-meeting in the lead-up to the main event, held in Turkey.

Earlier, Mr Bowen told ABC Radio that Australia was investing in COP31 to elevate its global influence.

“These things do cost money. It cost money when John Howard chaired APEC, it cost money when Tony Abbott chaired G20. They were good for the country and the Labor Party supported them, because we’re a patriotic party,” he said.

The energy minister said the cost of Australia hosting the G20 summit in 2014 was $400 million, while taxpayers were billed $350 million when Sydney held APEC in 2007.