Speaking at Parliament at a Labour Party organised symposium on the AUKUS agreement, Sopoaga said that instead of spending $360 billion on nuclear submarines, Australia would be better committing the money to the fight against climate change.

He pointed out the irony of Australia committing hundreds of billions of dollars to buy nuclear submarines to protect itself from a perceived threat from China while continuing to sell the country vast amounts of coal and gas - contributing to the global heating that's threatening to make life unlivable for the peoples of the South Pacific.

“Our future is being compromised. Undermined by Australia's climate change policy, or more correctly its fossil fuel policy. This is a security threat to our very survival.”

Sopoaga said Australia’s proposal to buy nuclear submarines flew in the face of the Nuclear Free Pacific Zone Treaty of which it is a signatory.

“These nuclear powered submarines, which are effectively nuclear power stations operating within a boat, will be cruising through the waters of the Pacific island nations without any consultation whatsoever with Pacific Island countries.”

The 2018 Pacific Islands Forum BOE Declaration on Regional Security, which Australia signed up to in Nauru, recognised climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security, and well-being of the people of Pacific and committed signatories to implementing the Paris Agreement, Sopoaga said.

“We did not ask for these submarines in our waters. And we don't want them.”

He said the Pacific had enjoyed good relations with Australia but the relationship was becoming more strained with every day passing day.

“Introducing nuclear powered, and likely nuclear armed, submarines to the Pacific will only inflame regional tensions and make the region less secure.”

The AUKUS nuclear submarines have been estimated to cost between $268 and $385 billion between now and 2050. Last year the Australian government pledged $150 million to a Pacific Island climate resilence fund to help island nations adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Former prime minister Helen Clark, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of New Zealand joining the so-called Pillar 2 of AUKUS, also addressed the forum.

She said the government appeared to be rushing into Pillar 2 without giving any indication of what it was.

Foreign minister Winston Peters has signalled New Zealand is likely to sign up to Pillar 2, which covers the likes of AI, hypersonic missiles and cyber warfare.

Former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr told the symposium the purchase of the submarines would be the biggest transfer of wealth out of the country in its history and do nothing but stoke insecurity. “It’s pure bullshit. Pillar 2 is fragrant methane-wrapped bullshit.”

That methane reference was the closest Carr or Clark came to referencing climate change in their speeches.