Country 'back at table' on climate: Bowen

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has declared Australia is back on the world stage for climate negotiations, as leaders gather for the COP27 summit.

Mr Bowen said Australia was being taken seriously at the international climate summit following the change of government.

"The fact of the matter is Australia is back at the international table, because we know that good climate policy is good economic policy," he told parliament on Wednesday.

"Good climate policy create jobs in our region and investment in our region."

Mr Bowen will be representing Australia at the summit, which is under way in Egypt.

The minister said increased action on climate change was in the national interest.

"It is in our region where our brothers and sisters in the Pacific are on the frontline in the climate change crisis," he said.

"They know how much is at stake, and we know how much is at stake as well."

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Bowen did not publicly back Australia's role in a "loss and damage fund" on the agenda for the climate summit, where reparations would be given to smaller nations more at risk of climate change.

But he said Australia backed the scheme being on the COP agenda and would continue to engage on planning.

"(COP president Sameh Shoukry) has made it clear ... this is not about compensation, this is about development assistance, working with countries, facilitating co-operation, and we have a particular focus on the Pacific here," Mr Bowen told the ABC.

"We're also coming to the table as constructive engagers in this conversation, where the new president wants to take this conversation is to use this COP to progress further discussions about financing to be determined in 2024."

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton demanded in parliament the government rule out signing up to a compensatory scheme.

Mr Bowen said that showed the coalition had no interest in progress on climate change.

"Peter Dutton is showing frankly he would continue a wrecking approach to international negotiations if he were to become prime minister," he said.

"We support it being on the agenda and it ended up being unanimous on the agenda, so Peter Dutton would be yet again one-out if he were prime minister."

Opposition climate change spokesman Ted O'Brien said it showed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was more concerned with helping foreign partners rather than his home constituents facing the inflation crisis.

"Albanese was very quick to rule out supporting Australian households that are really hurting with cost of living pressures, but Peter Dutton asked him the question to rule out signing up to this new fund - wouldn't do it," he told Sky News.

"Happy to consider giving away billions of dollars, China being a possible recipient, effectively signing a blank cheque on behalf of Australia but not going to help Australian households."

Mr Bowen insisted nations were listening, particularly after UN secretary general António Guterres opened the conference warning countries could either sign "a climate solidarity pact, or a collective suicide pact".

"It's a waypoint conference, so it's taking progress on issues as opposed to necessarily being all issues to a conclusion," he said.

"The comments of the UN secretary general have appropriately received world attention and this is what we've been saying ... the world faces a choice, we can let the world continue to warm or we can hold it as close as possible to 1.5 degrees.

"The ramifications of that for Australia are very significant."