Subjects: Labor’s broken promise on electricity prices; Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan; the week in Parliament.
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………………
ALLISON LANGDON
We are joined by Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles in Geelong and Deputy Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in Brisbane.
Nice to see you both this morning.
RICHARD MARLES
‘Morning Ally.
PETER DUTTON
‘Morning Ally.
ALLISON LANGDON
So Richard it’s going to get through the Upper House thanks to the Greens. This is the new normal, right? You need them.
RICHARD MARLES
Well, what this is, is a government presenting to the Parliament legislation which is completely consistent with the mandate that we received from the Australian people on the 21st of May. It brings to an end a decade of uncertainty that was given to us by the former Coalition Government who just simply couldn’t sort this issue and they’re still all over the place in terms of their position in respect of what we have put through the Parliament. We saw members of the Coalition crossing the floor. Who would know what their view is in respect of this? But what we do know is that business want this to happen, the Australian people want this to happen, and the Albanese Government is now doing it. This is going to be great for the environment but it’s going to be great for jobs and great for the economy because it’s going to promote investment.
ALLISON LANGDON
What did you have to give the Greens to get their support?
RICHARD MARLES
Nothing. What we have put before the Parliament is a piece of legislation which is completely consistent with the mandate that we received on the 21st of May: 43 per cent was the target that we took to the Australian people; 43 per cent is the target which is in the legislation that is going through this Parliament. So, we have honoured the mandate we received. We are getting on with business. That’s what the business community want, that’s what the Australian people want and what we are seeing from the Coalition again is the division which paralysed the country for a decade. We’re now moving beyond that and that’s a great thing for jobs and a great thing for the economy.
ALLISON LANGDON
Peter, you didn’t support this legislation, and look, you lost 18 seats at the last election and a lot of that was because of your lack of climate action. Are you starting to look like a bunch of dinosaurs?
PETER DUTTON
Well, Ally, the one thing that Richard didn’t talk about there was price, and I think this signals a really upward movement in the price of not just electricity, but gas. Let’s be very frank about it. The Prime Minister went to the election promising a $275 decrease in power bills. He promised it on 15 different occasions and he refused to repeat that promise during Question Time over the last fortnight. So, I am really worried about families at the moment. I don’t want power prices to go up, but I fear that under what the Labor Party and the Greens have put together here, we are going to see massive spikes in people’s electricity prices, in their gas prices, at a time when they can’t afford it. We are all for renewable energy and for a responsible response to the environmental concerns that we all have but we have got to do it in a way that doesn’t turn off the lights, and we are seeing in Germany and elsewhere at the moment where there is a rationing of power. If that happens here you will see manufacturing close up, jobs exported offshore and the emissions still going into the atmosphere. So, you’ve got to have a sensible approach, but there is a huge price that the Greens have extracted here and that will really cripple investment into this country and you will see that unfold over the next couple of years.
ALLISON LANGDON
Yeah, Richard, people care about the environment but they also care about keeping their lights and heaters on. When will we see that $275 come off our electricity bills, as promised?
RICHARD MARLES
Well, Ally, what Peter has just said demonstrates the extent to which the Coalition is completely stuck in the past. What is different now compared to 10-15 years ago is that cheap energy is renewable energy…
ALLISON LANGDON
So, when will that $275 come off electricity bills is the question?
RICHARD MARLES
Well, we put forward modelling at the last election which shows that this will give rise to cheaper power and it will do that because we are putting more renewable energy into the grid. And we are doing that by upgrading the grid itself but enabling and encouraging investment in renewable energy and the fact that we have got increased power prices now, which happened under the former government, is because they were unable to get renewable energy into the grid in a way which would get power prices down. What Peter is saying, where the Coalition is at, is this old-world view that renewable energy somehow costs more. It doesn’t. The secret here to getting cheaper power prices is getting more renewables into the grid and that’s what we are going to do.
ALLISON LANGDON
Ok all of that you are talking about is going to take a bit of time. But I want to move on because there is another serious issue taking place to our north. China conducting live-fire exercises around Taiwan. That of course follows US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s pretty divisive visit.
Richard, this is a serious escalation. Do you think the visit by such a senior US politician was an unnecessary provocation?
RICHARD MARLES
Well, the visit of Speaker Pelosi is really a matter between the United States and Taiwan. Certainly, the reports that we’ve seen around China’s use of ballistic missiles is a concerning set of reports. We want to see de-escalation of tensions here. From Australia’s point of view, we will obviously come to this with a very calm and measured way which seeks to play our part in de-escalation. We don’t want to see any unilateral change to the status quo across the Taiwan Straits and that has to be the position which underpins the way we engage and that’s really been the bipartisan position of governments in Australia now for some time.
ALLISON LANGDON
Yep, let’s hope it is a bit of shirtfronting, but look it is Friday and I have noticed this morning you are looking very spiffy. You’re both very well-dressed. You are wearing your ties. I noted during the week one Nationals MP calling out a Greens MP for his state of undress saying, “We are not at a barbecue.” Pete, I mean we are in trouble when we are taking fashion advice from our pollies.
PETER DUTTON
Well, I’m just happy that the Greens were wearing shoes, Ally. I think that is a really very significant step forward! So, that was great. I have got my jeans on, not shorts, this morning – pretty stylish jeans. Sometimes we get away with shorts if we are on set, but, I mean, you guys are always well-dressed and you set the standard. We just want to follow the media celebrities. We are, as you know, we are in the ugly people’s show business, so, what can we do?
ALLISON LANGDON
I mean, you should see what Karl sometimes wears from the waist down, which you don’t want to. You don’t want to, actually.
Hey, nice to see you both this morning. It has been a big week, appreciate your time.
[ends]