Subjects: Bali Five return to Australia; a cheaper, cleaner, and more consistent energy plan for Australia; Freshwater poll; Labor’s cost of living crisis; Christmas celebrations.
E&OE.
PETER FEGAN:
The Bali Five have been returned to Australia in a secret deal. The convicted drug smugglers were flown to Darwin on Sunday night via Jetstar and they’re now at Howard Springs. They’ll be reunited with their families shortly.
The Coalition has also released its nuclear costs on Friday: $331 billion over a 20 year period. It is half the cost of the Government’s renewables scheme.
There’s violence in Alice Springs that has hit crisis levels once more. Liam Mendes from The Australian newspaper has been doing a great series of work live from Alice Springs, and he’s released some video of a young Indigenous woman being beaten almost to death. It is very, very confronting, but unfortunately it is reality.
To discuss it all is the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton. Peter Dutton, a very good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
And to you, too, Peter. Thank you.
PETER FEGAN:
Opposition Leader, let’s start with the most obvious; the Bali Five have been released. Were you in favour of them returning home?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Peter, I think there are a few messages here. One is obviously there’ll be relief for the families involved – 20 years is a long time. I think the most important message is for young Australians who are travelling to Bali or Asia or indeed anywhere in the world, that you can make a decision which can result in 20 years of your life being taken away from you – and the most important 20 years. I think there are some valuable lessons here. These people don’t come back as heroes of our country, they haven’t been in political captivity. They have been sentenced under the rules of law that operate in that country for trying to import heroin.
As a police officer, I can tell you, I went to countless scenes of domestic violence delivering death messages and others of people who had been afflicted with a drug addiction, and heroin is one of the most evil of substances. So, I think we need to put it into perspective. But as I say, at a personal level, and for their families, particularly coming into Christmas, you can understand the excitement and the relief that they’ll have.
PETER FEGAN:
What deal do you think was made between Australia and Indonesia and do you think the Prime Minister will ever tell us what it’s costing us? And I think it’s also important to remember that we are trying to get rid of convicted criminals in our country back to where they came from as well. So, do you think there’s maybe a deal that’s been made there, behind the scenes?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, that’s something only the Prime Minister can comment on. I’ve had a call from the Prime Minister in relation to the matter and I’ve had one other conversation with him as well. So obviously they’ve been working behind the scenes in relation to this matter.
President Prabowo is a good friend of Australia, and a very good man, so he’s obviously seen fit to provide this act of clemency or this act of generosity. We have a great deal of respect for him and for his Government. Indonesia is an incredibly important partner for us and more and more so into this century.
PETER FEGAN:
Let’s move on now to nuclear energy. Your costs were finally released on Friday: $331 billion is the modelling. Now, a top energy analysis have reacted with scorn to the plan – of course they are left-leaning analysis, of course, most of them coming from the ABC – warning that the cost will be more, it’ll burn more carbon, the result is in a smaller economic relation to the Coalition claims – that’s what they’re saying. Grattan Institute energy guru Tony Wood’s described the Coalition’s assumptions as heroic and in defiance of international experience and reality.
Look, we didn’t expect anything less from commentators from the ABC, but have we got it right? Are you happy with the modelling? Is this what Australia can expect?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Peter, I’m very happy with the modelling and yes, I mean there are a lot of people out there who are heavily invested into renewables and they’ve made millions and millions of dollars off the back of taxpayer subsidies. So, of course, they’re going to want the party to continue on. But my job is to find a system which is going to deliver cheaper electricity costs. It’s not going to have the blackouts and brownouts coming under the Albanese plan, and to make sure that manufacturing and businesses can continue to operate and flourish in our country, because that’s how we grow the economy and grow jobs, and that’s ultimately how we pay for schools and police and roads and the rest of the expense that we have in a civilised society like ours.
We hadn’t costed as a Liberal Party this policy. The policy was costed by Frontier Economics, by Danny Price, who over the last couple of years has done a lot of work for the Federal Government and the State Labor Governments, was standing up with Peter Malinauskas and has released two reports.
The first report a couple of weeks ago demonstrated that Labor’s renewables-only policy wasn’t going to cost $122 billion, as the Labor Party had claimed, but about five times that amount. Now Chris Bowen and the Prime Minister never disputed that figure. They didn’t say that this was a blow-out that they didn’t accept or that the assumptions that Frontier Economics had put in their report were spurious. They accepted the report and most credible economic commentators saw it as a breath of fresh air because somebody was finally telling the truth.
Now, the second report has been released by the same company, and yet the Government is jumping down the throat of the company because it doesn’t suit their narrative.
The point I’m making is that this is not a Liberal Party piece of work, we haven’t paid for this analysis. Frontier Economics did an analysis of the Government’s policy, of our policy. You couldn’t find somebody more independent than Frontier Economics and more respected in the energy-economic space.
So they’ve come up with the conclusions, and honestly, when you look at what’s happening in other countries – in the United States under President Biden, the energy authority there came out with a report of renewables-only compared to a mix of renewables and nuclear, which is what we’re proposing, and they essentially came out with the same figures as Danny Price from Frontier Economics.
So I think there’s international validity to what we’ve put forward, and the Government is so far behind in the roll out of their renewables, which is why we’re now starting to see the increasing prospect of blackouts and brownouts, and it’s why there’s been a threefold increase in the number of manufacturing businesses that have closed under the Government’s watch over the last two years. Because companies just can’t operate in an environment where the power is turning on and off, or you’ve got to shed power in the afternoon when consumers come home to use dishwashers and washing machines and irons and start to prepare dinner, etc. That is not how an economy can run.
I think there’s a realisation now that some of the emotion around renewables has to be replaced with the reality. We have renewables in the system, but we’ve got to firm it up with a 24/7 power, and for 32 countries at the moment that’s nuclear, 50 more looking to come online, and every credible competitor nation is either using nuclear already or has said that they will use it into the future because there’s no other option.
PETER FEGAN:
Yeah, it’s very interesting. What I found most interesting was about the locations and you know what would happen with those State Premiers that are against nuclear, but David Littleproud was very clear that the Federal Government will do what it needs to do.
I just wanted to get you on this, Opposition Leader, before we let you go. A Freshwater poll has been released this morning and I’m assuming you’re going to say you’re ‘not interested in polls’, but it was a very interesting read. It says that the Coalition continue to lead Labor and that Peter Dutton will be in charge at the next election. Your comments on that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Peter, I think there will be a lot of polls between now and election day, as you say. Politicians will always say they don’t read the polls, but the fact is that people sweat over them and have a look at them, if they’re being honest. But I think what’s important to have a look at is the momentum that you have or the trend in the polling. I think what Australians will vote for come the next election is a leader that they believe can lead our country in uncertain times; to make the tough decisions that our country needs to make to keep us a prosperous and safe nation.
I think people will be looking to the two options that they have between Anthony Albanese and myself, and deciding who can best manage our economy, and I think many Australians will be saying – particularly going into this Christmas period – are they better off today than they were three years ago when Mr Albanese was elected? And how much worse could it possibly get over the next three years if Mr Albanese’s elected in a minority government with the Greens, which is what all of the polling is showing at the moment, is the best scenario for Labor. It would be a disaster.
If you think the last three years have been hard or the Governments made bad decisions, wait and see what happens when they’re governing with the Greens pulling the strings in the background.
That’s what the contest will be about at the next election, and I believe that we can win, I believe that we can win a majority Government, and if we do that, we can get our country back on track and start to help families, instead of hurting them, which is what’s happened over successive budgets over the last couple of years.
PETER FEGAN:
Very, very quickly, the Duttons for Christmas. Will you be putting the ham on? Turkey? What have you got?
PETER DUTTON:
We have this chat group, which I suspect a lot of families do at the moment…
PETER FEGAN:
Yes!
PETER DUTTON:
…so there’s a big debate about who’s doing trifle, and who’s doing ham, and who’s doing all bits and pieces. But we alternate between Kirilly’s family and I, so it’s a Dutton family Christmas on Christmas Day this year, and then we’ll host Kirilly’s family on Boxing Day. But I love getting all the nieces and nephews and our kids together, and it’s a really nice time of year and hopefully the cricket is – it was a good watch yesterday…
PETER FEGAN:
Very good!
PETER DUTTON:
…but hopefully it’s not going to be rained out. Let’s see how we go.
PETER FEGAN:
I just want to say to you and your family, have a fantastic and safe Christmas. We’ll chat plenty in the new year and have a very safe New Year as well, and thank you for being available for us throughout the year. It’s been a very big year and we’ll chat very soon.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks, Peter. I appreciate it very much, mate. Congratulations to you on your successes this year, and good luck for next year.
To all of your listeners, I just want to say Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.
I really appreciate the opportunity to come on this morning. Thank you.
[ends]