Subjects: 80’s fashion and mullets; visit to Rockhampton; Labor’s energy policy shambles and failures on cost of living; nuclear power.
E&OE
PINKY:
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is in Rocky, in CQ. He joins us now. Good morning.
PETER DUTTON:
Good morning Pinky. You’re under the pump there this morning.
PINKY:
Under the pump, that is what’s happening.
PETER DUTTON:
By yourself!
PINKY:
Yes, but it is also Awesome 80s Friday, Peter. What do you think about that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I’m very much an ’80s child and I was born in 1970, so…
PINKY:
Yes!
PETER DUTTON:
I have some fond memories, but some pretty daggy memories as well.
PINKY:
Plenty of daggy ones, and I have to say, they’re back in fashion, including mullets.
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah, well, actually, my son Harry, who’s 19 – first year uni – we’ve convinced him with every bribe possible to lose the mullet and as importantly, lose the mo. He’s now just lost the mullet, but he’s still got the mo, which he thinks is, you know, pretty tricky. So we’ll see how we go.
PINKY:
Look, I’ve got friends who’ve had to do that to their grown children as well, and demand that the mullet goes.
So, yep; good to have you in town, what’s on the agenda today?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’ve had a busy program with Michelle Landry and went out to Doblo’s yesterday – just talking to some of the customers there and obviously to Dom and Dominic as well – really about cost of living pressures that families are under, businesses are under.
I really worry about how businesses are going to continue manufacturing in our country where, if they go offshore they can find electricity at a much cheaper price. So, how do we make that industry possible? How do we keep those jobs in Australia and that economic activity here? So yeah, it’s been a big part of the discussion.
PINKY:
Yes. So how would you suggest the government could tackle the cost of living for us better?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, one of the problems that we’ve got at the moment is that they’re pumping about $185 billion worth of spending into the economy, which drives inflation up. The government’s now had two budgets to make decisions to try and put downward pressure on interest rates, because if interest rates can go down, then obviously people, you know, have got more affordability in their mortgage repayments, which frees up a bit more what they can spend in the economy otherwise.
I think the other really important discussion to have is, and I know it’s a huge issue in CQ, but around wind turbines and just the lack of reliability of that energy source. We’re starting this discussion in relation to the latest technology; the Small Modular Reactors – the same technology that the government’s purchased on the new submarines. That Small Modular Reactor produces zero emissions, it’s half the cost of electricity in Ontario compared to what it is in Australia and it can firm up renewables.
So, I think it’s a really important debate to have as well, and you’ve got the energy regulator now warning that, you know, in some parts of the country we could see blackouts if we have a really hot summer, if people are using air conditioners and plugging in their electric vehicles and all the rest of it at the same time.
PINKY:
Now, on that conversation regarding energy – I know this is about the State Government – but my question is they’ve been very kindly, obviously, giving us rebates and putting money towards our power bills to take the pressure off people across Queensland. But how is that a long term plan, like how do we continue, you know, surviving these bills if they’re not contributing that way? How long can that last for?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it can only last Pinky, until the money runs out and the government’s in enormous…
PINKY:
Yeah. It’s not a long term plan.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it’s definitely not and that’s why I think, you know, we’ve got to have sensible conversations about what energy looks like and try and deliver it at the cheapest possible cost and make sure that it’s reliable because, as I say, manufacturers will just say, ‘well, bugger this, we’ll go to Malaysia or to Vietnam somewhere and set up a factory there’; cheaper labour, cheaper energy costs and they just import the product back into Australia. So, there’s no environmental improvement in that scenario, but we lose out on the jobs and the money for our country.
PINKY:
Now Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, what is on the agenda today? Where are you off to?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we were here all day yesterday, so I’m off to Brisbane today, so we move on pretty quickly in this job. There’s a fair bit going on. So, yeah back home to Brisbane this afternoon.
PINKY:
Okay, great. Well, thanks so much for your time this morning and please enjoy our newly renovated Rocky airport. It’s looking pretty flash these days.
PETER DUTTON:
It is actually – it is very good. I’m just looking out at the river at the moment and it looks like a beautiful morning as well.
PINKY:
Oh beautiful. Yes, the Toonooba.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you. Thanks Pinky, take care.
[ends]