Subjects: Liberal Party candidate for Paterson – Laurence Antcliff; the Coalition puts the local community first in decision to scrap Port Stephens Offshore Wind Zone; Labor’s energy policy shambles; nuclear energy; Labor’s cost of living crisis; National Accounts.
E&OE.
LAURENCE ANTCLIFF:
Good morning, everyone. It is fantastic to be here today in beautiful Shoal Bay, Port Stephens, a place we know as Paradise.
Chris Bowen, Meryl Swanson, and the Labor Government have decided that our pristine coastline here in Port Stephens is the perfect place for an offshore industrial wind zone. The people of Port Stephens do not want offshore wind. Where was the community consultation? Where were the town hall meetings? Where was the respect for our voices? There wasn’t any. This is not just a bad project, this is an insult to the people and the businesses of Port Stephens.
I’ll now pass over to Ted.
TED O’BRIEN:
It’s wonderful to be here in Port Stephens with our leader, Peter Dutton. Laurence, thank you to you for providing such staunch leadership here locally. At long last, this local community has a leader at the federal level in Laurence, who is prepared to put his community first: something the Albanese Government will not do. The Albanese Government is prepared to display reckless indifference towards regional communities to win votes in metro cities. Albanese wants one thing, and that is to steal votes from the Greens and he’s prepared to steamroll regional communities to make that happen.
This has been a sham process from the get-go. The local community knows that. In fact, the Labor Government knows that, but they do not care. Under Peter Dutton’s leadership, communities come first. This community has raised very sensible questions around the impact of this offshore wind zone, the project’s impact on ocean life, on fisheries, both commercial and recreational, on tourism. This community already turns over around $850 million in tourism every single year. There’s been no consideration for the very sensible views put forward by this community.
Delighted by the outcome today, a very firm call by our leader and now this community knows that under a Coalition Government and with Laurence as their MP, what their future holds – that’s the certainty they’ve been calling for, and they’ve been ignored by the Albanese Government.
I’m delighted to pass over to Peter Dutton.
PETER DUTTON:
Ted, thank you very much.
To Troy and to all of the people we’ve met with this morning, this has really been a grassroots campaign, so thank you for your advocacy. Thank you for being so clear in your advice as to what the community wants.
This is not our first visit. We’ve certainly been out on the boat, we’ve looked at the area, the zone where these wind turbines were projected to go 260 metres above the water. This is going to be a scar on the landscape. Meryl Swanson and Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen need to come here and explain to the local community why the views of the local community members here are worth nothing. Why are people being ignored? Why people are not being listened to? It’s obvious that this project should not proceed. I call on the Prime Minister and Chris Bowen and Meryl Swanson to show some leadership and some empathy towards the local community and to stop this project from proceeding.
If there is a change of government at the next election, then we can give an assurance to this local community that this project will not proceed, this zone will not proceed, and we will make sure that the environment and the local community comes first. There’s been no regard, scant regard, for the impact on the local environment. As Ted points out rightly, there’s been a sham consultation process where the Government has tried to steamroll the community view, hasn’t provided reasonably-asked questions with anything that resembles a coherent answer.
It’s obvious that the Prime Minister – as Ted points out and as we’re seeing in Tasmania, as we’ve seen with the gold mine in New South Wales – the Prime Minister’s every decision is about how he can try and stop the haemorrhaging of votes from the Labor Party to the Greens or try and pick up those Green votes. That’s where the Prime Minister’s head is at. Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese are more interested in saving their own seats than they are in saving this community.
It’s obvious in Tasmania that that’s exactly what’s happening, where the Government’s prepared to hang the local community out to dry. Those salmon farmers and all the industry around it doesn’t survive under an Albanese Government – that much has been pointed out by some of the Labor senior figures, including Dick Adams, in Tasmania. It’s obvious that that’s exactly what’s playing out here locally as well.
I’m happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, the Government’s saying that there was a 65 day consultation period in 2023 regarding the offshore wind farm and there was changes as a result of that consultation. What is an appropriate period for consultation for an offshore wind farm?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Kenny, it has to have meaning. The problem is that – as the locals pointed out on the first visit when we came to this very club – it had been a sham process. People weren’t made aware, there were allegations about the way in which the community was advised or the way in which it wasn’t advised. As I say, there are reasonable questions that have been put to the Government as part of the consultation process, and they just haven’t been answered. They haven’t been answered honestly in some cases, or at all, in other cases. Obviously, it doesn’t matter how long you consult for, if you’re not going to engage with the local community and listen to what they’ve got to say on a project like this, then don’t pretend that it’s a legitimate process.
QUESTION:
It also says the Department that the changes addresses the concerns regarding visual impacts because the declared area is at least 20 kilometres offshore from Port Stephens. What’s your response?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Kenny, there’s just no sensible environmental impact study that has been transparently provided to the public here. I was talking to one of the experts earlier who’s involved in the local community campaign here. She was talking about the evidence that the Government’s putting forward out of studies from the United States, from the United Kingdom, but not the impact on the Australian coastline. There’s been no studies really in relation to the impact on whales and the migration patterns, etc..
So, I just think the Prime Minister has got this wrong and instead of continuing to dig deeper, the Prime Minister should admit that he’s made a mistake and overturn this bad decision. If Meryl Swanson was worth anything as a local member, then she would have been advocating on behalf of the local community. She hasn’t. Laurence Antcliff has. And we’ve listened to the local community and we’ve acted with our announcement today.
QUESTION:
The Government also says that there’s strong industry interest in developing projects in the area offshore from the Hunter. What do you say to industry that may be looking forward to this product?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, you can speak to the tourist operators and you can speak to the small business owners here in the community who believe that their businesses will be devastated by this project, and they’re right. So, there are many views within the community and those high energy users and those construction jobs that you’re speaking about will only stay in Australia if we have a solid baseload power. This is the really important point: 90 per cent of baseload power goes out of the system by 2034. The Government believed that green hydrogen was going to be a commercial reality, which it’s not. Our economy can’t function on intermittent part time power, we need strong baseload power. As Premier Minns pointed out the other day, people are going to have blackouts and we’re going to have disruption to supply without an adequate baseload power to firm up the renewables.
We all want renewables in the system, but we want a sensible mix. With the Government’s renewables-only policy at the moment, they’ve got no regard for the fact that there’s been a 300 per cent increase in the number of manufacturing businesses that have closed in Australia over the last two years. Ask yourself ‘why?’. Well, for a number of reasons, but primarily because they’re just going to Malaysia or to Wyoming or elsewhere where energy is about a third of the cost it is in Australia and they’re manufacturing there.
We lose the jobs, we lose the economic productivity, and the Government has no answer for that. So, we will lose literally hundreds of thousands of jobs if the Albanese Government is re-elected because in coalition with the Greens they don’t have any regard for business or jobs or industry – and that would be a devastation.
Families already at the moment can’t pay their power bills or their gas bills which have gone up by 30 per cent. The Prime Minister promised on 97 occasions that power prices would go down by $275, and instead they’ve gone up by a thousand. So, I just don’t think the Prime Minister is believable. I don’t think you can take him at his word, and I think what we’re seeing from the Prime Minister and from Minister Plibersek at the moment – even though they’re in this unholy war – is that they want Green votes ahead of the support of communities like here in Paterson.
QUESTION:
What challenges do you anticipate if you were to pull the offshore wind farm, financial and otherwise?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’ve got to act in our country’s best interests, and it is in our country’s best interest and in this local community’s best interest if this project doesn’t proceed.
Don’t forget that we’re talking about a life span here of about 19 years. So, over a lifecycle of a small modular reactor, for example, which is about 80 years, you need to replace these wind turbines four times. So the ongoing environmental impact, the emissions, the servicing, the oil that’s required to run one of these turbines, all of that needs to be taken into consideration, and so our very clear position here, in contrast to the Government, inspired by the local community, is there is a much better way of providing power at a cheaper cost, and without the interruption to power.
The local IGA, the local butcher’s shop, the local fruit shop – whatever it might be – your own household, your fridge and your freezers and cold rooms can’t run on intermittent power. We need 24/7 reliable power. Pretending that that’s not the case is just going to make it harder for Australians.
QUESTION:
Is the Coalition looking at cancelling any other offshore wind projects?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I think what’s important to do in relation to offshore wind is to look at each of the projects. Now obviously Origin has taken a decision that it’s not commercially viable for them in relation to the Hunter project. Perhaps other proponents will make that similar decision. That will be a commercial decision for them, but we’ll look at the individual communities and what the net impact – whether it’s positive or negative – into our energy system.
Really, what the Coalition is about is delivering lower cost electricity and gas to consumers and small businesses. Anthony Albanese is about an ideological pursuit of 100 per cent renewables in the system, which will drive up the power prices of ordinary Australians and will destroy small businesses.
QUESTION:
What’s your reaction to the weak growth figures out yesterday?
PETER DUTTON:
Well look, obviously there’s anaemic growth in the economy at the moment. Families are going backwards under this Government, a lot of Australians are going without registration, a lot of Australians will go without a holiday this Christmas because they just can’t afford the costs that have been imposed on them by the Albanese Government’s three budgets.
Inflation remains high and therefore interest rates will stay higher for longer, why? Well, the Reserve Bank Governor’s made it very clear the Government continues to spend money in a wasteful way and that’s holding up inflation for longer, and that’s why interest rates will stay higher for longer, even though they’ve already gone down in the United States, in New Zealand, in Canada.
I think there is a much better way. We can get our economy back on track and do it quickly, if we elect a Coalition Government at the next election. But a lot of families are really struggling and a lot of small businesses, cafes and restaurants at the moment – as we spoke yesterday in Dee Why to a local business owner there at the local cafe and restaurant – it’s the worst he’s seen in 32 years. Let’s be very clear, this period is akin to the Whitlam era where the Labor Party near destroyed the economy and the economy is being damaged at the moment by the Labor Party. That’s why costs for every product are going through the roof. Inflation’s a huge problem and the Government doesn’t have a clue as to what they should do to rein it in.
QUESTION:
You’ve walked away further income tax cuts. What is the Coalition going to be providing to people who are struggling with the cost of living?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, what we’ve said is that we want a fairer, simpler tax system. We want to reduce taxes wherever possible, but it will depend on the fiscal position coming into the election. So, we’ll wait for the PEFO figures, but it’s irresponsible to start committing to huge systems reform, which come at a huge cost, if we don’t know what money is in the system, and we haven’t identified savings to offset that expenditure.
The best thing that we can do now is to release and to relieve the pressure on inflation so that interest rates can come down. As we know, from every period of the Labor Government, interest rates are always higher. Australian families will always pay more for their mortgage under a Labor Government than a Coalition Government, and interest rates will always be lower and under a Coalition Government than under a Labor Government.
QUESTION:
What about the energy rebate? There’s talk that it could be extended, is that something you would support?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, let’s have a look at what the Government’s proposing, but what they’ve done so far is not provided support to families at all. In fact, we know that the Government is doing great damage to the economy at the moment. Labor is wrecking the economy and it’s going to get a lot worse if we end up with a Labor-Greens coalition – a ‘power-sharing agreement’ as Adam Bandt refers to it – after the next election. If you throw in the mix the Green-Teals, if you vote for a Green-Teal, you’re voting for Anthony Albanese and a continuation of the destruction of the Australian economy. I just don’t think families can afford that in New South Wales or indeed across the country.
QUESTION:
Has the recent series of earthquakes in the Upper Hunter affected the Coalition’s thinking about the suitability of the Upper Hunter as a location for a nuclear power plant?
PETER DUTTON:
No it hasn’t, because it’s not the 1940s, it’s 2024. When you look at what France is doing, when you look at the COP process – and I’ll ask Ted to add to this – and the commitment that countries across Europe, across Asia, across the Americas, when you look at what they’ve done in terms of committing further to nuclear power, it says to you that it’s a safe technology. The Prime Minister is not telling Australians that nuclear power is unsafe. In fact, he’s signed up to a nuclear propulsion system in the submarines with our sailors sleeping alongside the reactor. So, the Prime Minister has no concerns about safety. They’ll run their scare campaigns and they’ll do their whisper campaigns, but Australians are smarter than that, and we need to have a mature debate, because, under Labor, power prices are going to keep going up, we’re going to have blackouts, and business, particularly manufacturing, can’t operate in this country without stable and affordable electricity – and families and small businesses can’t afford to run their budgets if the power prices continue to go through the roof, but I’ll ask Ted to add to that.
TED O’BRIEN:
Thank you, Peter.
Australia is the most geologically-stable country, continent, in the world. Only two weeks ago we heard evidence from an Adviser to the White House in the United States about the earthquakes in Australia. He made it crystal clear there is absolutely no risk to having nuclear power plants. In fact, the stability of modern nuclear power plants is second-to-none. There are far more seismically-active places all around the world that are safely managing nuclear power.
It goes to the character of the Labor Party, that as soon as there have been any movements, Labor has been out there trying to scare regional communities, rather than having a sensible fact-based debate. Our focus is to ensure that we can deliver cheap, clean and consistent 24/7 electricity. We’ll be doing that through a balanced energy mix. Yes, that means renewables, it means more gas in the system, and as coal retires from the system, zero-emissions nuclear energy. This is what’s proven to work the world over, and is no difference for how it would work in Australia. Australia right now under the Albanese Government is on its own.
There is not a nation in the world trying to achieve a renewables-only grid, because it doesn’t work. Every single week since the Albanese Government has been in power, an extra 560 families have gone on hardship arrangements with their retailer. Families are struggling. Why? Because prices just keep going up and the Albanese Government keeps lying to the Australian people. Chris Bowen keeps saying that prices are coming down, but people know they’re not, because they’re receiving their bills at home. They’re going into Christmas paying among the highest electricity prices in the world.
An approach of a renewables-only grid has never proven to work. Australians are now experiencing what the Albanese Government’s policies are showing in real life: prices go up under the Albanese Government, and the energy policy is one of the most egregious examples.
QUESTION:
Are costings and details still on track to be released early next year?
TED O’BRIEN:
We’ve decided to release the economics of our energy policy in two parts. Part one we’ve already released, which is to show the economics of Labor’s plan for a net zero electricity grid. It will cost five times more than what the Albanese Government has been telling the Australian people.
Chris Bowen has told the Australian people it will cost $122 billion. In fact, it’s going to cost $642 billion based on an independent analysis of Frontier Economics. Why has Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen been lying to the Australian people for over two-and-a-half years about the real cost of their plan to get to net zero? We’ve already released a full report, a full analysis, on the truth behind Labor’s plan.
The second report will be released before the end of this year and that will show the economics of once you have a grid that includes not just renewables with gas, but also zero emissions nuclear energy. So, you’ll be seeing that in the weeks ahead.
QUESTION:
Do you welcome the commencement of testing at the Hunter Power Project at Kurri, which is a Coalition project?
TED O’BRIEN:
Well, the Kurri Kurri gas project has been yet another Albanese shocker. This was a gas plant that was meant to be up and running before last summer, but of course Chris Bowen in his wisdom decided he wanted to actually run it on green hydrogen instead. This is the problem. When you have an ideologically-driven Government that is only interested in appealing to Greens voters in the cities, they mess up major infrastructure projects. That’s what’s happened with Kurri Kurri.
Our plan, when we were last in government, was to make sure you had a balanced mix of energy, and that includes having more gas in the system. This Government has suffocated the supply of gas, which is why we are seeing the lights go out, which is why we are seeing prices soar.
Our approach, learning from best practice internationally, is to have a balanced energy mix. That means renewables, it means gas, and, as coal retires from the system, it should be replaced with zero emissions nuclear energy.
Thank you very much.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you.
[ends]