Subjects: Visit to Mount Murchison and the Callide region; the Coalition’s plan to deliver cheaper, cleaner, and consistent energy; nuclear power; the PM’s failed Voice referendum shambles which divided our country and wasted $450 million; Labor’s energy policy shambles; Labor’s cost of living crisis; political candidates; the CFMEU and Labor’s rackets, rorts, and rip-offs in the construction sector; President Biden.
E&OE
COLIN BOYCE:
Good morning. We’re here at the Callide Valley, just outside of Biloela. I have with me Peter Dutton, Leader of the Opposition; Ted O’Brien, Shadow Minister for Energy; my colleague Keith Pitt from the seat of Hinkler, next door to my seat of Flynn. We’re here this morning to talk about the possibility of building a nuclear power station here in the Callide Valley, and particularly over at the site of the Callide coal fired power station behind us.
Nuclear energy is critical to Australia’s energy future. If we are to have heavy manufacturing and heavy industry and business, we need reliable energy. It is abundantly clear that solar panels, wind turbines and batteries cannot supply the required energy for these heavy industries. That is why my colleagues and I are discussing the possibilities of having nuclear power in Australia.
Ted?
TED O’BRIEN:
Thanks very much, Colin, and wonderful to be here. This year, Biloela celebrates 100 years. Today we’re here to talk about the next 100 years because with the long-term assets that zero emissions nuclear plants are, they will underpin not just Australia’s energy security for generations to come, but also the local economy here in the Banana Shire.
Talking to locals today again goes to the high energy IQ that these local communities have. They get it. They understand the importance of energy. They understand the importance of 24/7 baseload power, not just to ensuring that we have a stable electricity grid, but that we can power industry. That’s why here today – listening to locals talking about how they see the future and the role that nuclear energy can play – has been truly inspirational.
Of course, this is one conversation of many that we’ll have ahead as part of a very comprehensive engagement process, but very grateful to be here in a community that totally understands energy, a community that has underpinned Australia’s energy security for a very long time, and with zero emissions nuclear energy, will continue to do so.
I’ll hand over to Peter Dutton.
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Ted, thank you very much.
Thank you very much to our hosts here today, first of all, to Hazel and to Dale. Thank you for hosting us, and also the Banana Shire councillors and the mayor, to the local residents here. It’s been a really informative discussion, and I think Australia is ready for this discussion. I want to say thank you very much to Col Boyce and also to Keith Pitt for being here with Ted and I.
I think if you have a look across the landscape here at the moment, people know in these communities that when coal fired power stations come to an end of life, there are no jobs in this community without a transition to a new energy source. So, it’s good for jobs. It’s good for the local economy. It will be the underpinning of 24/7 reliable power into the future. The Coalition’s policy of renewables, of gas, and of nuclear, is absolutely essential to keeping the lights on – to having cheaper power and to making sure that we can reduce our emissions. As for the top 20 economies in the world, well, Australia’s the only one that doesn’t have or hasn’t signed up to using nuclear in their energy mix.
What we know, at the moment, is that the Prime Minister and Chris Bowen have us on this 100 per cent ‘renewables only’ path, which is what’s driving up the price of your power bill. It’s what is making our system unreliable. So, when the energy regulator talks about blackouts and brownouts into the future, that’s based on Labor’s policy at the moment. So, if we want to have cheaper power, if we want to have greener power, and if we want to have reliable power, then nuclear is the way in which we’ll provide that 24/7 power into the future.
The Prime Minister said that green hydrogen will be the replacement for the 90 per cent of baseload power that goes out of the system by 2034. But green hydrogen, as we know, is not a reality – it’s not a proven technology, it’s not scalable, it’s very expensive and it uses about nine litres of water for every kilo produced.
So, let’s have an honest discussion, because at the moment, Australians are really struggling under this Government. It’s not just the fact that the Prime Minister spent the first 16 months of his term spending $450 million on a Voice campaign that ended up dividing our country. It meant that in that 16 months, he wasn’t focused on making the economic decisions to protect families and small businesses against what we’re seeing in the economy today. Part of the reason that we’ve got a cost of living crisis that Labor’s created in this country is that the CFMEU and others have been contributing to the inflation that has fuelled interest rates. Until we get inflation contained, we won’t bring interest rates down. Interest rates will always be higher under a Labor Government, and I don’t think that Australians – after two years of Anthony Albanese – could afford another three years of this incompetent Labor Government. The Prime Minister might be a nice guy, but he’s a hopeless Prime Minister, and Australians, unfortunately, are paying the price for that.
When you see your electricity bill at home, it’s not just your electricity bill that’s gone through the roof – it’s the local farmer, it’s the cold storage of the produce that you’re paying through the roof for when you go into a supermarket now. So, the inflation problem that we’ve got is entirely the making of this Prime Minister and of the Albanese Government. I really feel for a lot of families at the moment who are struggling to keep their heads above water. The Prime Minister has no solution whatsoever, as to how he can help them.
I also wanted to make some comments today in relation to President Biden. I met with President Biden in New York when we negotiated the deal between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia on AUKUS. He has been a great friend of our country, and he has been somebody who has strengthened the relationship between our two countries. We’re a small island nation of 25.8 million people, and the agreement that we have with the United States is absolutely essential, not just from a trading perspective, but also for our security in a period that the Prime Minister rightly describes as the most precarious since the end of the Second World War. I believe very strongly that President Biden has done the right thing by this relationship, and I’m very grateful for that. I wish him and the First Lady all the very best in the balance of this term and the next stage of their life. I think the fact that President Biden has given essentially his entire adult life to public service is something that we should trumpet today as well. I wish him and his family all the very best into the future.
I’m very happy to take any questions that you might have.
QUESTION:
Why did you pick Callide for your first visit?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we were invited here by Col Boyce, first of all. He’s a great local member, he’s very engaged in the local community and he’s listened to the local community here. The local community here knows that the wind turbines have a lifespan of about 25 years, so you need to replace those wind turbines. Each one of them has 600 to 1000m³ of concrete in the ground. All of that needs to be blasted out every 25 years. So, three life cycles of the wind turbines, compared to an 80-to-100-year lifespan of the nuclear technology.
So, we’re keen to come up to Callide. We’ve been here before into the region and will be back. We’ll be to other communities as well. But I’ve been encouraged by the discussions we’ve had with the local community here this morning. People know that jobs are going to finish when the coal fired power station comes to end of life. The nuclear solution is going to be great for jobs, great for economic activity, it’s a 24/7 power source, and it’s used by 19 of the top 20 economies in the world. Australia is the only outlier. I believe that if we want cheaper power, if we want consistent power, and if we want to reduce our emissions, then nuclear is the technology that we need to embrace.
QUESTION:
Why are we not at the site?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, you can see the site in the background. It’s a state government site so I suspect that Steven Miles would not want you there at all. I’m pretty sure of that. Steven Miles – happy to hang out with the CFMEU and other people in the union movement, but he doesn’t spend much time in the local community, it should be noted.
QUESTION:
When will you reveal costings for the nuclear policy?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ll have more to say about costings in due course. Again, as we know, in somewhere like Ontario, they’re paying a fraction for electricity compared to what we’re paying here. It’s a really important point – that nuclear provides cheaper electricity. There’s a big upfront capital cost, but because you can amortise that cost over 80 years, it makes it a cheaper source of energy. In Ontario, where it’s 60 to 70 per cent nuclear in that system, they’re paying – depending on where you’re talking about in Australia – a third or a quarter of the price that we are here.
QUESTION:
The Federal Government’s on track to miss its housing construction target. Where do you lay the blame? The CFMEU or a lack of funding?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, I think the housing crisis is of the Prime Minister’s making. You can’t bring in a million people over the last couple of years and only build 265,000 new homes. It’s a disaster. We know that we’ve got people living in tents at the moment, families living in the backs of cars. Homelessness is a huge problem in our country, and we’ve got a Prime Minister who’s signed up to an arrangement where they’re bringing in 1.67 million people over five years – which is the size of Adelaide, a new city – but there’s no infrastructure. They’ve cut money from infrastructure.
I think most Australians know that if you want to try and build a house at the moment, you’re paying the highest construction costs in the world. We know that if you want to try and get an electrician or if you want to get a plumber or an extension at home, you’re paying huge prices. Why? Because the CFMEU, with the Prime Minister’s approval, has gone like a wrecking ball through the building industry in this country. We’ve had builders close. We’ve had a reduction in competition. We’ve had an increase in prices. As I think the Master Builders and others have pointed out, there’s a 30 per cent premium on CFMEU sites, and it doesn’t just contain itself to those sites. It means that if you’re paying $200,000 for a stop-and-go person on a CFMEU site, they’re getting similar money for projects that are non-CFMEU sites. It has a contagion effect across the economy.
So, you’ve had this double whack by Labor with the CFMEU power, which is causing huge inflationary pressures in the building market, and you’ve got a Government that’s presided over an economic policy which has driven up inflation, driven up interest rates as a result, and brought in people through the migration program at a time when the housing starts are at an 11 year low.
So, I just don’t think, when people say that the Albanese Government is as bad as the Whitlam Government, it’s for good reason. I mean, this is a disastrous time for our country – all of the Prime Minister’s making – and he has no solution as to how he’s going to help families get out of this predicament.
QUESTION:
Climate 200 has provided funding to community groups in McPherson, Fairfax, Fisher and Moncrieff, which are all held by the LNP. Climate 200 says with the right candidates, these groups could present a strong challenge to the LNP. Are there real threats on those seats?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, Climate 200, as you know, is a profit making venture. As you know, they’re electing Green Teals into Parliament, and a vote for a Green Teal is a vote for Anthony Albanese. So, if you want to get our economy back on track, if you want to have a properly managed migration programme, if you want to have a vision for our country – which is what nuclear energy is for our country – then you need to vote for the Liberal and National Parties at the next election.
Climate 200 is a front for Green candidates. They’re not disaffected Liberal candidates, they’re Green candidates. I just think, look at what the teals have done when they’ve been in Parliament. I mean, can anyone name anything that the teals have achieved since they’ve been in Parliament? I mean, there’s nothing. They’ve come in with an agenda to vote for the Labor Party, to support the Greens, and they haven’t achieved anything in their local electorates.
So why would people vote for the existing teal candidates? And why would you vote for a teal candidate in a seat like McPherson, when all that means is a vote, ultimately for Anthony Albanese? The teal candidates will only ever support a Labor government. They will never support a minority Coalition government. So, a vote for a Green Teal candidate backed by Simon Holmes à Court – who’s very heavily invested into all the renewable projects – that’s the vote for Labor, and so I just encourage people to look behind some of these candidates, they are Greens and Labor sympathisers.
QUESTION:
Just a follow on to that, will the LNP change the way it campaigns in these seats if these groups run candidates?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’ve had incredibly effective members in those seats and we’ll continue to do so. The people standing beside me, they have been very effective local community members. They’ve worked hard for their local community, they’ve sacrificed, and they represent their communities when they go to Canberra.
We can only fix our economy, we can only bring inflation down, we can only make sure that we get the energy mix right for our country, if you vote for the Coalition at the next election. Our country can’t afford, your family can’t afford, your small business can’t afford three more years of Labor.
QUESTION:
You’re on a razor-thin margin in Dickson, and Labor’s Ali France has announced she’ll run against you again. How concerned are you about losing your seat?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, I’ve been very fortunate to hold my seat since 2001. Before that it had a one term curse when Cheryl Kernot was in there and Michael Lavarch and others. So, I’ve never taken my seat for granted. We’ve got to work hard every day. I’ve got a great team on the ground. We’ve given a lot back to our local community. But ultimately, as every Queenslander and every Australian knows, a vote for a local Labor candidate or a vote for a Green Teal candidate is a vote for Anthony Albanese. If you want the disaster of the Albanese Government to continue, then I just don’t think people can contemplate that at the moment.
I just don’t want people to underestimate how hard it is for Australian families. Australian families are hurting at the moment because of the Albanese Government. They’ve wasted money. They’ve spent money at a record level which has driven up inflation. They’ve created a disaster in energy policy, where the energy regulator is now warning that the lights will go out and that power prices will continue to go through the roof. They’ve created a housing crisis by empowering the CFMEU, which is involved with organised criminals and has driven up the prices of projects. We can’t get the roads built, we can’t get the infrastructure built because of the CFMEU and the price structures that they’ve got in place. The migration programme is a disaster under this Prime Minister. They go from one disaster to the next.
The next election will be about getting our country back on track, and that’s why I’d encourage every Australian to look at the two parties, to look at the policy differences, to look at our vision for the country, and to know that your family will always be better off under a Coalition Government. That’s why I’d encourage people to support local members like Ted O’Brien and Col Boyce and Keith Pitt and our other candidates and members around the country.
Thank you very much.
QUESTION:
I just have two questions on nuclear – can I just ask which sites should have small and which should have large reactors?
PETER DUTTON:
No, we’ll provide that information in due course.
QUESTION:
Okay. Just another one. The head of the AEMO, the Australian Energy Market Operator, says nuclear will not replace retiring coal plants so why are you pursuing that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, again, it’s an outlier view. If you have look at what some of the smartest minds in our country are saying, they’re strongly supportive of nuclear. They’re supportive because, as Bill Gates says, we want the maximum energy yield – that is, the most amount of energy out of every square metre of impact on the environment. Why would you shun a small modular reactor which takes up five acres, to build 10,000 acres of solar panels to achieve the same energy yield? It just doesn’t make any sense. Why would you want a system where, as Anthony Albanese is presiding over at the moment, your power prices will continue to go through the roof, and you’re going to have scheduled blackouts and brownouts?
A modern economy can’t run on intermittent power. The smelter at Gladstone, or heavy industry otherwise, which employs thousands of people and contributes billions of dollars to the economy – it can’t run on intermittent power. On a sunny day, like today, the solar panels are working. On a rainy day, they’re not. Of a night-time the solar panels don’t work. When the wind’s not blowing, the wind turbines aren’t feeding energy into the grid.
So, you have to have a 24/7 baseload power. It’s not going to be green hydrogen, as we now know. It’s not going to be pumped hydro because it’s too expensive. As we transition, we know that 19 of the 20 economies, the biggest economies in the world are doing it with nuclear, and why would Australia not follow that? That’s why we’ve taken the decision that we have, because we believe it’s in the best interest of our country.
Our Coalition will always make decisions based on what’s in the best interests of our country and the best interests of Australians.
Thank you very much.
[ends]