Subjects: Visit to Gilmore; Andrew Constance – Liberal Party Candidate for Gilmore; Labor’s cost of living crisis; Labor’s energy policy shambles; nuclear energy; Labor’s offshore wind proposal in the Illawarra that will decimate the local environment and economy; the Nowra bypass; meeting with the Premier of the People’s Republic of China; the Prime Minister’s weak leadership.
E&OE.
ANDREW CONSTANCE:
Well, first of all, can I welcome Peter Dutton to our region, and thank you all very much for coming.
I can’t tell you how important it is to have the Leader of the Opposition in town with me today. We have the obvious concerns that relate to cost of living measures for households, but also and importantly, as we stand here at Hanlon Windows – and can I particularly acknowledge and thank Chance and the team – we do need to understand, certainly from a regional perspective, we want to be able to lift up our community, lift up our small business community, and what better way to showcase that than being here at Hanlon Windows.
Can I say more broadly, though, certainly at this difficult time, in a coastal community such as Gilmore, that times are tough, and it’s great to be able to have Peter here on the ground to be able to meet with those community organisations, meet with locals, to understand the pressures that are brought to bear from a Government that has forgotten them from Canberra. That’s what we’re seeing.
We’ve seen a budget that didn’t deliver a thing to Gilmore, we’re seeing cost of living pressures that are out of control for so many, and then of course enormous pressures, particularly for small business who are doing it very, very tough at this time.
So, Peter, thank you for coming. And I’ll now hand to you.
PETER DUTTON:
Well Andrew, thank you very much.
Great to be back in Gilmore. I want to say thank you to Andrew for organising a pretty amazing event this morning, where we spoke to a lot of people there who were involved in volunteer work in the community. Speaking to a couple of ladies there who are involved in the provision of housing and up to about 200 food packages a week.
We know that, not just here, right around the country at the moment, let’s be very honest, there are a lot of Australians who are really doing very tough. The economists now are talking about the prospect of a recession this year, people are talking about one or two more interest rate increases, and families have already had 12 interest rate increases under this Government. The Prime Minister promised a $275 cut to your power bill each and every year, instead power bills have gone up by $1,000.
Speaking to Chance before, he’s talking about the electricity costs here. As you can imagine, in running a factory like this where they employ 80 staff – a very important business within the local community – their power bills just continue to go up and up. Now, of course, we’ve got the energy regulator telling us that under the Government’s renewables only policy, there’s a greater prospect of blackouts and brownouts, and businesses just can’t operate with intermittent power, where you have lights going on and off, or production lines closing down, you can’t run any sort of business in that way.
Can I say thank you very much to Chance and to Bec and to Maddie, and happy birthday to Tim as well, but this is a wonderful family business. This is a third generation business. They give an enormous amount back to the community, and small business across the country is the lifeblood of employment. The 80 staff that are working here, because of the employment opportunity here, they’re able to pay off their own house, put their kids through school, etc., etc..
The Liberal Party will always be the small business Party. We’ll always support small businesses, because we know that they sacrifice a lot and they give back to the community. That’s certainly what the Hanlon’s do here.
So, I’m happy to take any questions.
QUESTION:
So what should we expect from the Liberal Party’s energy policy?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, what we want is cheaper, consistent and cleaner energy. I want to make sure that we don’t continue to pay the highest electricity prices in the world, which we do under Mr Albanese.
The Prime Minister promised that a renewables only policy would bring down prices, but as people know, your power bills just continue to go up. The Prime Minister is signing up to international agreements, when he doesn’t know what impact it will have on the community.
The 2035 target that the Prime Minister’s signing up to – reportedly between 65 and 75 per cent target – there’s no economic modelling, we don’t know how much further that will drive up electricity prices, we don’t know what that will do for the stability or otherwise of the energy system.
So, I want to make sure that like the other 19 countries of the G20 – that is the biggest economies in the world – that we have cutting edge technology that can underpin energy security for decades to come.
When you look at a wind turbine, it lasts about 19 or maybe up to 25 years – so, it’s a short period to amortise that cost – and ultimately consumers are paying more and more for their electricity because of Mr Albanese’s renewables only policy.
Under nuclear, you have the ability to firm up renewables in the system, obviously still have gas in the system, and the nuclear technology, the latest generation nuclear technology, used by 19 of the 20 biggest economies in the world, it’s got an 80 year amortisation period, which means that you have cheaper electricity. That’s why in Ontario, and other areas around the world, in those economies where they’ve got nuclear power, they’re paying a fraction of the cost that we are here, and they’re not getting the reports back from their energy regulator that there’s going to be blackouts like they predicted here in Australia.
So, I think we should have a mature discussion in relation to what our energy mix looks like going forward, because my vision is to make sure that we underpin economic success and jobs for decades and decades to come. If we do that, we can build more things here, we can grow our economy. At the moment, Labor is slowing our economy down, and frankly, after three budgets, their policies are really wrecking the economy.
QUESTION:
It’s expected that nuclear power is going to take 15 years to start that industry. Is that delaying climate action?
PETER DUTTON:
It’s just not, because the Prime Minister talks about his baseload power being green hydrogen, which is in an exploratory stage at the moment. There’s an enormous amount of water required for each kilo – about nine litres of water required for each kilo of green hydrogen. So that’s not even developed and scalable as yet.
So, when you get 90 per cent of baseload power coming out of the system by 2034, you need to have a replacement or the lights are going out. This fallacy, this fantasy, that the Prime Minister wants you to believe, that the lights can work of a night time with solar panels, it just doesn’t happen. We need to run hospitals 24/7, we need to make sure that cold rooms are operating 24/7, we need to make sure that we have a strong, secure, reliable, energy system, and the Prime Minister just doesn’t have the vision for our country because he can’t manage his Government day-to-day.
QUESTION:
Offshore wind was an idea introduced by the Liberal Party. Why have you suddenly back flipped on that?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, this is another Chris Bowen special. I mean this is a guy that keeps on giving. He’s a disastrous Minister. He’s putting in place policies which are forcing up electricity prices. He tried to cut gas out of the system, he’s now put gas back in. You need to engage with local communities, you need to have an understanding of what the communities have to say. There has been a botched process from day one by Chris Bowen.
What we’ve done is listen to the local community. It’s clear that probably at least two thirds of the community don’t support this project, and as Andrew and others have pointed out, it’s part of a $1.2 trillion spend under Labor, which is going to jack up your power prices. If you think $1,000 is a lot that your power bill has increased by, wait for Labor’s $1.2 trillion to be paid for by consumers and small businesses.
So, we want to have renewables in the system, but we want to do it in a responsible way, and we need to be able to firm up that intermittent power. We can’t be reliant on the weather for the ability to turn on the lights. A modern economy just doesn’t work like that.
QUESTION:
Mr Dutton, in 2022, in the federal election, both sides of the aisle made some pretty major funding commitments for the Nowra bypass, but nearly three years on, it seems like it’s no closer to starting than it was when those commitments were made. So, should you become the Prime Minister and Andrew, the Federal Member for Gilmore, what will you guys do to ensure that not only does the Nowra Bypass get started, but it’s in a position where it can also be completed?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, it’s an essential piece of infrastructure for this region, and Andrew Constance is the greatest advocate for that funding. We went to the last election with a funding commitment, and we remain committed to that.
This Government’s had two years now, and it’s not just here locally, projects right across the country. The Government’s stripped money out of infrastructure projects, at the same time, the migration programme is running at its highest level in history, bringing in over 920,000 people in two years. We know that there’s only 265,000 homes being built, and that’s why Labor has created this housing crisis. But also, it means that you’ve got extra pressure on infrastructure and the planning has to be there.
I don’t believe that Australians can afford three more years of this inaction and the inability to make decisions, and the Prime Minister has demonstrated his weakness across a number of areas, but he needs to get on to the department and make sure that these projects get underway.
When we’re elected at the next election, we will make sure that these projects are underway immediately, because the local communities can’t go without that level of basic infrastructure.
QUESTION:
Can you reassure the community that there’ll be no nuclear reactor at Murrays Beach in Jervis Bay?
PETER DUTTON:
Yes, I can. Because, look, we can have a 14 year old conversation about these issues, but let’s have an adult conversation instead. I know the Labor Party’s putting out all sorts of cartoons, and ‘the Simpsons this’ and nonsense. This is about keeping the lights on in hospitals. It’s about making sure that pensioners can afford to eat and heat, not one or the other. Over the course of this winter, we know that people, on fixed incomes, in particular – pensioners, part pensioners, self-funded retirees – can’t afford to turn on their air conditioning or their heater. That is not a country that we should accept. We need to make sure that we’ve got affordable, reliable and cleaner energy.
I believe very strongly that the policy that we’re putting forward means that you can utilise the existing distribution network – that is the poles and wires that distribute the energy from the point of generation, so we’re only talking about coal fired power stations – and the Labor Party knows that.
I would just say to Australians; forget about the fear and a weak and visionless Prime Minister out there trying to scare you. Look at the vision that we’re creating for our country, which will generate industry jobs, economic growth, for the next century. That’s the policy that we have on offer, and it stands in stark contrast to increased prices, blackouts, uncertainty. We know that in our country manufacturing has, over the last two years, the number of businesses that have gone insolvent is up threefold under this Government. So, that’s the consequence of bad policy.
QUESTION:
Back in the 60s they started work on Murrays Beach. They did millions on seismic studies and all the rest, built a large carpark, put in footings. Why would you not consider that as a possible option? Saving millions of dollars in [inaudible].
PETER DUTTON:
Is it a coal fired power station site?
QUESTION:
[inaudible] that was for a first nuclear reactor.
PETER DUTTON:
It’s not a coal fired power station site, it’s not on our radar. We’ve been very clear about that.
QUESTION:
When can we expect a detailed plan of where these nuclear sites would be?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ll let you know as soon as we make that announcement.
QUESTION:
As you know, Littleproud was here over the weekend vowing to stop the wind farms off the shore, which, as you know, is extremely unpopular in much of this electorate. What will you do?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we’re part of a Coalition, so that’s our coalition policy. I think Andrew’s been an exceptional advocate for the local community. He’s listened to the groups, he’s made arrangements for us to meet with representatives from the community later today. So, we’ll sit down and listen to those concerns, but it’s clear that the project shouldn’t go ahead and if you vote for Labor at the next election, the project will go ahead. If you vote for the Coalition, then we will not have it as part of our policy and it will be a very big difference between the two parties on that issue and many others before the election.
QUESTION:
So, why do you support Gippsland offshore wind, but oppose the Illawarra?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, there’s strong community support there, and there’s been proper engagement, and there’s been a proper process that’s gone through. There are key differences.
QUESTION:
So what exactly is the Coalition’s policy on nuclear reactors? Nuclear energy?
PETER DUTTON:
On nuclear?
QUESTION:
Nuclear.
PETER DUTTON:
Yeah – ‘what’s our policy’?
QUESTION:
Yeah.
PETER DUTTON:
Oh ok. Well, firstly we need in a modern economy, we need to have reliable energy. We can’t have lights going on and off. We have 90 per cent of the baseload – the 24/7 power – coming out of the system by 2034 – so that’s predominantly coal. There’ll be a massive ramp up of gas to provide that interim arrangement. As we know, the New South Wales and Victorian Labor Governments have negotiated to extend the life of some of the coal fired power station assets. Under Labor’s proposal, which is a renewables only policy, they need to install 28,000km of new poles and wires, because you can’t distribute the renewable energy over the existing network of poles and wires.
So, our argument is that because you’ve got the poles and wires already plugged into the existing coal fired power stations, why make that redundant? Why not use that asset, that brownfield site for the latest technology, and generate energy there that can keep the lights on 24/7, that can bring energy prices down, bring your electricity prices down and it’s greener because it’s zero emissions technology.
In the United Kingdom at the moment, the election there, the Labour Party is promising more nuclear into the system, and they’ve been critical of the Conservative Party there because they haven’t had enough baseload nuclear power in the system.
The other important point to make is that for a 470 megawatt small modular reactor, the latest technology, the waste out of that each year is the equivalent of about a can of Coke. Okay? About that size. It takes up about two hectares of land – so five acres. The equivalent solar array takes up about 10,000 acres. It’s a phenomenal difference. As Bill Gates says, as you should be with every square metre of impact on the environment, yielding the maximum amount of energy. That’s the approach that we’ve taken.
QUESTION:
So you’re basically talking about converting disused coal fired power stations into nuclear reactors?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, using that land, that’s right, because the poles and wires are already hooked up to that land. So, under Labor’s policy, they’ve got to roll out 28,000km of new poles and wires.
Remember this Chris Bowen, who was instrumental in pink batts and school halls. He couldn’t roll that programme out, but somehow he’s telling you that he’s going to roll out 28,000km of poles and wires across farmland, through national parks. It’s just never going to happen. Twenty eight thousand kilometres is equivalent to the entire Australian coastline. It’s a fantasy. That’s why I just don’t think Labor can be trusted when it comes to making decisions about the economy. We want to win the next election so that we get our country back on track.
QUESTION:
And flipping these coal fired power stations, even if they are amongst the community, amongst populations, you’ll still do that? And will there be a restriction as to where they’re allocated, given the risk that is associated?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, let’s look at example for Lucas Heights, which was established in 1958. So about one in two Australians, over their lifetime, would go to hospital and use nuclear medicine in some form – so an X-ray, CT scan, for cancer patients, etc. 1958, that reactor was established at Lucas Heights. It is obviously within proximity to the local community there. It’s been operating safely, the nuclear components are distributed to hospitals all around the country each day.
We know that in South Australia – because the Federal Government, the Labor Government’s signed up to the AUKUS deal with the United States and the United Kingdom – that the nuclear reactors, the same technology on the submarines where our sailors will be sleeping beside. So, there’s no safety question in Mr Albanese’s mind.
If he was worried about nuclear reactors, he wouldn’t be putting the sailors onto the subs that he’s signed up to, and we know that they’re going to be stopping at Osborne in South Australia, and at Henderson in Western Australia, they’re in proximity of local communities there. So, again, let’s just deal with the facts of the technology. This is 2024, not 1944.
QUESTION:
Yesterday, you met with the Chinese Premier. Yesterday afternoon we didn’t get a chance to catch up with you after. How do you feel that went?
PETER DUTTON:
We had a productive meeting, and China’s obviously an incredibly important trading partner to us. We raised the issue of Cheng Lei, which was a very regrettable incident. I’m very pleased to hear that the Government’s raised that with the Chinese Embassy because it’s completely unacceptable in our free society for that sort of conduct to take place.
I do want to point out that the Prime Minister clearly misled the Australian people yesterday when he got up and did a press conference and said that he heard nothing of it, he didn’t understand what the question was or didn’t know anything about it. It’s completely inconceivable. The Prime Minister needs to stand up today to explain the discrepancy, explain why he didn’t tell the truth yesterday. Please grow a backbone and stand up for our country. The job of the Prime Minister is to make tough decisions and to call out bad behaviour and to make sure that you do the right thing by Australians. That’s what our Prime Minister should do.
QUESTION:
Andrew Forrest has called the 2030 emissions target critical for business planning and warned removing it could lead to Australia missing out on economic opportunities. What are your thoughts here and do you agree?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we want renewables in the system. Andrew Forrest I know well, he’s a good friend and a great Australian. He’s very heavily invested – in the billions of dollars – into renewable energies. So, he’s got a particular interest in making sure that hydrogen and others are successful.
In government, we invested into the same renewable technologies. I want to make sure that we’ve got renewables in the system. I’m happy for batteries, but we can’t pretend the batteries can provide the storage, because, at the moment, we know the latest technology battery can store power for about two hours. We know that pumped hydro is difficult, we know the hydro is great, but there are limited opportunities for what you can use hydro.
We need to make sure that as we decarbonise and as the economy transitions, that we have to do it in a sensible way. Of the G20 – the biggest economies in the world, Australia is one of those 20, and we’re the only one that has a ban on nuclear power, and we’re the only one that isn’t utilising a cheaper, reliable, greener, zero emissions, latest generation nuclear technology. Why does Mr Bowen and Mr Albanese have it right, but all of the leaders of the G20 have it wrong? It just doesn’t add up.
QUESTION:
On the Chinese Premier’s visit, if lobster tariffs aren’t lifted, is this trip a success?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, we want to see all of the tariffs lifted, because Australian manufacturers, producers, those involved in the agricultural sector shouldn’t be paying a price. They’re working hard and they’re trying to export their product. We want a relationship which is normalised, we want to see the trading relationship grow. I mean, that’s incredibly important, but we want to see success out of this visit, and hopefully that’s one of the announcements.
QUESTION:
On immigration…
PETER DUTTON:
Yes.
QUESTION:
…You’re talking about cutting immigration figures, we’ve got a number of industries; hospitality, healthcare, childcare, etc., screaming out for workers that they can’t get. Is cutting immigration risking their chances of success in that environment?
PETER DUTTON:
Well look, our first responsibility to make sure that Australians who need housing can get it. It’s unacceptable, given the housing crisis the Prime Minister’s created, that we’ve got people 20, 30, 40 deep lining up for a rental property, or you go to an auction and you can’t buy a house for love nor money. It’s unacceptable in our country that somehow people believe that it’s okay if you buy a house with your parents assistance, but that somebody next door to you who doesn’t have money, misses out on a house because their parents can’t provide that support to them. That’s not a situation I would ever accept.
I want Australians to achieve the great Australian dream of homeownership. It’s better for them financially, particularly in retirement, it gives them an asset to set up a small business.
What we announced was a slowing down of our migration programme so that housing builds can catch up. We know that building starts are at an 11 year low, and as part of our policy, we also announced that we would allow more people on age pensions and veterans on pensions, who chose to do so, to be able to work a few extra hours each week, which helps them, and it also brings them back into the workforce to contribute to the sort of vacancies that you’re talking about.
QUESTION:
On the subject of doing it tough, economists are predicting two more rate rises in the next 12 months, will this be helpful for you going into the next election?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, the main thing is that we want to see an economy where Australians can do well, not where they’re hurt. The Government’s had three budgets now, where they had a chance to introduce decisions that would help, not hurt families, and instead the economy is in a precarious position. We’ve got anemic growth in the last quarter, we’ve had five consecutive growths now of negative GDP per capita outcomes that families are really feeling.
Talk to small businesses, they’re either shutting up shop, they’re putting staff off, they’re reducing hours. People aren’t spending as much when they come into a cafe. So, it is tightening as a result of the decisions made by this Prime Minister, and we’ve got to get our country back on track and get our economy back on track. If we see more interest rate rises, that is on top of the 12 that Mr Albanese’s already presided over, that will be disaster for small businesses and families.
QUESTION:
Andrew, I just wanted to ask, as you contest your seat in the next federal election, is scrapping the Illawarra offshore wind zone something that you’ll lead into the campaign?
ANDREW CONSTANCE:
Can I just, first of all, say this election’s about the community and our region. I don’t want to see politics upsetting our community when everybody is under financial stress. I want to see our region lift, I want it to be a positive place to live and I want everybody to be cared for, particularly the vulnerable.
In relation to offshore wind, one thing that I’ve observed over the last couple of days that nobody has actually talked about; the price tag of this and the flow-on effect to people’s power bills. Our region’s experienced 18 per cent increases in power, when every resident was promised a $275 reduction by the Labor Party at the last election. People are really doing it tough. We’re talking about businesses who have to shut their doors, employees losing their jobs and pensioners who are under blankets right now because they can’t turn the heater on.
A $10 billion project, 20kms out to sea, with tens of thousands of tonnes of concrete and steel, and Chris Bowen’s talking 2030. I’m hearing from the Labor Party publicly that it’s gonna reduce power bills. The same group of people who promised a $275 reduction. It’s very serious. What we now know, particularly given the concerns that are being elevated in relation to the environment, migratory species of birds and whales and sea life, that’s one thing, but a $10 billion price tag. I’m not making this up, it’s on the proponents websites. What’s even more alarming is that this is only for 30 years of operation – again, on their website, they say 30 maybe plus years of operation. That’s why ultimately we can support responsible renewables, not ridiculous renewables. I believe those proponents will come in, they’ll asses this and walk away. It is cost prohibitive.
The other thing which Chris Bowen hasn’t done – and this is near the Gilmore electorate, but certainly for the people of the Illawarra – where are those onshore substations going? I mean, we’ve seen proponents actually talk about that in a national park. So, I think there’s a lot more that needs to come through in relation to this.
But yes, it will be obviously an issue that people will vote on, but of course, without doubt, it ties directly into cost of living, which is without doubt the number one issue for this election.
PETER DUTTON:
Thank you very much.
[ends]