THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS - FIRST EDITION WITH PETER STEFANOVIC
THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER 2024
SUBJECTS: MCPHILLAMYS GOLD MINE, HOUSING POLICY, NEGATIVE GEARING.
PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: A highly respected anthropologist has cast serious doubt over claims of a Dreaming story about the blue-banded bee at the proposed Blayney gold mine, which Tanya Plibersek used to block the billion-dollar project. This is the Australian report this morning. Wiradjuri authority Uncle Neil Ingram told the Minister in February that that story wasn't even true. Joining us live is the Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek. Minister, good morning to you. Have you been duped into blocking the mine by a dissident Indigenous group?
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Not at all. And my reasons for the decision I made are publicly available. I've given them to the mining company and they're available on my departmental website. But I'd say this: you've said block a billion-dollar project. What I've said is that the tailings dam can't be built on the headwaters and springs of the Belubula River. My decision applies to 16 per cent of the site in question. The company themselves have said they looked at over 30 designs for the tailings dam. What's interesting about this as well is that the CEO and the chair of the board have bought thousands of extra shares in the company and the company's share price has gone up by 37 per cent. So, when you look at that evidence, I think we're fairly confident that there's a way forward. The Australian keeps writing that this has blocked the project. I have to be very clear. The project can go ahead. They just need to redesign the tailings dam.
STEFANOVIC: But as you said in that report, it's unviable.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I guess the share price tells a different story.
STEFANOVIC: Just back on these claims by the Dreaming story, you've got some key people in this article saying that that story is false. There's no record of a blue-banded bee being a totemic ancestor. So, have you ignored those points of view and why?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, not at all. I've listened very carefully to the evidence from all of the parties concerned and I've taken the advice of the Wiradjuri Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. That's the same group that the previous Minister, Sussan Ley, took the advice of when she made a similar decision under the same law about 50 kilometres away. And I think it's very important to say I have looked at and considered all of the information before me. Thousands of pages of information were submitted to me when I was making my decision. What's really curious is Peter Dutton has come out and said he would reverse my decision. He hasn't looked at any of the evidence, he hasn't listened to any of the people concerned. It's that kind of decision making that gave us Robodebt and secret ministries and car park rorts and sports rorts and $30 million paid for a block of land worth $3 million in the Leppington Triangle, and the dodgy visa privatisation thing, the Synergy 360. I mean, we had a government not so long ago that used to make decisions based on no evidence, ignoring the law, favouring their mates. I'm not going to do that.
STEFANOVIC: Ok. Has this call to reject the proposal - let's put it this way - has that call been made to fend off the Greens who might be targeting your seat at the next election?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: You know what? There was a group of people who wanted me to block the whole project. The mining company, of course, wanted me to make no changes to the project. What I've said is that on this 2500-hectare site, 16 per cent of the site needs to be protected because of its particular significance. My reasoning is laid out very publicly in the statement of reasons that I've given to the company and put up on the website. You can read through it at your leisure. I think there's a very strong case there and I stand by the decision.
STEFANOVIC: Onto the Prime Minister's investments. If Anthony Albanese wins the next election, there's some claims about retirement, although he's rejected that this week. Do you expect Anthony Albanese to last a full term if he wins the next election?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: 100 per cent. Absolutely. He is very committed to the job. He's very committed to serving the people of Australia. I don't doubt that he's there for the long haul.
STEFANOVIC: You've been touted for a long while now as a leadership aspirant. Are you in the running if he doesn't make it?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I know that he's determined to stay there, that he is absolutely committed.
STEFANOVIC: You did not answer the question, Minister.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: And, you know what, his focus, you know what his focus is, and what all of our focus is, is making sure that ordinary Australians get a better quality of life, that they've got job security. I mean, on the one hand, you've got Peter Dutton saying he's going to actually reverse the decisions we've made in industrial relations, that have seen people get three consecutive pay rises for those award workers and low income workers, that have seen more job security, that have given people the confidence that if they work hard and they do the right thing, their job will be there for them tomorrow. Peter Dutton wants to change that. We've made sure that 13.6 million Australians get a tax cut. Peter Dutton only wanted to give that tax cut to high income earners. It's not that long ago that the Liberals were last in power, and they were saying that low wages are a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture, and they wanted to give tax cuts only to the top end of town. I think when people really focus on the difference when it comes to job security, when it comes to higher wages, when it comes to tax cuts for all Australians, not just the top end, they'll remember what it's like to live with a Liberal Government.
STEFANOVIC: Okay. Do you want to look at negative gearing again?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No. We've got $32 billion worth of housing policies. We've already announced the first 14,000 out of the Housing Australia Future Fund to be built. That could have happened a lot sooner if the Liberals and Nationals hadn't voted against it and the Greens hadn't delayed it for a year. We want to be building more homes for Australians to rent, public rental, private rental to buy, to move into. We've made it easier to buy a home with a smaller deposit. We want to do a shared equity scheme. That's Greens Party policy. It is bizarre that they are voting against that in the Senate and it's in their own policy. It just shows how shallow they are that they're not prepared to act in the best interests of Australia. We've actually increased Commonwealth rent assistance for renters, the biggest increase in 30 years. So, whether you want a place to buy, a place of your own to buy, whether you want a private rental, whether you're relying on public rental. In every way, we are in there doing our best to get more Australians into a home of their own. And all we've had from the Greens, from the Liberals, from the Nationals are roadblocks.
STEFANOVIC: All right, Tanya Plibersek, we'll leave it there. That's a no to negative gearing. The second one from a key Minister this morning. Thank you, Tanya. Talk to you soon.
END
