SUBJECTS: ENERGY PRICES, CLIMATE CHANGE, GREAT BARRIER REEF. 

DANICA DE GIORGIO, HOST: Returning now to one of our top stories, Anthony Albanese's national plan to lower energy prices could be under threat amid an 11th hour request for the New South Wales and Queensland Governments to impose their own domestic coal price caps. It's a move that would avoid the Commonwealth having to pay tens of billions of dollars in compensation to producers. 

Joining me now live is Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek. Thank you for joining us, Minister. Are you facing a stand off with the states over this? 

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Oh, no, I don't expect that at all. We've had very cooperative relations with the states on the energy crisis, and I know that my colleagues will be speaking to state leaders, the Prime Minister will be speaking to state leaders, and I have no doubt the Energy Minister is speaking to his counterparts as well. 

Look, we've got a real problem in Australia with energy prices; we've had 10 years of inaction under the previous government, and of course the war in Ukraine has driven up energy costs around the world. We need to do something for families and businesses here in Australia, and I know that the State Governments are equally determined to deal with the rising cost of living too. It's having an impact on their economies too.

DE GIORGIO: So, when can we expect to see an energy plan? 

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, it's not for me to comment on the negotiations that will happen at National Cabinet between the Prime Minister and the Premiers, but we are absolutely determined to do something about energy prices. We did inherit a situation where the previous government had 22 separate energy policies over nine years and hadn't landed a single one. And you know, globally, the cost of coal and gas, because of the war in Ukraine, is very high, unsustainably high. 

We need to deal with that domestically here in Australia by doing what we can with our coal and gas producers making sure that we've got energy suppliers available for Australian businesses, particularly those high energy businesses like manufacturing. 
We don't want to see jobs lost, and we know this is hitting the family budget as well. People are really worried about their home electricity prices. It does show a couple of things though, it shows that we should have got on to the energy transition much earlier. 

If we weren't competing globally for coal and gas, if we had more renewables in our grid already, we wouldn't see these huge energy costs spikes that we've seen in recent times. It shows why the transition to more renewable energy is so absolutely vital to keep costs lower, so that Australia can be more self reliant when it comes to energy. 

DE GIORGIO: All right. Let's talk about coal. Sky news has obtained a leaked document report that shows that more than 500 jobs will be lost in The Hunter when coal power stations close. Why hasn't the full report been released? 

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I've only seen the reports in the media as you have, but let me say this: from memory, Liddell signalled that it was closing around 2015. 

The previous government has made no plans for energy transition. Since we've come to government, in the few short months we've been in government, we've announced our 20 billion dollar Rewiring the Nation Program, we're working to make sure that areas that are highly dependent on cheaper energy, those big industrial areas, actually have a plan for their future. 

We're working to make sure that around 3 billion dollars of the Rebuilding the Nation Fund's been set aside for investment in renewables and other   and new energy types as well. We need to get energy costs down. We need to have cheaper reliable energy to support Australian businesses. 

We're getting on with that. It's a shame that we're coming in after nine years inaction, and the previous government has known about the coal fired power plant closures for many years, and none of this has come as a surprise. 

What's been missing the whole time is a plan for the regions and the workforces that we're talking about. 

DE GIORGIO: All right. I want to ask you about the Great Barrier Reef. The UN says it should be listed as "in danger". Is it in danger? 

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, that's not exactly what's happened. There's been a technical report sent to a UN body that will consider whether to list the reef as "in danger".

And we say that it doesn't need to be listed by UNESCO as in danger. It doesn't need to be singled out. Now, I absolutely acknowledge that climate change is a threat to our Great Barrier Reef as it is a threat to every coral reef in the world. As oceans warm, we will see more frequent mass bleaching events, like we've seen on the Great Barrier Reef in recent years. But the Great Barrier Reef is one of the best managed reefs in the world. 

We're spending $1.2 billion to deal with issues like water quality run off from the land, like Crown of Thorns starfish outbreaks, working with our scientists to rebuild our reefs, including what they're calling ‘coral gardening’, encouraging spawning of coral so that we can replant our reefs. 

We are working with Traditional Owners to make sure they're able to deal with invasive species on the reef, we're working with commercial fishing companies to make sure they’re reducing their by catch, we're working with tourism operators; this is a massive effort to protect and restore our reef for future generations. 

No one needs to tell us to take this seriously. No one needs to tell us. No one loves the Great Barrier Reef more than Australians. We're prepared to invest, we're prepared to put the work in, and I've got to say, the biggest change in recent times is being prepared to legislate carbon pollution reduction, 43 per cent by 2030, zero net emissions by 2050. 

Our contribution to reducing carbon pollution, our contribution to keeping global warming below one and a half degrees is the biggest and most important thing we can do to protect our coral reef and coral reefs around the world. 

DE GIORGIO: Okay. Tanya Plibersek, we need to leave it there. Thank you so much for joining us.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Nice to talk to you.