THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY POLITICS NOW
MONDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2025

Topics: National Climate Risk Assessment, Net Zero, Electorate Offices, Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence.

ANDREW CLENNELL: Tanya Plibersek, thanks for joining us. We got there. So, a real doomsday prediction in terms of the Climate Risk Assessment released by Chris Bowen today. Is this about softening us up ahead of the release of a climate change target by the government during the week?

MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, TANYA PLIBERSEK: It's about listening to and understanding the science. I mean, the body that's put this research out is a body that was established by Sussan Ley when she was Environment Minister. It's been set up to give advice to the government and it's given its best predictions about the potential impacts of climate change. And it's a very strong motivator for us to make sure that we continue on the course of getting more renewable energy into our energy grid and reducing carbon emissions, doing our share of the global effort that is required here.

CLENNELL: When Labor came up with its target of 43% by 2030, that target went to the full caucus. Will this 2035 target go to caucus or will you have it through Cabinet later this week for the PM to announce it in New York?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, that's, you're about to have the Prime Minister on your show, I think you just said. So, it's up to the Prime Minister and the Climate Minister to make the targets public. Of course, we've already had some discussions about what this will look like. There's very strong agreement within the Labor Party that we want to see a target that is both ambitious and achievable. We want to do what we can to, as I said, play our role in the international effort to reduce the risks associated with climate change. And we want to do what's best for the Australian economy as well. We know that this transition is a really important economic opportunity for us as well as being important environmentally.

CLENNELL: If China and India and the US don't step up on climate action, we could suffer these conditions anyway, no matter what the government's target is. Do you concede that?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, Andrew, there's another way of thinking about this, right, when the Coalition were last in government, they were told that 24 coal fired power stations were closing. We're going to have to replace that generation capacity. Four gigawatts of dispatchable power left the grid, only one gigawatt was added to the grid when the Coalition were in government. We need to do an energy transition, and the Coalition are fighting amongst themselves. Will it be more coal? Will it be more gas? Will it be nuclear? We don't know what their policy is. What we've worked out is the cheapest form of new energy is renewable energy. And guess what? Ordinary Australians have worked that out as well. We've got well over 3 million households who've put solar on the roof. We've got over 50,000 people who've added batteries in just the last couple of months. They're doing that because it's good for the environment, but more particularly because it's good for their family’s budget. They've worked out that it's cheaper to rely on renewable energy. That's why we're making the transition we're making as a government as well. We're adding renewable energy. We're about 40% now, 99 projects approved, 4 Snowy hydro’s added to our electricity generation capacity through renewables since coming to government. That is changing our economy. We know that our trading partners value net zero. Most of our exports are going to countries that also have net zero targets. The world is going to be looking for green steel, green aluminum, these renewable energy powered industrial processors, agricultural goods that have lower emissions as well. These things are benefits for Australia if we capture the momentum that most of the world signed up to.

CLENNELL: Do you accept if those other countries can't be made to move, we get dire weather conditions anyway?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I do think that we need a global effort towards net zero. I certainly agree that other countries should also be moving in this direction. But I think that what we can do right now is capture the momentum that most of our trading partners are already engaged with. And you can, you know, you can see that our goods are going to be more popular in big markets like Europe if we are able to show that we are doing them with reduced carbon emissions.

CLENNELL: You had to review approval for the North West Shelf project when Environment Minister, how do you think that commitment sits with these sorts of warnings on climate change?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I think it's important to remember we're talking about net zero. That doesn't mean that there'll be no pollution in Australia. It means that we need to reduce pollution wherever we can. We need to have good policies that mean that big emitters are reducing their pollution progressively over time. I didn't receive any advice about this North West Shelf project from the Department before the election. And part of the reason for that delay was the Western Australian government were quite slow in getting their ducks in a line. But I know that the current Environment Minister, Murray Watt, will do exactly the right thing. He'll consider the science, he'll look at the evidence before him. He makes a decision based on the evidence before him, just as I sought to do with every decision I made as Environment Minister.

CLENNELL: The PM has had to move his Marrickville office after Palestinian protests. What do you make of that? And you're in a neighbouring electorate, have you had similar issues?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I mean, I've had protests outside my office that have stopped constituents coming in to see me, and I think it's very disappointing. It's also a real pain for other people, neighbours who live in the building, for example. I think it's really undemocratic. I mean, I've been to plenty of rallies in my time, plenty of protests, but they should be peaceful, they should be lawful and they should respect the rights, in this case, with the Prime Minister's electorate office, they should respect the rights of every constituent in the electorate of Grayndler to go into that office and to go in and get help when they need it.

CLENNELL: You're about to give a keynote address at a conference aimed at the 5th World Conference of Women's Shelter in Sydney. What will be your message there?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well my message is that we've achieved a lot in recent decades. The issues of family, domestic and sexual violence are mainstream and bipartisan today. But we've still got a lot more to do. We know, for example, that young men and boys are being fed a real diet of very violent pornography that is affecting human relationships. Choking and strangulation, for example, have become so common in sexual relationships that young girls are saying that they basically expect it, even the first time they have sex with someone, that they'll be choked or strangled without any discussion. I mean, that's alarming. It is genuinely alarming that we've reached this sort of situation where boys are seeing choking in pornography before they've even had their first kiss. So, we've still got a lot of work to do to make sure that we're working with young men and boys to give them positive male role models and that we continue to have those services available for women and children who are escaping violent relationships. We're doing more than any government in Australian history, but there's still more to do.

CLENNELL: Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek, thanks so much for your time.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Great to talk to you.

ENDS