SUBJECTS: 2030 emissions target, UN Ocean Conference, visit to Murray Darling Basin, Reserve Bank interest rate hike, NSW floods 

ANDY PARK, HOST: Tanya Plibersek is the Environment Minister. Welcome to you.

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: It's great to be with you.

PARK: You've echoed the words of your colleagues that legislating your 2030 emissions target will be one of the first acts of the new government. Will the more favourable world view of Australia’s climate action under your government be at risk if the 43 per cent emissions reduction target is not legislated?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I'd be very surprised if the crossbench and the Greens didn't support the greater ambition on climate that we're going to the Parliament with. It certainly was a very clear demand at the last election. It was a big issue and I would very much hope that the Opposition and the crossbench would support Labor's position. We went with a very clear target and I think we've got a very strong mandate to deliver.

PARK: That more ambitious target has helped to reset the relationship with international partners, including France. It's reopened the door to EU free trade negotiations. The EU benchmark is a 55% reduction on 1990 levels by 2030. Was there a push by your European counterparts for Australia to move closer to that?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, there was a very warm reception for Labor's higher ambition when it comes to carbon pollution reduction. And you mentioned in your introduction the warm reception I got from the President of France, Emmanuel Macron. I also met, of course, with the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry. I met with a number of Pacific leaders. I met with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I mean, every one of them welcomed Australia's higher ambition on climate change. And I was at a UN Oceans Conference, we know that we can't protect the health of our oceans, we can't protect the health of our environment, without acting on climate change. That was a very strong message throughout the conference and it was terrific to be able to go as an Australian and say, we're proud of the fact that we're lifting our ambition to tackle dangerous climate change.

PARK: French President Emmanuel Macron called on Australia to adopt protections for ocean life and conservation under a treaty. You say it would be unfair for UNESCO to ignore efforts and list the reef as in danger. When will we see the reef's health improve as a consequence of that $1.2 billion that the Government is spending on the reef?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think no one is more conscious than Australians that climate change is having an impact on the reef and the water quality runoff from land is something that we need to look at. We've got Crown of Thorns Starfish infestation. But as a government, because we have committed to higher ambition on climate change, and because we are committed to $1.2 billion investment on restoring and helping our reef adapt to these challenges, I think it is premature to list the reef as in danger. I don't think it would help. I mean, we actually have a very strong focus on the health of the reef. Listing something as in danger is usually a way of getting a government to pay attention to it. I can tell you it is top of my list of priorities and I'm so impressed by the science that so many of our conservationists and traditional owners and tourism operators are involved in at the moment. We need to make sure that we give that an opportunity to work.

PARK: Tomorrow, you'll begin a two-day visit to the Murray Darling Basin. Labor has promised to recover 450 gigalitres of water by the 2024 deadline. That one, two gigalitres amount has been returned to date. How will you recover the other 448 gigalitres in this system?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, one of the reasons I'm going to the Southern Basin tomorrow to meet with a whole range of stakeholders from local communities, First Nations communities, industry, agriculturalists, environmentalists, farmers, is I need to hear from them how we're going to do this. This water was part of the original Murray Darling Basin Plan. We signed up to deliver these environmental flows ten years ago. It is shocking that so little has been achieved over the last decade. I'm really worried about how we're going to achieve what we set out to achieve. But South Australia, for example, signed up to the plan on the promise that they were going to see water flow as far as South Australia. Drinking water, farm water, environmental water. We need to make sure that we deliver on those promises. A lot of people have said that there are elements of the plan that they find difficult or frustrating, but nobody wants to go back to a time before the Murray Darling Basin Plan. So we've got to find a way of making it work, and that includes returning these environmental flows.

PARK: On RN Drive, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is here. We're discussing her upcoming visit to the Murray Darling Basin. Is the government considering pushing for an extension to that time frame?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, my first task is to deliver the plan as it was originally conceived and that's what I'm focused on at the moment. It is difficult. I'm not going to pretend there is an easy solution here, but I'm visiting the Southern Basin tomorrow and the next day, I'll be visiting the Northern Basin shortly and talking to people who are living this is the first step in coming to a solution.

PARK: Of course, it's no secret that this wouldn't have been your first portfolio choice. Is the Murray Darling Basin going to be the most vexatious part of your environment portfolio?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: This is a fantastic portfolio and I'm delighted to have it. We know that Australians at the last election sent a very clear message to the government that environment matters to them. And I am really loving the challenge of this new portfolio - and the Murray Darling Basin Plan, delivering on that is a really important part of this new portfolio, water in general. I mean, we live in Australia, we're dealing with terrible flooding at the moment, but we know for certain in years to come we'll be back with water shortages and even drought. We need to be ready for that, and the Murray Darling Basin Plan is a really vital part of that.

PARK: The Victorian Labor government has been opposed historically to water buybacks. Federal Labor has yet to rule that in or out. Will you consider buybacks in order to meet those legislative targets?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: They're not Plan A, they're not the first tool I'll reach for, but I'm going to keep that option open and it would be premature of me to start ruling things out before I've even gone to visit the affected communities and seen the affected landscapes that we're talking about.

PARK: Just onto another matter, Minister. The Reserve Bank has lifted the cash rate by half a percent, the third rise in as many months, taking it to 1.35 per cent. The Treasurer says cost of living pressures will continue to get worse in coming months. What would be the benchmark economic indicators needed to hit before the government considered additional short-term relief?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Look, I’m not going to start speculating about additional measures. What I would say is we know that families are doing it tough right now. We know that this interest rate rise comes on top of a whole range of cost of living increases. And we know that it comes on the back of years of low or even negative wages growth. So we need to grow the economy. We need to do it in a way that is not inflationary. So Labor is investing, for example, in making childcare cheaper. That takes the pressure off the family budget. It also contributes to the economy by allowing more people into the workforce for more hours a week. We know we've got skill shortages across the economy. We're investing in skills again and that's a really important investment to take inflationary pressure off the economy. But it also helps people who are looking for a job, helps them get a better job, a higher skill job that pays them more money. Energy prices are another terrific example. We know that energy prices are putting real pressure on family budgets. They're also holding businesses back by upgrading our transmission lines, investing in cheaper, cleaner, renewable energy and obviously the firming and so on, that we need for renewables to be a bigger share of our energy market. We take pressure off the family budget and we help the Australian economy. So we've got a range of measures. We've only been in government a few weeks, we need to see those measures take effect. And of course, we'll have a budget in October as well.

PARK: Just lastly on the floods in Sydney. Of course, you are from Sydney. The fourth flooding event in 18 months this last few days. Some communities have been forced to evacuate as rivers broke banks and houses flooded. I'm just about to hear from a fourth-generation oyster farmer who won't be able to produce oysters again this season. How can you work in your role with Emergency Services Minister Murray Watt to mitigate against future flooding events? And I note, I think it's 97 per cent of all disaster spending in Australia occurs after the event. How would your government address that? And what proportion will go towards environmental mitigation as opposed to just cleaning up after?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: The first thing to say is that these most recent floods are really shocking. They're taking a toll physically on communities. I think psychologically, this is just so tough. It's awful being flooded once, being flooded again and again. It is obviously really taking a toll on communities. So we're thinking about those communities and their immediate needs. We're very grateful to the personnel who are helping out. And, yes, we have to look long term at how we build back better. The previous government set aside billions of dollars for responding to emergencies and spent a fraction of that money. We need to make sure that when we're rebuilding, we're preparing communities for the fact that we know that climate change will make severe weather events more extreme and more frequent. We need to take that into account as we rebuild.

PARK: Minister, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thanks so much. It's a pleasure to talk to you, Andy.

END