TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2GB DRIVE WITH JIM WILSON
TUESDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2021
SUBJECTS: Vaccination rates in Sydney; The Coalition’s net zero "plan"; Investing in renewables.
JIM WILSON, HOST: And we are joined by Tanya Plibersek, Tanya.
TANYA PLIBERSEK, SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN: It's always a pleasure to talk to Jim.
WILSON: Thank you, thank you for your time as always. Before we talk climate policy, I want to talk about the vaccine rates in the City of Sydney LGA. Last week the first dose rate was 74 per cent first dose, 67.6 per cent fully vaccinated. This week they are at 74.7 per cent first dose, 70 per cent second. So they've barely moved, and by the look of things that first dose rate has reached its peak and it's not even at 80%. How disappointed are you that people just aren't responding as far as rolling up their sleeves in the City of Sydney?
PLIBERSEK: Look, I'm a bit frustrated by those numbers. They do vary quite a lot across the different suburbs. So Erskineville's at almost 90%, but Potts Point is just under 60%, so it's pretty disappointing to see that sort of gap. We are a younger electorate than most, so I was hoping that those very slow numbers at the beginning were because young people didn't have access, there wasn't enough Pfizer. But, I don't know, still pretty slow at that lower end of the suburbs. Still pretty frustrating.
WILSON: Well see Byron Bay has a first dose rate of 83.4 per cent. I mean something's going wrong in the City of Sydney. I mean, you know the community, you've been their local member since 1998 - why aren't people getting the jab?
PLIBERSEK: I can't answer that. There's some fantastic local initiatives. Just on Saturday at Waterloo Oval there was a drive to get people in the Waterloo-Redfern area vaccinated. We've had some great pop-up clinics in the public housing in my electorate. But when you look at some of the suburbs there - Potts Point is really struggling, Chippendale also down at just under 60 per cent. I mean, some of this might be because people have gone home, they're not actually living in the city anymore. They've gone - take Chippendale or Camperdown which had both got pretty low vaccination rates, a lot of those people would be students, either Australian students from country areas or even international students. So there might be some more complex story going on there. But whatever the case, it's just not good enough. We need to do better.
WILSON: Let's talk climate policy. The Coalition's finally unveiled its policy, they say they're united on getting the net zero by 2050 -
PLIBERSEK: Well that's funny in itself, isn't it? I mean you've got a Deputy Prime Minister who admits he argued against a zero net emissions policy. Imagine that in any other government - a Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister that don't agree on this fundamental thing.
WILSON: Well, Anthony Albanese is called it a scam, not a plan. So what do you make of the Government's announcement?
PLIBERSEK: Well, the Prime Minister went into the press conference today with a slide deck, not a plan. We are very pleased that the Government has finally committed. It was unthinkable that the Federal government wouldn't commit to zero net emissions by 2050, when every state and territory government has committed to that. The Business Council of Australia supports it, the National Farmers Federation supports it, our big mining and energy companies support it, big transport companies like Qantas support it. Basically the country's moved on and I think Australian people have moved on. There's a reason one in four people have got solar panels on the roof. It's not because they're raving greenies, it's because they worked out that solar energy is cheaper. They can run their household, and for businesses they can run their businesses, more cheaply if they can put solar on the roof. What's extraordinary about the Prime Minister is, now it's good that he's come on board for the target, but he's refusing to release the modelling that's behind the plan. He hasn't really laid out how he's going to get to those emissions reductions. And what we want to see out of this is cheaper, cleaner energy and the jobs that come with it.
WILSON: So just on Labor's policy target, how will it be different to the Coalition's at the next election? And will you be making changes to it?
PLIBERSEK: Well, we've already - we don't know exactly what the Government's policy is yet, so we'll see what their detailed policy is. But we've already made some really important announcements like rewiring the nation, making sure that the electricity transmission network is up to scratch because when we put more renewables in, more solar, more wind, more hydro, you need those transmission lines to be working properly to move that energy around the grid properly. We've also said we'll make electric vehicles cheaper. We'll offer community batteries, so not every house obviously can have a solar panel on the roof, but if you're in a block of units you might want to build one together or a neighbourhood might want to put in a battery together. And of course, we've also talked about apprenticeships for people in these new jobs that will be created by the shift to more renewable energy in our grid. We're really keen, of course, to see the environmental benefits of this, but it's all about the cheaper power for families, bringing down their household utility bills. And for businesses, they can employ more Australians if they're paying less for their energy.
WILSON: But Energy Minister Angus Taylor joined me a short time ago on the program and says the power prices won't go up for households.
PLIBERSEK: How can he say that when he's not prepared to release the details of the plan? The Government actually - the Senate called for the detailed modelling behind the Government's plan and the Government argued that it should be treated confidentially. It should be kept from the Australian people. The Senate should be learned to see it and the Australian people shouldn't be allowed to see it. It's just laughable that they're now saying, 'yeah, we've got a plan but you're not allowed to know what it is', to the people of Australia.
WILSON: Well one of Bill Shorten's biggest struggles with his climate policy was that he couldn't explain the cost. So can you tell me, how much will Labor's 2030 and 2050 policies actually cost?
PLIBERSEK: Yes, and we'll make all of that clear before the next election. We're completely committed to zero net emissions by 2050, we've been on the record for years now saying that, and we believe that there should be more ambitious, interim targets. But it's the Government that's going off to Glasgow next week. And so it's up to the Government now to put Australia's position, and if it's possible for Labor to support it in a bipartisan way, we'd like to do that. A year ago, our leader wrote to the Government and said, we want to work with you on this zero net emissions business, let's see if we can work together. We'd like to do that, but we need to see the details of the Government's plans. So far what we've seen is a slide deck.
WILSON: So when will you actually reveal what the cost will be? When will you tell the Australian people?
PLIBERSEK: When the Government come back from the international conference and we see what the world has done, that is the time for Labor to make clear our more ambitious interim targets. But you already know we're about cheaper electric vehicles, we're about community batteries to bring down the cost of household energy, we're about fixing up the transmission line so that we can keep costs low for business and households who draw power from the grid.
WILSON: Can you categorical rule out introducing a carbon tax?
PLIBERSEK: Oh, yeah. I think we're well beyond that. We've had that debate, that's done.
WILSON: There's no doubt your party will get the points as it were on climate policy. But do you think you can convince the regions that you can be trusted to keep their best interest at heart on this issue?
PLIBERSEK: Can I tell you, there is a reason that the National Farmers Federation back zero net emissions by 2050. The Meat and Livestock Corporation, Pork Australia, our big regional employers like BHP and the other resources companies - they all back it because they get that this is an opportunity, an economic opportunity for Australia. We can be an energy exporter for decades to come exporting hydrogen, for example, or products made with hydrogen that the world will be crying out for, will be in huge demand. The rest of the world is looking on at Australia rubbing its hands thinking, thank goodness that they're not head of the pack, because we have all these natural advantages. The solar, the wind, that we could turn into cheaper products made with renewable energy, that the world is crying out for right now. And we're once again at the back of the pack. Once again, too little too late.
WILSON: Yeah, but a lot of our listeners are asking the question this afternoon, I'll put this to you, how are you going to fund all these promises? That's what they want to know and you could, you know, I mean it's a reasonable question?
PLIBERSEK: Well why don't you start by asking the Government, where is the $20 billion dollars coming from that Angus Taylor's boasting about putting into renewables? They keep talking about technology not taxes? That's taxpayers' money, $20 billion dollars of taxpayers' money and they're pretending that it's not. We see this as an investment. And I'll tell you who else does, the Business Council of Australia have said that if we don't act on renewables the cost to the Australian economy will be enormous. They predict the cost to the Australian economy of not acting is $900 billion dollars and almost 200,000 jobs over the next few decades. So, yes, we need to invest - the transmission lines, we've already said that that's $15 billion dollars for the national reconstruction fund, that we'll look at ways of adding value here, so that we're not just exporting our raw products, but we're actually doing the manufacturing here in Australia. We've said that the transmission lines for electricity need upgrading, of course that's a cost. But if it brings down the cost to Australian businesses and households and they're employing more people, that's driving growth in our economy.
WILSON: So you'll tell the Australian people though how you're going to fund these promises but beyond the Glasgow climate summit, it will happen like in the weeks beyond that?
PLIBERSEK: Yes. Yep.
WILSON: Before I let you go, I want to ask you about your colleague Penny Wong, who's had a crack at the PM for taking ten staffers with him in his entourage to the Glasgow Summit. No, well hang on a minute, back in 2009 in fairness to Senator Wong, she was among the 60 person group who to Copenhagen with Kevin Rudd. It was a bit of a cheap shot, wasn't it?
PLIBERSEK: Yeah, I'm sorry, the Senators have been in Senate estimates today, and I've been here in the House of Representatives in Question Time and so on, so I didn't I didn't see that exchange. Look, it's a very difficult time to be traveling and when we've still got so many Australian stuck overseas I guess it's pretty hard to see big groups going away -
WILSON: I get that, but Senator Wong made these comments about the fact that, you know, questioning the PM and the entourage of ten people. She was part of a 60-person entourage with Kevin Rudd back in 2009. It's a bit rich.
PLIBERSEK: Look I don't know, I can't answer. I didn't say the exchange.
WILSON: Yeah well that's what she - that's the comment that she's made. She's a colleague of yours. I mean are you surprised? Are you disappointed by that comment?
PLIBERSEK: It's just hard to comment Jim, when I haven't seen it or heard it. I don't know what the lead up to it was. It's obvious that the Prime Minister does have to have people with him when he's traveling, it's important to have your chief advisors there. But I don't know who he's taking with him, and likewise I don't remember who it was that travelled to international meetings with Kevin.
WILSON: 60 people. A lot more than 10. Appreciate your time this afternoon Tanya, as always.
PLIBERSEK: Yeah no worries at all, thanks.
ENDS
