TRANSCRIPT
12 June 2024
Ben Fordham
Ted O’Brien, the Shadow Energy Minister is live in the studio. Ted, good morning.
Ted O’Brien
Good morning, Ben.
Ben Fordham
Very interesting problem. So the Prime Minister says Australia would be forced out of the Paris Climate Accord but the bloke who helped design it says that’s not what’s going to happen.
Ted O’Brien
Well, you know, if Australia was going to be forced out, well so too would the European Union, so too would the United States. I mean, this is just typical, typical Anthony Albanese, right? It’s a deflection. At the end of the day, they are failing to deliver on the emissions reduction target and that is tied to their promise of a $275 reduction household power bills. They’re not delivering that. The harder they try, the harder it is for the Australian people because it comes through their power bills. This is what it’s all about. It’s a massive deflection. Now they’re talking about Paris. What we want to talk about is the Australian family, the Australian punter and the fact that they cannot afford to live right now.
Ben Fordham
Let me talk about Paris. In November last year, the UN released its first ever global stocktake of the Paris Agreement, it found the world is significantly off track in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. So the target that we signed up to was to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030. If we’re not going to achieve 43%, what do you believe we will achieve? Where will we land?
Ted O’Brien
Right now, there is buckley’s chance we can achieve 43%.
Ben Fordham
So where will it be? 40 or 30?
Ted O’Brien
And this is the problem, Ben, absolutely nobody knows because the Albanese government refuses to do the work to find out.
Ben Fordham
But Anthony Albanese is suggesting 42%, so is that where we will land?
Ted O’Brien
Well his department suggests that 42% would be possible if everything goes swimmingly well. In other words, every promise of Chris Bowen comes true, or they still miss their target. That’s basically what their department says.
Ben Fordham
So it could be lower than 42% you’re suggesting?
Ted O’Brien
Absolutely. Right now, I don’t think they’ve got a chance in hell of getting there. And this is the thing, right. They keep lying, they keep pretending to the Australian people and the international community, by the way. And guess whose paying the bills? We are. Every single one of your listeners are paying the bills of their broken promises.
Ben Fordham
Okay, Tony Abbott signed us up to Paris. Scott Morrison went to the COP26 and signed us up to net zero and now the Coalition is backtracking. So is it time to admit that the Coalition signed us up to deals with we can’t keep?
Ted O’Brien
Ben, we’re not backtracking. In actual fact, we are saying are we committed to Paris? Yes. Are we committed to net zero? Yes. But the question is how we get there. And that’s where you got a difference between Labor and the Coalition. Labor have this all-eggs-in-one-basket approach. Prices now are among the highest in the world paid by Australians. They won’t achieve their target. There’s a different way to do it. And that is a balanced energy mix. It’s renewables, it’s gas, and as coal comes out of the system, we need to replace it with zero emissions nuclear energy. That’s a path that works. That’s the part that keeps the lights on, prices down, and decarbonises.
Ben Fordham
Okay, let’s talk nuclear. You committed to using nuclear power but you’re still refusing to outline where the power plants will be. You started talking about nuclear power just under two years ago. So how long do you need to announce a policy?
Ted O’Brien
We’ll be announcing the policy in due course, Ben, and I’ll tell you what…
Ben Fordham
When is due course?
Ted O’Brien
Well, we’re at advanced stages now and we’ve been doing the homework and only yesterday, you may have seen in Wyoming in the United States, Bill Gates’ model of a small modular reactor, they’re doing coal to nuclear…
Ben Fordham
Hang on a moment, Ted, we want to talk about Australia, we want to talk about Australia. You’ve been talking about nuclear for two years. At some point, you’re gonna have to put meat on the bone. So when are these advanced stages actually going to lead to an announcement?
Ted O’Brien
We will be announcing in due course, Ben, but we have announced a fair bit by the way already.
Ben Fordham
Is due course 2024?
Ted O’Brien
Well can I tell you what we’ve already announced? We’ve already announced that we are looking at a coal to nuclear strategy. So we are only looking at coal plants in Australia, they are our ideal location. And that’s why I mentioned Wyoming, because that’s exactly what happened last 24 hours – they broke ground on an old coal plant to make it into nuclear. We’ve announced that. We’ve also said very clearly to the Australian people, we’re only looking at advanced nuclear technology. We’ve announced that. We’ve also announced that we could see, if it’s small modular reactors, electrons on the grid in a 10 year period. We’ve announced that. We’ve also announced that it’s part of a balanced mix working with renewables and gas. We’ve announced that. Now, so we have been announcing a lot of our policy as we go. But there’s more to announce, and we will be doing that in due course.
Ben Fordham
Is due course 2024?
Ted O’Brien
You will be getting it certainly this year, I can promise you that.
Ben Fordham
Okay.
Ted O’Brien
Break through!
Ben Fordham
2024 – July, August, September, October, November, December. We’re going to get an announcement at some stage so why don’t we just sort it out now. There’ll be one in the Hunter Valley. That’s locked and loaded, right?
Ted O’Brien
Well, you can make your order, Ben, but the truth is…
Ben Fordham
We’ll put a tick to the Hunter Valley. Lithgow. You’re gonna put one in Lithgow. You’ve got an old coal plant in Lithgow. You’ve got the transmission lines and it’s the talk of the town at the moment in Lithgow.
Ted O’Brien
Ben whether it be – you know – those locations you’re talking about or elsewhere in Australia, one of the things we’ve learnt along the way is communities that have experience hosting coal plants. They have high energy IQ, they get it, right? And they understand the importance of 24/7 baseload power, you can’t turn…
Ben Fordham
That’s why Lithgow – the people in Lithgow are hoping that you’re going to say Lithgow because Lithgow’s dying.
Ted O’Brien
Well look, again…
Ben Fordham
Can you put a tick on Lithgow?
Ted O’Brien
But, again, Ben, again we’ve seen from overseas is it is these communities that are saying, “I don’t know if we’ve got a future once these coal plants die.” They are the very ones who are saying, gee, if we have a 24/7 power station of advanced nuclear technology, then that’s going to underpin our future for up to 100 years. That’s why a lot of these communities are calling for nuclear. Okay,
Ben Fordham
Okay, sounds like there’s one coming to Lithgow. The Liberal frontbencher Holly Hughes has launched a scathing attack on the Shadow Treasurer, Angus Taylor. Hollie Hughes says Angus Taylor used his position to push her off the Liberal Senate ticket. She says it’s a plot from Angus Taylor to boost his numbers for a future leadership tilt. So are you on Team Angus or Team Hollie?
Ted O’Brien
I’m on Team Peter Dutton, that’s what I’m on. And we are a united team, Ben, and that includes I have to say Hollie and Angus. I believe they are absolutely locked in behind Peter Dutton.
Ben Fordham
But Hollie is gone.
Ted O’Brien
Well and I’m going to be enormously sad to see her go. She’s a high performer and she shoots really straight.
Ben Fordham
So why is she being pushed out?
Ted O’Brien
Well look it’s a matter of, you know, preselection of the organisational wing of New South Wales. So, I know as much about that as you do. But it is sad to see good talent go. But you know, one of the challenges is we do have enormous depth of talent and new talent will step up, but we are a united team. We united behind Peter Dutton. And our objective is we need to get a sensible adult government back in town and that will only be under Peter Dutton’s leadership.
Ben Fordham
Okay, so is he your future leader, do you think Angus?
Ted O’Brien
Right now, we have Peter Dutton. He is going to be the best Prime Minister this country has had.
Ben Fordham
Okay, we appreciate you dropping by this morning.
Ted O’Brien
Cheers, mate.
Ben Fordham
Ted O’Brien, the Shadow Minister for Energy.