TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP INTERVIEW WITH ROWAN RAMSEY MP, PORT AUGUSTA
18 July 2024
Topics: Port Augusta, zero emissions nuclear energy, green cement, hydrogen.
Rowan Ramsey
G’day, Rowan Ramsey here and I’m once again in the crossroads of Australia here in Port Augusta. We’ve got Ted O’Brien with me today, the Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change, and we’re here in Port Augusta because of course, we’ve got an announcement about Australia’s energy future and what a coalition government would do. One part of that plan is to build a nuclear power station here at Port Augusta on the – near the site of the old northern power station. It’s been a long time coming to this point of view, but we could see that at the moment Australia’s power network is under enormous challenges. Here in South Australia, we have the highest penetration of renewables in Australia by double – by double any other state and yet we have a 50% premium on our retail electricity prices. So, here in Port Augusta in South Australia, we know that the current plan is under great pressure, we have to find another way of doing business and that’s what this plan is about. So today, we’ve already met with some representatives from business Port Augusta, we’ve been out on site and met with the Hallett green cement people. We’ve had a look around the rest of the site. We’ve been in – we’ve just had a meeting with the Port Augusta Council, and we’ll be meeting with some traditional owners in a little while. It’s really very encouraging for me that the Port Augusta community has approached this in a very mature manner. We haven’t had talks of three-eyed fish and green babies. What we’ve had is people say, “come on, come on in, tell us what you’ve got. Take us on the journey and so then we can make up our minds when we’ve got realistic information in front of us.” So, well done Augusta and I’m going to hand over to Ted now.
Ted O’Brien
Rowan, thank you very much. It’s wonderful to be here in your patch. It’s wonderful to be in Port Augusta, and what a visit. You know, all Australians deserve cheaper, cleaner and consistent 24/7 power and it’s going to be places like Port Augusta that will underpin Australia’s future energy security and will help us as a nation enjoy that cheaper electricity over time. To be in South Australia, a state which this financial year will be paying up to 56 cents a kilowatt hour for their electricity, I was reflecting with council before on Ontario in Canada, where they’re paying 14 cents a kilowatt hour. Now, why? Well, they have zero emissions nuclear energy as part of their balanced energy mix. One of the great things about talking to people here on the ground, locally today, has been their understanding of the importance of energy. This is a high energy IQ community. In short, they get it. They also understand the need for technologies to work together. They complement each other. They understand that as we move to the future, Australia still needs 24/7 baseload power, we also need gas, and we also need renewables and these technologies can work together in a complementary fashion, as part of a balanced energy mix. This community, from the conversations I’ve had today, they get that. They understand the importance of it. We’ve also spoken today about the coalition’s plan to have a regional deal here in Port Augusta. Ultimately, a multibillion-dollar state of the art nuclear facility to be built here is going to require a workforce and that means more people living and working locally. But with population growth comes the need for improvements in infrastructure and public services. So, as part of a regional deal, we need to ensure that we build infrastructure ahead of the population curve. We spoke a lot about that today with the various community leaders with whom we’ve met, we’ll continue to have those conversations, because our approach is to put the community at the centre. It shouldn’t be Canberra, making a decision about what’s in the best interest of Port Augusta, but rather the locals here themselves. That’s the process that we’ve laid out, upon coming to government, with a comprehensive community engagement process. We’ve also talked today about the importance of having an integrated economic development zone anchored to the state-of-the-art new nuclear facility. Now this economic development zone would allow for the existing and emerging businesses here in Port Augusta to coexist, together with other industries that will be attracted to a location that will be able to offer the cheapest electricity in the country, along with a handful of other locations around the country that will also be hosting a zero emissions nuclear power plant. Happy to take any questions.
Journalist
Just speaking with, I’m guessing you spoke with Linley Shine, the Mayor, and Councillors maybe some other staff. But um, did they have any – where were they at with, like the increase in obviously, people coming out to the region to obviously if a nuclear does come to the – come to fruition? What did they have any – what stage are they in at the moment? What are they thinking in terms of housing, and skill shortages? Could you be able to touch on that with them or – and other – other people I guess, what – what are they thinking in that space?
Ted O’Brien
Council representatives were very clear about advocating for the needs of the local community and they were sharing their views about what this community needs, ranging from housing, through to improved infrastructure and better services. All of these issues are good to have on the table because they need to constitute part of a regional deal to be done. As we look at introducing zero emissions nuclear energy, it is important for people to understand that we are talking here about a holistic package, which includes not just a state-of-the-art multibillion dollar facility, but a regional deal that will look after the imperatives of community and transport infrastructure along with improved public services, and that economic development zone.
Journalist
How do you go about encouraging people who might be living in the region who are interested in obviously, going down that path of getting some more education being involved in major projects, is that – is that kind of where you want to go in terms of keeping people in the region and then obviously, in turn, attracting more people is – is there a process around that, or?
Ted O’Brien
Upon coming to government, our plan is to establish a community partnership here on the ground, which would manage a lot of the community engagement. Over a two-and-a-half-year period, we will have comprehensive engagement with the community where all answers can be given to any question that is asked, any technical question, of course, being answered by those who have the expertise to answer it through an independent authority we shall be establishing. We’ll also be making sure that the local community can call for reports on any issue which is of a priority to that community. This is why getting the community engagement right is absolutely key. Best practice internationally puts communities at the centre of the process. That’s the coalition’s approach here. Based on the conversations today, here in Port Augusta, I think they’ll be very open to it.
Journalist
Is that a positive future you’re looking at there in terms of like having people working on future projects – that you don’t think that’s going to be an issue or can you see that far ahead at the moment, or?
Ted O’Brien
This is a positive vision for Port Augusta. We see the coexistence of the existing businesses and the emerging ones with new industry that will come here, locally, because they’ll be attracted by the cheapest electricity Australia has to offer. That, in turn, we’ll see more people come here, live here, enjoy life here in Port Augusta. I believe the greatest days are ahead for this community, if we can continue to work together. Put the community at the centre and we’ll get this right.
Journalist
And just like – the local reaction, obviously, I spoke about it briefly off camera, but um, it’s been relatively positive, like you’ve been able to – like as – just coming out here today, have you had enough time to kind of go through the – work through the benefits? I know we talked about community engagement a lot, but um, have you had that time to be able to get a decent enough reaction, I suppose, and just, like, work with that going forward, or?
Ted O’Brien
It’s early days, of course, but today we’ve had a lot of very productive discussions and very positive ones. I found the people of Port Augusta open minded with high energy IQ and they’re looking at the opportunities ahead. They’re asking questions, as they should. The more that we can answer those questions, and we can go on that journey together, where they understand what’s on offer here is bigger and better than just a power plant. We’re talking about setting this region up for 80 to 100 years of economic growth and prosperity. A region that will help underpin Australia’s future energy security, and to be rewarded for doing just that.
Journalist
Just speaking with, um, all, just finally with the green cement just out of town there, but what did you get from that experience? What was – you obviously had the chance to speak with, I think it’s Craig down there that runs things. You have a good discussion out there or what was kind of the point of discussion out there with them?
Ted O’Brien
Looking at the plans for green cement here in Port Augusta was nothing short of inspiring and is reminder of what Australia can do when unleashes its human capital, with its own innovation. These are the sorts of things that we want to see continue to progress here in Port Augusta, working together with other businesses that are going to diversify this economy and take it forward for generations to come. Our belief is that with a zero emissions nuclear power plant, with baseload power, coming back here on that site, we’ll see the economy prosper even further, more investment come in. Port Augusta has the most extraordinary future ahead of it. I look forward to continuing the journey ahead.
Journalist
[question inaudible]
Ted O’Brien
The decision about green hydrogen from Fortescue indicates the government now has a massive hole blown in its energy plan. It has allocated billions for billionaires and continues to put all Australia’s eggs-in-one-basket. All it takes is one of those billionaires to change their mind and here we are as Australians, we need to have a balanced energy mix. We need to be embracing an all of the above approach when it comes to technology. But Labor continues to only pick winners. Problem is, the winners they pick sometimes turn out to be losers.
Journalist
[question inaudible]
Ted O’Brien
I do believe that their entire scheme is now under question. As is their entire made in Australia approach. It sounds good, but it’s nothing more than a bumper sticker. As we’ve seen, it has barely lasted a month or so and its key measures are falling apart. Labor is actually weakening the Australian economy and we will lose our sovereign capability. As a nation, we will become poorer and weaker. Australia under Labor won’t be making anything much in the future.
Journalist
[question inaudible]
Ted O’Brien
You can’t put too much pressure on any one technology which is what Labor is doing. Ironically enough, Labor is setting renewables up to fail because they are putting too much pressure on them. The coalition’s approach has been a technology agnostic one. We have been supportive of hydrogen in office, and in opposition. But unlike Labor, we don’t take an all-eggs-in-one-basket approach of saying that it’s green hydrogen or nothing else. We believe that we should be colourblind when it comes to hydrogen. Green hydrogen is great. So too is blue. So too is pink with nuclear, by the way. Our approach of being technology agnostic has not changed. Labor continues to sign big fat checks on behalf of the Australian people on its bets. But it’s betting with Australians’ money and those gambling activities are turning sour.
Journalist
[question inaudible]
Ted O’Brien
There is no doubt that when it comes to the price point for green hydrogen, there’s a long way yet to go. We believe that more work needs to be done until it reaches the right commercial level for the market. Our criticism of Labor is that Labor is just hoping it all works, but it’s banking Australia’s future on it. Labor is closing 90% of our baseload power over the next 10 years without any replacement, it is suffocating gas. It’s doing this in the hope that industrial scale renewables will roll out, but they have stalled. They are also suffocating gas in the hope that hydrogen is suddenly going to be here. Green hydrogen is not here today at the scale we need. That’s why we need gas. The big lesson in the short term for the Labor Party from today’s announcement by Fortescue is we need gas, gas, gas, gas and a lot more of it. They need to stop the ideological bet. We need to have a balanced mix of technologies, that is renewables, gas and coal today, as coal retires from the system and should be replaced with zero emissions nuclear energy.
Journalist
[question inaudible]
Ted O’Brien
In due course, we will be announcing the coalition’s approach, including to renewables. But we reject the stupidity of Labor’s made in Australia approach, which puts all of its bets on only a few horses and so far, very few of those horses are still even on the race.