E&OE….
Topics: water reform, Prime Minister Turnbull, Environment Portfolio, Direct Action, renewable energy, climate change
FRAN KELLY:
Minister good morning. Thanks for joining us again.
GREG HUNT:
And good morning Fran.
FRAN KELLY:
How do you make sure that this move won't see the rivers sacrificed to the needs and wants of the farmers and irrigators?
GREG HUNT:
Well, the first thing is that the architect of Australia's water reform was Malcolm Turnbull.
The second thing is, we have just had the two greatest years of water reform I would say in Australia's history.
We have put in place the Basin Plan. We have put in place a national re-plumbing, with $2.5 million a day going into infrastructure.
And only on Monday, we completed the legislative reform task in all major ways with the passage of what's called the 1500 gigalitre cap.
So my job – which I was only given after the election, I didn't have it but Barnaby did before the election – was to complete the reforms. By pure chance, that occurred at 11am on Monday morning with the passage of the legislation.
Now it goes into implementation, which is primarily about re-plumbing rural Australia and working directly with farmers on making on-farm and inter-farm savings.
FRAN KELLY:
Yes but architecture is all very well. You need to monitor it – you need to make sure it works.
GREG HUNT:
But there's also legislation.
FRAN KELLY:
Yeah, so on that – later I'm speaking with Peter Cosier from the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. They're disappointed by an early decision in the Budget to de-fund, for instance, the National Water Commission.
He says it provided important advice and monitoring of State and Federal Government activities. Now that it's switched across, for instance, should that Commission be reactivated? Who is going to be doing this monitoring?
GREG HUNT:
Well that monitoring is something which will come out automatically through the work of the Murray Darling Basin Authority.
It comes out through the work of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder. So there are two fundamental, paramount bodies will which continue to exist.
FRAN KELLY:
So those environmental scientists who are monitoring it now, they'll stay in charge of that even though the portfolio itself – the policy area switches to a different portfolio?
GREG HUNT:
Well look, the administrative arrangements I won't try to pre-empt…
FRAN KELLY:
They're key though, aren't they?
GREG HUNT:
…these are matters for the Prime Minister but the legislative responsibilities, the roles of the Commonwealth Environment Water Holder, the roles of the Murray Darling Basin Authority are guaranteed. The environmental flows are guaranteed.
What we've discovered and what we've produced in the last month is that we will meet our water targets, we will reach the 2750 gigalitres which needs to be returned to the river.
And it's coming from a combination of on-farm savings, off-farm savings – but above all else, infrastructure.
And we are going through the greatest infrastructure build under this Government in Australia's rural history.
And that's about making water more efficient, closing leaky channels, piping water on a grand scale, moving to drip irrigation – that's actually happening.
And the implementation phase which is going to be extended further – which means it's carried on through the farm communities – naturally, naturally should be returned to those farming communities.
FRAN KELLY:
Okay, if we could move on to some other matters now.
Malcolm Turnbull was not a fan of Direct Action in the past, that's well known. He's on the record. It seems he's been persuaded by its capacity to deliver cuts to emissions.
For that to happen though, everyone agrees – including you – that the penalty regime is key.
Business today, in a letter to you – and it's a letter being published – is almost begging you – it seems to me – to toughen up the Direct Action penalty regime.
Australia's largest businesses have sent you a letter which starts by saying – climate change is affecting our businesses and the communities in which we operate, we recognise we have a role to play, we want to play our part.
You've got the green light now to toughen up this penalty regime, haven't you? Will you do it?
GREG HUNT:
Well we actually have a system which is already working, which has produced…
FRAN KELLY:
We haven't got the penalty regimes in place yet, and that's key, you agree with that.
GREG HUNT:
…produced 47 million tonnes of reduction, four times the amount of the entire carbon tax experiment – in just the first Emissions Reduction Fund auction.
FRAN KELLY:
Yes but you yourself know that that needs to be balanced by a tough penalty regime. At the moment there are critics of it saying it's not tough enough. Will you toughen it up?
GREG HUNT:
Well actually we have a system where there are fines of up to $1.8 million…
FRAN KELLY:
But you say you don't expect to get any money from that, so…
GREG HUNT:
Well my goal is not to be raising money, my goal is to be reducing emissions. We are not doing what Labor did of giving – believe it or not – $5.5 billion to brown coal generators.
We're directly reducing emissions. The World Bank has adopted a system remarkably parallel to ours.
It's a system which is about going out and cleaning things up, as well as providing a limit for Australia's largest emitters. So these two things will operate in parallel.
The Emissions Reduction Fund has exceeded everyone's expectations. The critics were wrong. The reality is we're reducing emissions without increasing electricity prices. And that is a good thing.
And Malcolm Turnbull shares my passion about reducing emissions. So we'll hit our targets.
And he has a deep, strong belief in the role of things such as solar, other renewables, and reducing emissions directly.
FRAN KELLY:
It's four minutes to seven on Breakfast, our guest is the Environment Minister, Greg Hunt.
Just on that deep commission – deep commitment and passion for renewables and solar, the Government has – wants to chop the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and ARENA – the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
It's committed to scrapping these bodies, the Senate has stopped you doing it so far. Is that still your plan?
GREG HUNT:
Look our policy remains. But frankly these are matters which in the last two and a half days I haven't discussed with the Prime Minister.
FRAN KELLY:
How do you feel about it? Do you still think they should be gone?
GREG HUNT:
Look, what we've tried to do is to refocus the Clean Energy Finance Corporation on solar and energy efficiency. To their credit they have started to do that, there have been very significant packages…
FRAN KELLY:
But they all say they want the CEFC and ARENA to remain – do you want those to remain?
GREG HUNT:
Look our policy has been to…
FRAN KELLY:
Scrap them.
GREG HUNT:
…make changes there. But I haven't had a discussion with the new Prime Minister or, obviously the new Cabinet because that will be constituted in the coming days.
FRAN KELLY:
But what do you personally think?
GREG HUNT:
My approach is, the primary mechanisms are the Renewable Energy Target and the Emissions Reduction Fund. There may be other…
FRAN KELLY:
So we don't need those bodies?
GREG HUNT:
…there may be other complimentary measures, but I won't pre-empt discussions which simply haven't occurred yet.
FRAN KELLY:
What about the Clean Energy – the Climate Change Authority, it's – Bernie Fraser quit as Chair of the Authority just last week.
It's been said privately that you bullied him out of the job. He's a former Reserve Bank Governor – why wouldn't you want him on the board?
GREG HUNT:
Well it hasn't been said to me. And…
FRAN KELLY:
It's been said to me.
GREG HUNT:
…I was expecting him to be there until 2017. And so I had no knowledge or expectation, and I have praised him publicly for his long period of commitment to public service.
FRAN KELLY:
Who are you going to put in his place? Because Warwick McKibbin says he's been approached.
GREG HUNT:
Well it hasn't been by me. And it hasn't been on behalf of me.
FRAN KELLY:
Well who will you appoint and when will you appoint the board?
GREG HUNT:
Well we'll make appointments in short order. And I think that we'll have people who are committed to climate action, committed to reducing emissions. And that will be a discussion obviously with Malcolm and the new team.
FRAN KELLY:
Minister there's so much to talk about, but we're out of time. Just very briefly – you have a new Prime Minister in Malcolm Turnbull.
Should he go to the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris too do you think – would that be a help?
GREG HUNT:
Look, again we haven't discussed it. He said that the Foreign and Environment Ministers would be going. But knowing Malcolm Turnbull and knowing his passion, he will want to be engaged in global discussions.
As to a particular conference at a particular time, we'll have to look at his timetable and he'll make his own decisions. But he's passionate about reducing emissions.
We will meet our targets, we'll be a significant global player under Malcolm Turnbull, and he'll define the ways in which he wants to do that.
But what everybody's discovered is, we've got a very effective working policy – as opposed to the shambles of Pink Batts, and Green Loans, and Cash for Clunkers, and a carbon tax.
FRAN KELLY:
Minister we are out of time.
GREG HUNT:
We are in a good place.
FRAN KELLY:
Thank you so much for joining me in the studio.
GREG HUNT:
Thanks Fran.
(ENDS)