E&OE….
Topics: Peter Slipper case, Renewable Energy Target, carbon tax repeal
MARK PARTON:
Greg Hunt joins us right now. G’day Greg.
GREG HUNT:
Good morning Mark.
MARK PARTON:
I mean, I’ve got to ask you, what were your thoughts on that last night?
GREG HUNT:
Well, I also have to confess I have a little five year old fellow whom I was putting to bed last night. It can sometimes be the joys of Father’s Day but also the challenges of Father’s Day so you may hear some squawks in the background. He’s just here right now so I didn’t see that one.
MARK PARTON:
So, but I mean you’d be aware that basically throughout this whole thing Christopher Pyne has denied prior knowledge of the claims. He says he read about them for the first time in a newspaper.
And so the heat – if there’s any heat out of this – it’s going to be over the fact that apparently Ashby says that this meeting was on and Pyne says it wasn’t.
GREG HUNT:
Look, obviously I don’t know the details, but I back Christopher a hundred per cent. More significantly my recollection was that there was an affidavit tendered by the person in question who indicated that there hadn’t been any promises or other things made to him, so I assume that what they say under oath to the court is accurate.
But I don’t have the facts or the details other than that I’d back Christopher a hundred percent.
MARK PARTON:
One of the things that came through in this chat last night is that, you know, the whole time that Ashby was there with Peter Slipper was obviously, causes him a lot of pain and he’s in a bad place over it. I do wonder how much he got paid for the interview last night.
GREG HUNT:
Again, I wouldn’t know that.
MARK PARTON:
No.
GREG HUNT:
Not having seen the interview, but more significantly I don’t know whether or not there’s been any reporting of whether or not there was or wasn’t something on that front. So it wouldn’t be fair of me to speculate. I think the point though underlying all of this is that there was a very serious claim of somebody having suffered sexual harassment.
It’s been through two levels of hearings within the court and at the end of the day the court has found that he has a right to bring his case of sexual harassment. That’s my recollection and understanding of the fact. As to whether or not he proceeds, I don’t know.
MARK PARTON:
Alright.
GREG HUNT:
So somebody is always in a very difficult place if they have been allegedly been harassed by an employer.
MARK PARTON:
Alright. Let’s leave that behind and thanks for addressing questions on it. I know there’s not a great deal you can say.
Renewable Energy Targets – that’s certainly been a massive discussion in the last couple of weeks. Where are we at as a country here?
GREG HUNT:
Look, where we’re at now is that we already have fifteen percent renewable energy. The longstanding bipartisan commitment is to twenty percent. Through an inadvertent flaw in Labor’s legislation we’re heading to twenty-six percent in theory, but the risk is that we suddenly hit what’s called the penalty price because there isn’t the build. And so that means we’d just be paying a tax.
So what we have done is undertaken what was due under Labor and the Greens law in any event, a review. The review has found that there’s a three to four percent impact through the Renewable Energy Target on electricity prices, which is not the free electricity that some claim but nor is it the extravagant price that some commentators have claimed. It’s not insignificant but it’s three to four percent. It’s also found that there is a problem with over-capacity and building over-capacity.
So we’re letting the report sit on the table. We’re carefully considering it but at the end of the day there is a long-term clear future for renewable energy and the Renewable Energy Target, but it’s about finding balance and we would openly offer to and invite the ALP to be part of this discussion. This is a chance to work towards a bipartisan approach and protect the industry long-term…
MARK PARTON:
Do you think that’s really possible though?
GREG HUNT:
I would hope so. For example, we were told that we’d never get our Green Army legislation through the Senate. We worked with the ALP. The ACTU tried to play some games and to the credit of everybody involved we were able to get the Green Army through the Senate with the ALP and so my approach is to work with the crossbenchers, the Greens or the ALP on legislative reform.
We will talk with them, we’re happy to work with them and at the, you know, in the long-run for the country, stability in this sector is important. It was almost destroyed by a phantom credit scheme by Labor axing the renewable, the Remote Renewable Power Generation Scheme and axing the Solar Hot Water Rebate and the Solar Panel Rebate. They caused chaos. We’re managing it all in a balanced, open, consultative way – genuinely.
MARK PARTON:
Alright. As Federal Environment Minister, tell me, what are your thoughts on what it is that the ACT Labor Government’s trying to do in marching towards a ninety percent target?
GREG HUNT:
Well, I think there’s a national approach and all States and Territories are entitled to take their own steps. They have to be mindful of the costs and they, I would say, ought to best work in with a national approach. We’ve just seen that the ACT has very high electricity prices.
They are fortunately better off, the removal of the carbon tax has probably had more impact in the ACT than anywhere else. It’s an eleven and a half percent reduction for Origin Energy customers, an eleven percent reduction for Energy Australia customers, a 2.77 cent a kilowatt hour reduction, which is comparable, reduction for ActewAGL customers.
So, ACT consumers are paying very high electricity prices, eleven percent lower now on average because of the reduction of the carbon tax. So I’d say to the ACT Government, be part of the national conversation and work with us on a national approach which will give a long-term future to renewables, but without hiking the price for families or small businesses.
MARK PARTON:
So, so are you think that if, you know, Katy Gallagher and Simon Corbell and Shane Ratenbury have these amazing visions, that by the sounds of your response that it’s your belief that it’s folly for them to chase a ninety percent target?
GREG HUNT:
Well look I’ll let them speak for themselves and the ACT Opposition also speak, but the answer’s pretty simple. Everybody has to realise that electrons flow across borders. That electricity flows across borders that State borders mean virtually nothing and Territory borders mean virtually nothing in terms of the actual supply.
MARK PARTON:
Yeah, so it’s pretty difficult to have one chunk of the country doing ninety percent.
Martin’s just sent us a message. He says the ACT does not have high electricity prices. He says we sit at the lowest in the country.
GREG HUNT:
I think they do have high electricity prices and you’ve just seen the fact that the carbon tax removal was eleven and eleven and a half percent and so they are significantly better off today.
No State or Territory was more positively affected than the ACT by the abolition of the carbon tax so the listeners today are the ones who have benefited, on average, most in the country.
MARK PARTON:
Alright. Greg, thanks for your time this morning. Appreciate it.
GREG HUNT:
Cheers. Take care. Bye bye.
(ENDS)