E&OE….
Topics: Carbon Farming Initiative
PATRICK CONDREN:
Greg Hunt, the Environment Minister joins us. Minister Hunt good morning, thanks for your time this morning.
GREG HUNT:
Good morning Patrick.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Can you explain exactly what’s happening?
GREG HUNT:
Exactly. The first thing is that we have abolished the carbon tax. We did that with the support of the crossbench including Mr Palmer and the Palmer United Party. The electricity price reductions have flown through to your listeners. We’ve had the largest ever drop across the country in electricity prices in Australian records.
The second thing is we’ve now secured agreement from Clive Palmer, the Palmer United Senators, Senator Xenophon and Senator Madigan and Ricky Muir to support the passage of the Government’s Emissions Reduction Fund, which is about incentives to improve soils, to support Indigenous land management groups, to provide energy efficiency for houses. We’re doing that without a carbon tax, without an ETS, but through a Government fund.
PATRICK CONDREN:
So, ok. What have you given Mr Palmer?
GREG HUNT:
Well firstly he has agreed to withdraw his proposal for an Emissions Trading Scheme, what would have been an automatic linked ETS. That’s not happening and we appreciate that. Secondly, we have said that we are happy, as a gesture of good faith, to have a study into what other countries are doing in this space. But let me be absolutely crystal-clear – we do not support a carbon tax, we do not support an Emissions Trading Scheme…
PATRICK CONDREN:
So what’s the point of having an investigation into what other countries are doing?
GREG HUNT:
… and neither will be in our time in Government. Look this is an important gesture of good faith. We respect that it’s a negotiation. What matters to your listeners is the carbon tax is gone…
PATRICK CONDREN:
Sure and I get that, I get that…
GREG HUNT:
…and is not coming back.
PATRICK CONDREN:
But with respect Minister, what is the point of having an investigation into an Emissions Trading Scheme that you say will never be coming back in any form? I don’t understand.
GREG HUNT:
It won’t be coming back under us but there’s no harm in having a look at something like this…
PATRICK CONDREN:
How much will this review cost? This investigation cost?
GREG HUNT:
Well that’s very interesting because what we see is that there was no support to abolish the Climate Change Authority from within the Senate, so it would’ve continued in any event. It would’ve continued to having to be funded and so they might as well be put to work, so this is actually getting something done. We had wanted to abolish it. That has been our policy. We however are achieving two massive outcomes here.
Two fundamental election promises, not just from one, but from the last two elections. Lower electricity prices and the Emissions Reduction Fund. Simply the honest answer is that the process of negotiation means that the good faith gesture and arrangement with the Palmer United Party is that they get a review of the emissions trading arrangements, either existing or non-existing in other comparable countries.
PATRICK CONDREN:
And your Direct Action scheme will see polluters paid $2.5 billion in taxpayers’ money to reduce their emissions. Is that correct?
GREG HUNT:
No that’s not correct.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Ok.
GREG HUNT:
It’s a $2.55 billion fund – I know the Labor Party uses that term. What we’re doing is supporting really practical things such as Indigenous land management programmes, right across Queensland you have a series of projects…
PATRICK CONDREN:
So just clarify that if you would, before you go on. Just clarify that if you would. The $2.5 billion in the Direct Action scheme – will polluters get any of that money?
GREG HUNT:
Well what we see here is if you can reduce emissions by cleaning up a power station, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing…
PATRICK CONDREN:
Yeah sure and I’m not arguing good or bad, I’m just trying to get the specifics because it is a pretty confusing thing for the listeners out there.
GREG HUNT:
Oh no, the very simply thing here is the Labor Party gave $5.5 billion to Victoria’s brown coal power stations…
PATRICK CONDREN:
What I’m interested in trying to establish is what you’re doing.
GREG HUNT:
For us, nobody receives anything unless they are actually delivering verified emissions reduction. Unless they’re cleaning things up. So there are…
PATRICK CONDREN:
Sure and I get that and that is what the money – the money is going to polluters to do that…
GREG HUNT:
So it could be farmers, it could be energy efficiency on a grand scale for a hundred thousand houses within the Brisbane area, it could be within the Gold Coast area, it could be in Buderim, it could be in Rockhampton or Mackay.
So actually reducing emissions and in many cases reducing electricity bills even further for householders and pensioners and seniors. So really practical things. What we’re into is lower electricity prices and cleaning things up. This is an incentive to clean things up…
PATRICK CONDREN:
But presumably farmers wont – it’s not only farmers that would get access to the $2.55 billion pool?
GREG HUNT:
No, whatever actually reduces emissions. I think there’s a huge mythology about this. Labor has characterised it a certain way. They were giving $30 billion to industry in Australia and, you know, in most cases it was no strings attached. Over $9 billion to general industry as compensation for the carbon tax.
So taxing on one hand and then paying them on the other hand. They were giving $5.5 billion, no strings attached, to Victoria’s brown coal power plants just to keep generating whilst they were taxing them. We’re not engaged in any of that money going around. What we’re doing is providing incentives for actual reductions which are only paid when there are real reductions and it doesn’t matter where you stand on climate change, you can support better soils with better productivity, you can support protecting many of our great forested areas, you can support reduced electricity bills through further energy efficiency savings for families and seniors and pensioners.
And if a company cleans up a manufacturing process or suddenly produces energy more cleanly, that’s a good thing and we are happy to support that but, whereas Labor was giving money for people to do nothing and just run brown coal power stations with $5.5 billion of free, no strings attached money. None of that happens under us. If you clean things up, you can get support.
PATRICK CONDREN:
So the bottom line is, leaving that to one side for a moment, is that there will be an investigation into how emissions trading schemes work elsewhere in the world, but it’s never coming back under an Abbott Government.
GREG HUNT:
That’s a perfect description.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Mr Hunt, thank you for your time this morning.
GREG HUNT:
Thanks very much.
PATRICK CONDREN:
Environment Minister Greg Hunt.
(ENDS)