E&OE….
Topics: Green Climate Fund
GREG HUNT:
I’m delighted to welcome the Australian Government’s $200 million for the Green Climate Fund. This is about helping to stop deforestation in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s about protecting the great rainforests of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
About working with countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, countries where forests have been under pressure, countries which were part of the Australian Government’s Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit and which are participating in our Asia-Pacific Rainforest Recovery Plan.
So we brought together the countries of the region to help protect the great rainforests of the region, now we are supporting the region and after the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit, the World Bank, the IUCN, the Global Environment Facility and the United States all said they wanted to be part of and supportive of the Rainforest Recovery Plan.
Now that we’ve contributed through the Green Climate Fund, we’re reducing emissions, we’re protecting biodiversity, we’re supporting communities and we’re doing it in our region. I look forward to other countries joining us in helping to combat illegal logging, to clean up the great forests and to protect the great rainforests of the Asia Pacific.
JOURNALIST:
Minister, so far the Government’s been quite reluctant to commit any money to this fund. Is it not seen as a back-flip?
GREG HUNT:
Well, I think this was the Lima Conference. This was the moment when pledges were to be made and I am delighted and I’m very thankful to the Prime Minister and to Julie Bishop for agreeing to be part of this. It’s a good outcome. It’s a good outcome for Australia.
People who speculated were wrong. We’ve made the contribution, but we’re doing it in our region. For something which has been an area of Australian leadership – which is rainforest protection. Stopping and combating illegal logging. Protecting communities and when you think of Borneo, Kalimantan, when you look at Papua New Guinea and the cooperation that we had recently from Indonesia and PNG. We’re backing our pledges for action with money that will make a real difference.
JOURNALIST:
Is the Government not just bowing to international pressure given that there was a reluctance about this fund initially?
GREG HUNT:
Well we actually announced the Rainforest Summit before the election. Julie Bishop set out the details at Ban Ki Moon’s summit in New York. We then hosted the Rainforest Summit for the Asia-Pacific in November and now at the right time, in the right place, in the right way, we’re announcing $200 million which will help stop deforestation and protect the great rainforests of the region.
JOURNALIST:
The Prime Minister once called it the ‘Bob Brown bank’ on an international scale. Surely this is very similar to that?
GREG HUNT:
The difference here is that we’re able to target what we’re doing to the regions. So on our terms, on our time, in a way which protects the rainforests of the area.
Our priorities which don’t just help reduce emissions, but they protect the iconic species because if it’s in Papua New Guinea, or if in particular it’s in Borneo that you’re protecting forests what you’re doing is you’re providing habitat for the orang-utan, for the magnificent forest creatures and also protection for some of the most vulnerable communities in the Asia-Pacific.
JOURNALIST:
So you don’t consider this fund to be anything similar to the ‘Bob Brown bank’? It seems quite similar.
GREG HUNT:
Well we’ve set terms of our involvement and those terms are very clear. Support for the Asia-Pacific, a focus on rainforests, a focus on combating illegal logging.
Our project – it’s something which we did under the Howard Government, which we said we’d do in Opposition, which we announced we’d do in Government, which we’ve brought together as a basis for regional cooperation and now we’re providing money, which I would hope everyone can support, to protect forests in Indonesia, in Papua New Guinea, in Cambodia and the Philippines, in the Laos Republic and in so many other countries in the Asia-Pacific and Indo-Pacific regions.
JOURNALIST:
So given the economic deficit, what’s the economic justification to putting money into this fund or to actually borrowing money to put into this fund?
GREG HUNT:
Well this actually comes from within our aid budget – Julie Bishop has already said that. I’ll let her provide the details in terms of the allocations and the timing. But we’ve made a commitment. It’s a very significant environmental protection.
I can’t think of anything better to help climate and to protect our region’s biodiversity and Jane Goodall herself, the great environmentalist and perhaps one of the world’s leading experts in rainforests has said protecting rainforest is the single biggest, fastest thing we can do to protect our climate and to protect biodiversity.
JOURNALIST:
On another matter of foreign aid, some of the largest aid agencies have banded together and basically called for no further reductions in foreign aid in next week’s mini Budget. Are they going to be disappointed?
GREG HUNT:
Look, I’ll leave that to Julie Bishop and Joe Hockey. I certainly wouldn’t want to speculate on something within another person’s portfolio.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Hunt, there were also announcements made today in relation to post-2020 emissions reduction targets. Why will that review be conducted from within the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s office, rather than your own?
GREG HUNT:
Well in fact what we are putting together – and this is something that I wanted and recommended – is a whole of government approach. Where you have the Prime Minister’s Department, you have Treasury, you have Foreign Affairs, you have the Environment Department.
I couldn’t have had better support. We went into the election with a $1.5 billion forward estimates pledge. During the course of the Budget process the Prime Minister and the Treasurer allocated an additional billion dollars. It was a huge win for the environment and it was tremendous support from them. Today we see another $200 million.
I think that some of the critics from the Left are going to have to eat their words. What we’re seeing is significant contributions, a whole of government approach. We will meet our targets. And I just want to repeat that – we will meet our targets, we’re working together as a Government and it’s a very, very good outcome.
JOURNALIST:
Just very quickly Minister, are you saying there are members of your team that will be on that taskforce?
GREG HUNT:
Of course.
JOURNALIST:
And why is it not being done by the Climate Change Authority? Isn’t that the sort of thing they were created for?
GREG HUNT:
No, no, the Climate Change Authority is also doing a review as we agreed with the Palmer United Party. One thing though is about the underpinning analysis across a range of factors as to how the Government sets its targets.
The beauty of the Climate Change Authority review is that it’s an independent review, external to the Departments of Government and it provides an additional voice. It’s precisely how a Government should work.
JOURNALIST:
So now there are two separate reviews going on to look at what our target will be post-2020?
GREG HUNT:
Well one was always agreed to be an independent, external review and the other one is the process of Government. Of cabinet coordination, of the actual setting of targets.
JOURNALIST:
And this mid-2015 deadline of an announcement of what that target might look like – clearly it is coming in after the April deadline set by the UN. Does that mean we won’t be (inaudible) across that deadline and won’t be (inaudible)?
GREG HUNT:
Oh no, we will be working with the United Nations, but we’ve always said mid-2015. Nothing’s changed. That’s exactly the same as it’s been in every interview that I’ve had, in every interview that Julie Bishop has had.
We’ve already made statements in recent days about meeting our targets and the guidance I can give and which Julie Bishop is giving to the United Nations as we speak is that we will meet our 2020 targets. Have no doubt, have no question. We will do that.
Alright, thank you.
(ENDS)