E&OE….
Topics: Green Climate Fund
DAVID SPEERS:
Greg Hunt, thank you for your time. The Prime Minister has resisted putting money into this Green Climate Fund for quite some time now.
Can you explain why the Government has now decided to put in $200 million?
GREG HUNT:
Well, this is the moment. This is the Lima pledging conference. And what I can say is I’m absolutely thrilled that we are focusing on rainforest recovery within the Asia Pacific. We said before the election we’d host an Asia Pacific Rainforest Summit. We announced it at the UN conference.
We held it on 11th and 12th November and it was a wonderful success. And now we’re backing it with support for protecting the great forests of our region and we’re announcing in Lima. That’s how things should be done.
DAVID SPEERS:
You’re indicating there this was always going to happen. That’s very much at odds with Tony Abbott’s own language. He’s likened this to a ‘Bob Brown bank’, he’s used the phrase socialism masquerading as environmentalism. He’s said we will not contribute to this fund. Something’s changed, clearly.
GREG HUNT:
Well, we get to do this now, on our terms. And I’ve got to say, both the Prime Minister and Julie Bishop should be congratulated for that. I’m absolutely delighted. And when I say our terms, it’s for our projects in our region.
And if you are protecting the great forests of Borneo or Kalimantan or Papua New Guinea. Of the Pacific Islands or Cambodia, Malaysia. If it’s the Laos Republic. This is just something that’s really valuable. It’s reducing emissions, but it’s protecting these biological arcs. And whether it’s habitat for orang-utans or other iconic species, it also helps communities as well.
DAVID SPEERS:
Well, I want to get to that – where the money goes. But are you willing to acknowledge this is a change of heart? I mean, the Prime Minister seemed to acknowledge that this morning.
GREG HUNT:
Look, I think it’s a great outcome. And that’s what I would say. That we were always, always going to take the lead on an Asia Pacific Rainforest Recovery Plan. We announced this before the election and now we’re able to support it. And I want to thank the Prime Minister personally and thank Julie Bishop personally. It’s an outcome that I’m delighted with.
DAVID SPEERS:
Something you’ve been pushing for internally, by the sounds of it?
GREG HUNT:
Look, I’m delighted with the outcome because we did host a Rainforest Summit for the region. We’re now backing that. And what’s interesting is when we held that Summit the United States, the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, all indicated that they would be supportive, that they wanted to see an Australian lead.
We’ve provided that lead, and now I’m hopeful that great stands of rainforest which could otherwise have been lost will be protected. And as Jane Goodall, who is one of the world’s leading environmentalists, has said, ‘if you want to make an impact on climate change, pretty close to the single biggest fastest thing you can do is to protect the great rainforests of the world’.
DAVID SPEERS:
So Australia will have absolute control over every dollar of this $200 million – exactly where it’s spent?
GREG HUNT:
Well, Julie Bishop’s currently going through that process. But I am very, very confident that we will achieve the outcomes that we seek. Our concerns had been, frankly, that money would disappear and be determined by others – for priorities unknown. And all congratulations to Julie Bishop, honestly.
That partnership between the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister is one of the strongest in the world and one of the best partnerships over the post-war period between a Prime Minister and a Foreign Minister.
DAVID SPEERS:
It’s interesting you say that because today there have been reports of some tension between the Foriegn Minister and at least the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff. You don’t see that?
GREG HUNT:
It’s junk. That’s junk. I was with the PM’s Chief of Staff yesterday. I was engaging with Julie Bishop by text overnight and the sense of co-operation is strong and clear and it’s junk. Those reports. And I’ll just put it that way.
But let me go further. Let’s go back to the tragedy with the loss of the Malaysian Airlines MH-17 over Ukraine. The cooperation between the two leaders and their offices was extraordinary. They were working with three hours’ sleep a night, at best. There is an immense sense of trust and that’s manifested itself in this outcome.
DAVID SPEERS:
Let me get back to this outcome then. I just want to clear this up. Is this certain now that Australia will control where this money goes, or is this still being negotiated?
GREG HUNT:
Well, we will provide it on condition that it will be within the region for our priorities.
DAVID SPEERS:
The rainforest?
GREG HUNT:
So obviously – our priorities being rainforest recovery.
DAVID SPEERS:
So it is conditional on that?
GREG HUNT:
But also working on energy efficiency.
DAVID SPEERS:
So it is conditional on that?
GREG HUNT:
Well, Julie Bishop as I understand it, is already in a very strong position. I spoke with the head of UNEP only a short while ago and he was incredibly thankful. We talked about the priorities, and there was no problem whatsoever as someone who was critical within the UN environment system, Achim Steiner, with the way Australia was approaching this. So…
DAVID SPEERS:
Can I ask this, why is it okay to spend $200 million on these projects in PNG, in Borneo, in Laos, all these places you’ve mentioned. But not okay to spend any money on international carbon permits?
GREG HUNT:
Well, I think what we’re focusing on here is community action. Reducing emissions. And let’s draw a distinction here between two different funds. Our Emissions Reduction Fund is focusing on cleaning up Australia. It’s focusing on reducing emissions. And surely that’s a good thing. And now we’ve complimented it with international action.
That must surely be a good thing to protect the rainforests. And if the Greens and the ALP want to oppose cleaning up Australia’s waste coal mine gas, cleaning up brown coal power stations, if they want to oppose improving farm productivity and improving our soil carbons, that’s a matter for them.
DAVID SPEERS:
I’m just asking about your position on this. Because you’ve had, it seems a philosophical objection to international carbon permits. They’re either dodgy, or a waste of money. But you are now putting $200 million into international climate mitigation.
GREG HUNT:
Well, we get two good outcomes here and I don’t think anybody should be critical of this because I know Christine Milne has already been out, and I’m sure that the Labor Party will find a way to criticise it. We are going to help protect the great forests of the region. And we’re going to help reduce emissions in Australia.
DAVID SPEERS:
But are you now…
GREG HUNT:
Those two things together are very good outcomes.
DAVID SPEERS:
Are you now open to spending money on international carbon permits to achieve our emissions target; particularly if that emissions target is increased?
GREG HUNT:
Well we’re going to achieve our targets, let me say that. And our positions haven’t changed. Our primary focus is reducing emissions in Australia…
DAVID SPEERS:
There’s still no (inaudible)…
GREG HUNT:
If we can also, through this additional funding – if we can also, through this additional funding, do something which is constructive, which protects the great orang-utan populations, which protects the biodiversity of Borneo and Kalimantan and the island of New Guinea, as part of the country of Papua New Guinea – that’s a good thing.
The two things are complimentary and a very good outcome for the country and a good outcome for the climate and a good outcome for biodiversity and the iconic animal species of the Asia-Pacific.
DAVID SPEERS:
Now, Greg Hunt, you are the Minister responsible for climate change, the environment, you’ve put together and legislated the Direct Action Plan. Why aren’t you in Lima at the Climate Summit, instead of Julie Bishop and Andrew Robb?
GREG HUNT:
Well I’m sorry, from day one, when the terms of reference for each Minister were announced, as we’d always agreed before the election, international negotiations across the board would be the primary responsibility of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
I was fortunate enough to have the Ministries of Climate, Environment, Water and Heritage all brought together into a super-ministry, which is more than enough and we have a huge domestic load and the foreign negotiating load – as everybody knows – from day one, in the administrative orders, on the basis of something that I wanted, was part of the Foreign Minister’s responsibility.
And my view is, the more Ministers engaged in climate action, the better.
DAVID SPEERS:
Just finally, this summit is really laying the groundwork for a more important summit in 12 months in Paris. Now, when it comes to an international agreement on climate change, can I ask – do you think it should be legally binding and should Australia be part of any agreement that still allows China, the world’s biggest emitter, to keep increasing its emissions for another 15 years?
GREG HUNT:
Well look, our goal is to ensure that the world reduces its emissions. We are committed to being part of the international process. Our preference is for an internationally binding agreement, but I’m not going to pre-empt the negotiations or the outcomes.
We’re there now, we’ll be there throughout the year, we’ll be there in Paris. I deeply want a good international agreement and I am hopeful that we can get a good international agreement. The stronger the commitments, in terms of the extent of them being binding, the better. But we will work with the international community.
DAVID SPEERS:
Well, Greg Hunt, I’m sure we’ll be talking more about that throughout the course of 2015. Thanks for joining us this afternoon.
GREG HUNT:
Thanks very much, David, and I hope by the time this is played that Michael Clarke has got his hundred. I want to say to those who doubted overnight, I had a series of stern conversations with friends where I predicted that he would bat on in the morning and I made a completely unsubstantiated prediction that not only would he bat on, but he’d get his hundred and I hope I’m not jinxing it.
DAVID SPEERS:
We hope you’re right on that score.
GREG HUNT:
He’s as tough as they come.
DAVID SPEERS:
Minister, thank you very much.
GREG HUNT:
Take care.
DAVID SPEERS:
And of course, he did get the century just in the last 15 minutes or half hour.
(ENDS)