ANGUS TAYLOR: Welcome to Goulburn. A great city - Australia's first inland city that relies on affordable, reliable electricity and energy to be competitive, to be prosperous, and to employ the many people who are employed in this great region. It relies on affordable, reliable electricity for its agriculture, transport being a transport hub here on the Hume Highway, and also for agriculture and irrigation and the many important uses of energy in agriculture.

Let me make a couple of comments about Labor's energy announcements this week. These policies are a throwback to the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd policies from many years ago. What we see here is a re-commitment from Labor to a 45 per cent emissions reduction target and a 50 per cent renewable energy target - and by Mark Butler's own admission, this is a pathway, they want carbon tax 2.0. Whether they're explicit and upfront about that carbon tax and carbon price or whether it's hidden, it will be a big one and it has to be. The Climate Change Authority told us in 2013 that to have those sorts of targets requires a carbon tax of over $100 per tonne.

Now, Bill Shorten needs to come clean on the impact of those targets on many of our energy-intensive industries. What does this mean for farmers and their ability to control their own land? What does this mean for the number of cattle we can have in Australia? What does this mean for energy-intensive industries like aluminium? It is impossible to see how aluminium in Australia and great cities like Gladstone and towns like Port Lincoln survive with these sorts of targets. What does it mean for transport? At the last election, we saw Labor with a draconian vehicle emissions standard which would raise the cost of vehicles and raise the price of fuel for all Australians. Bill Shorten needs to come clean about these reckless targets and how they will be a wrecking ball through the economy.

Now, let me make a couple of comments on the batteries policy. Labor has reverted to its favourite policy of installing things in people's homes. This is truly a case of going from pink batts to pink batteries. Not only that, Australians will have to pay, shell out, $10,000 to $20,000 of their own money to have the privilege of having Bill’s batteries installed in their homes.

In contrast, the Coalition is absolutely committed to driving down the price of electricity while we keep the lights on; making sure all Australians have a fair price for electricity, even those- including those who are unable to take the time to negotiate a price each year with the energy companies; holding the energy companies to account. We're bringing forward our legislation, big stick legislation in this sitting of Parliament, and Labor needs to decide whether they sit with us on holding those energy companies to account or they sit with the big energy companies. And of course in making sure there's enough supply in the market - supply of 24/7 reliable power that can keep the lights on and keep regional and suburban Australia in work, small businesses and families with the electricity bills they deserve. Any questions?

JOURNALIST: You said in The Australian today, you criticised Labor's plan to give $10 billion to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, saying that some of it will end up in the pockets of the big clean energy companies. Why is that an issue?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, the energy companies are delivering record profits right now and Labor wants to throw more money at them. I mean, we saw in the years between 2007 and 2014 massive over-investment by the network companies, transmission and distribution companies, and the result of that was a big hike in Australians' electricity bills; and Labor wants to throw more money at these companies. They need to decide whether they sit on the side of hardworking Australian families and small businesses or they sit on the side of the big energy companies.

JOURNALIST: If that money is being used, though, for clean energy projects, what's the problem with that?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, the point is that Mark Butler is the first person to say that renewable energy is now competitive. We're seeing record investments - $15 billion of investment right now in solar and wind projects across this country, and Labor's decided they want to throw another huge pile of money at these companies at a time when they're delivering record profits. This simply makes no sense. As I say, this is a throwback to the bad old days of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, where Labor threw money at things; where Labor installed things in people's homes without thinking about how they actually solve the fundamental problems that Australian families and small businesses want solved.

JOURNALIST: The Business Council has called your energy policy ‘ad hoc’ and ‘extreme’. What do you have to say about that?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, businesses talk their own book. We focus on what Australian families and small businesses want which is more affordable, more reliable power. Now, I recognise that there are some businesses - energy companies - that's not necessarily, well, it won't be in their interest to have lower electricity prices but Australians want those energy companies held to account and we will do exactly that.

JOURNALIST: It is an extreme intervention that is unusual. Do you not see that there is sovereign risk problems?

ANGUS TAYLOR: What are you talking about in particular?

JOURNALIST: In relation to your wanting to cap the electricity price.

ANGUS TAYLOR: We've been very clear, what we've said is that standing offers, the prices paid by Australians who don't have the time to negotiate, who don't have the time to sit on the phone for hours to call centres, that those standing offers should be fair prices. Now, AGL has already accepted that, under pressure from the government - and good on them - they're reducing their standing offers in New South Wales and Victoria by 10 per cent and significant reductions in other states as well. So, this is a fair policy. It's one that's very reasonable. Now, it is true we will be holding the big energy companies to account. We have seen behaviour that is unacceptable. We have seen dodgy practices, for instance, in the penalty rates that are charged to consumers if they make their payments a few days late. We're saying to the big energy companies: “You've got to do the right thing”. Now, we are seeing movements in the right direction, including from AGL, as I've just explained. We look forward to seeing more of that in the future but it's important that we hold energy companies that do the wrong thing, to account.

JOURNALIST: Minister, where is the Prime Minister today and why isn't he campaigning in Victoria?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, the Prime Minister is working hard for Australians, as he does every day. This is a prime minister who has shown enormous energy, who's been out and about in the time since he's become Prime Minister and the time when he was treasurer. And I'm proud to serve with him. He is doing an absolutely fantastic job and he's focused on the issues that Australians care about like how we make sure that Australians get the energy prices that they deserve.

JOURNALIST: We have seen him out and about a lot but we haven't seen much of him in Victoria during the campaign period. Why is that?

ANGUS TAYLOR: The Prime Minister gets out and about across Australia. I've been with him in Queensland, in Western Australia, in Victoria in recent weeks, so he is across all of Australia. He is the Prime Minister of Australia. He gets across every state. I was with him in Victoria only a couple of weeks ago. As I say, he is a Prime Minister who can't be accused of not getting out there, he is out there all the time and that's why I'm so proud to serve with him.

JOURNALIST: Minister, Labor is expected to win the state election tonight - how much of that will be a reflection of frustration with the Federal leadership?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Look, I think Victorians will judge Matthew Guy and his opposition - and more importantly Daniel Andrews and the government - as they deserve. It is clear that Daniel Andrews hasn't been able to contain crime in Victoria. It is clear that that we have seen a series of criminal and terrorist incidents in that state, which are absolutely unacceptable and I think Victorians are quite capable of evaluating the Daniel Andrews government on that basis.

JOURNALIST: Just one last one from me, if I could - the Clean Energy Finance Corporation denies the numbers that are in The Australian today and says that some of that money was in fact paid back by the electricity companies. Is this not just the Government playing politics again on the issue of renewables?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Labor sitting on the side of the big energy companies is very clear. They have said quite clearly that they're not going to expect the big energy companies to keep supply in the market when it's needed to keep prices down and to keep the lights on. They've been very clear about that. Now, we're saying to them you need to step up and make the big energy companies accountable. They're not prepared to do it. They're throwing billions of dollars at transmission companies and distribution companies that are delivering record profits, unprecedented profits, profits that were unimaginable a few years ago and they want to throw more money at them. $5 billion for transmission and distribution companies. When those transmission company or the generators are built in a new area, in a place a long way from transmission lines, Labor wants to pay for those for the companies. Look, these are companies delivering record profits. They can invest. They have the ability to invest. Labor simply doesn't want to hold them to account.

JOURNALIST: In your opinion, Minister, is climate change real?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Absolutely.

JOURNALIST: And, we need to do something about it as well as keeping energy prices down?

ANGUS TAYLOR: We do, and the good news is we will reach the 26 per cent emission reduction target in the electricity sector well ahead of time, years ahead of time. We are seeing right now a 250 per cent increase in three years in solar and wind in the system. Now, that is great for reducing emissions, it means we will reach the emission targets in the electricity grid well ahead of time. But it creates a challenge in making sure that electricity remains affordable or becomes more affordable, reliable, we keep the lights on and it's a challenge that Labor has demonstrated this week, they have no understanding of and no interest in solving.