JOURNALIST: Minister, is this fair dinkum power?

ANGUS TAYLOR: It sure is. This is power that is available when users need it. The users in this case are the kids in the classroom. Kids need a good environment to learn and work. What's absolutely fantastic about this project at the moment is that it is off grid, providing that power when it's needed, and this is crucial. We have over the next three years, a 250 per cent increase in solar and wind coming into our system, and our challenge is to make sure that that power is available when people need it. Well, here is a great R&D project. It's a trial, but a trial that is working in how we deliver power when it is needed which is absolutely crucial, given what we're facing in the next couple of years.

JOURNALIST: So, fair to say, this is powering your enthusiasm for renewables? You have not exactly been a champion of renewables in the past.

ANGUS TAYLOR: I am a champion of outcomes and the outcomes I want to see are the lower cost of reliable power, and what we have behind us is just such a fantastic example of how we can reduce the cost of power, make it more energy efficient, and at the same time deliver electricity when it is needed. We have no shortage of people who live in areas like where I live, which are miles away from the town, that are remote or in towns where the cost of connection is very, very significant and there are opportunities here to provide savings as well as delivering power when it is needed and this is such a fantastic example behind us of doing exactly that.

JOURNALIST: Minister, a project partly funded by ARENA - aren't you glad that the Government didn't axe ARENA as it was once mooted?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, I believe in technology. I believe that technology can have a huge impact on so many positive areas of our lives. We've got to use it in the right way, and we've got to make sure we use it for our benefit, the customers' benefits, the users benefit. I do believe we can constantly improve our lives and make power more efficient, lower price, more reliable by better using technology, and I've always believed that and I continue to believe that, and now we see a fantastic example of that right here.

JOURNALIST: You keep using those words: 'lower cost and reliable'. Do you think with that in mind that there should be a new coal-fired or gas-fired power generation in Queensland, here for example?

ANGUS TAYLOR: We need more supply coming into the system in the coming years that can deliver power when it is needed. That's what we need. There have been challenges in supply. We have seen the significant withdrawal, thousands of megawatts of baseload capacity taken out of our electricity market. Lots of baseload reliable power and we have to make sure that we have enough of that supply to keep prices down, push prices down, and to make sure that when people flick the light switch, the light turns on. If people, when they go to work, using electricity for their work whether they're in an aluminium smelter or an abattoir, that they have the power they need for them to do their job effectively and to keep that job in Australia, rather than heading off to another country. So, that is just crucial for the success of our economy, and I will stop at nothing to make sure that we get those outcomes.

JOURNALIST: So, you think there could be merit in the idea of a new coal-fired power station, as floated previously by your colleague, Senator Canavan and the likes of Pauline Hanson?

ANGUS TAYLOR: There is merit in having enough supply in this system, and the risk we face in the coming years won't happen, the balance of supply we need now. The answer to all of this is balance - we need balancing fuel. Coal's going to be in our system for a long while, as will gas, as will renewables – as you see behind us - and new technologies that are emerging. We need to have that balance right. If you get the balance wrong, you're don't get affordable reliable power. Well, we stand for affordable reliable power. We stand for taking on the energy companies if we have to, and we do have to, at some point. There hasn't been for the behaviour we need to see so in order to deliver that affordable reliable power to every Australian family and every hard working small business in Australia that needs the power, and that's what we'll do.

JOURNALIST: Minister, turning to the topic of Nauru, as a senior member of the Government, can you confirm that the plan is that all 40 remaining children will be taken off the island by the end of the year?

ANGUS TAYLOR: When I came into Parliament - in 2013, as did Luke - there were 2,000 kids in detention. That was a result of failed policy. A failed policy from the Labor government. We know now, we're down to below [inaudible] and we haven't been making a big deal of it, we get on and do the work - that's how the Coalition Government gets the job done. We continue to do that and we've shut 17 detention centres. We've been able to do that because we've got the policies right. Now, we don't make a big deal of this, we certainly under any circumstances don't want the boats to start again. That is unimaginable. 1400 deaths at sea. We are not going to see that, but, we continue to do the work that makes sure those kids are treated fairly and humanely and we're now down to a very small number.

JOURNALIST: So 40 kids off Nauru by Christmas - the answer is yes?

ANGUS TAYLOR: I said we will continue to work carefully, methodically through this to get those numbers down. We have made phenomenal progress. If you want to test someone's ability to do something, look at their track record. The track record of the Government of has been absolutely outstanding - around 2000 kids has been brought to less than 50, below 50. That is a phenomenal track record and we will continue to work on this to finish the goal which we set out.

JOURNALIST: Minister, sorry I'm trying to get clarity on this. Your former colleague George Brandis says that is the plan. Is that the plan?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well I've given you the answer which is we have a phenomenal track record and I'm sure that that record will continue.

JOURNALIST: With respect, you haven't answered the question.

ANGUS TAYLOR: I told you that we have closed 17 detention centres. When we arrived in Government, we had 2000 kids in detention. We're down to the last few and we continue to reduce that number every day, from the phenomenal work that's been done to make sure these kids are treated humanely and fairly.

JOURNALIST: So we are to believe that there isn't a plan to remove all children from Nauru by the end of the year?

ANGUS TAYLOR: If you look at our track record then I think you can have every reason to believe there is a plan to continue to succeed in the way we handle this.

JOURNALIST: I'm sorry, you're being a little cryptic about it. Is it yes or no? Is that the plan?

ANGUS TAYLOR: I said, look, I've answered the question many times which is that we are continuing to reduce the number-

JOURNALIST: You've ducked the question many times with respect Minister.

ANGUS TAYLOR: We will continue to reduce the numbers. We don't make a big deal of this. We get on and do the job. Look, there's a lot of people in politics who spend their whole time focusing on the optics. We focus on getting the job done. That's what I do every day, I do it with electricity prices. I did it in my previous portfolio. Luke Howarth does it every day.  We focus on getting the job done, on delivering the outcomes. We've delivered outcomes in this area. We're delivering inside many other areas. The job performance of this Government has been absolutely phenomenal. One million new jobs. So that's what we're focused on, delivering to the Australian people, getting the job done. And I tell you, our track record in dealing with the closure of 17 detention centres is second to none. No government could claim the success-

JOURNALIST: If Nauru is a very pleasant island as Tony Abbott said, the impetus to relocate children from there would not be there, would there?

ANGUS TAYLOR: We are continuing to do it and we've been doing it for a long while. We don't make a big deal of it.

JOURNALIST: Why does Australia detain children whereas the likes of Britain does not?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well we've been through this over many, many years. The one thing none of us will stand for in this Government is restarting the evil people smuggling trade that killed so many people. It was so devastating. It is an evil trade and it is a trade that as a government, as a senior member at that government and I know as a Coalition backbencher Luke will absolutely support this - we will not stand for opening up the people smuggling trade again. We saw the devastation. It will not happen under our watch. It will not happen under our watch and we will continue to succeed as we have in the past.

JOURNALIST: Minister, what happens to these children when they're removed from Nauru, taken to Australia? They're just passing through here? What happens to them?

ANGUS TAYLOR: We treat every child on their circumstances, every family on their circumstances. We work through methodically, individually, in a customised way. Our success is clear. We have had phenomenal success in this area in the past and will continue to have phenomenal success in the future.