JIM WILSON: Well, you'll be seeing this on the news tonight. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has launched the Federal Government's plan to achieve net zero by 2050, in a major move for the Liberal-National Coalition. It'll have major ramifications for the upcoming election. Angus Taylor is the Federal Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction and he joins me on the line. Minister, welcome back to Drive.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Thanks for having me, Jim.

 

JIM WILSON: So tell my audience what you've announced today. What's the plan? And why is a good for Australia? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, the plan is a practical, achievable pathway to net zero by 2050, but one that doesn't damage our traditional industries. Doesn't destroy jobs, doesn't raise the price of electricity and we're doing that through technology, not taxes. The way your listeners could best understand this is to see how technologies are already reshaping energy in this country. We've got the highest rate of household solar in Australia, in the world; one-in-four houses. There's no country even close to us, Jim and that's because the cost of it has come down dramatically over time. People are putting it on their roofs at record rates, and that's bringing down our emissions. Now there's a range of other technologies that can do the same. We're seeing the cost of storage batteries coming down. We're seeing a new role for agriculture - 90 million hectares of productive agricultural land in Australia that can be a carbon sink. Where we can use soil, regenerating our soils that have been run down in many places, to absorb more carbon. Carbon capture and storage, which we can align with our steel industry, iron ore industry and others to reduce our carbon emissions. All of that, done the right way, focusing on bringing down the cost of technology, can strengthen our economy, not weaken it. It can bring down the cost of electricity and energy, not raise it and can strengthen traditional industries like steel and aluminium, heavy manufacturing resources, mining industry and our agriculture sector, of course, which has much to gain from this. 

JIM WILSON: Now you've got the Nats to sign up to this, but there's no question there are some who don't support the policy. In fact, Senator Matt Canavan is actively campaigning against it. He told Sky News last night that the agreement to hit net zero will, quote, end in tears. How will you balance this as a party? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, the vast majority of the party are strongly supportive of it, including regional Liberals and regional National members. I'm a regional Liberal myself. The truth is customer demand for our products that we export from this country is changing. The Japanese, the Koreans, they're making it very clear. We have to adapt, and we have to adapt what we export and supply to them and any good business, or any good country that wants to be prosperous in the future, has to adapt to what its customers want. That's all this plan is focused on, making sure that we adapt to the changing demand from customers, the changing technologies, and doing it in a way which is good for Australia. I'm very confident that not only do we already have our party rooms largely in support of this. Overtime, Australians will see this is the right way to do it. Now, this is exactly how we've been doing it for many years. We're already 21 per cent down on our 2005 emissions levels - 21 per cent reduction. That's better than New Zealand, Canada, Japan, United States, the OECD average and we're doing it in exactly the way I'm describing. We don't need to tax people. We don't need to tell people what kind of car to drive or what kind of electricity to use. Australians will choose- make the choices that bring down emissions if those choices are economic for them and that's exactly what this plan is about. 

JIM WILSON: Well, let's talk about those who will be generally affected by this. I mean, if someone's listening to us right now and they're driving home from work at a coal-fired power station in the regions. I mean, what does this policy mean for them? And will they lose their jobs? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: There's going to be coal and gas around for a long while yet, Jim. This is evolution, not revolution and our coal exports and our gas exports will continue for many, many, many years, right through to and beyond 2050. Gas in particular is going to be needed for a long, long time across our region. Now, we do have to change the way we use it. We can use it to make hydrogen. We can take the CO2 out of it. All of those things are things we can reasonably do. We can offset it with what we're doing with our agricultural land and our soils. So we will have to adapt. But destroying jobs, no, that's not the plan. Adapting to what our customers want and adapting to how the technologies are changing, that's what you have to do if you want to stay in business. 

JIM WILSON: How do you convince those in inner-city seats here in Sydney for example, Wentworth and Warringah, who want more action against climate, that you're the party to make it happen?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, because you see, most of the work that has to be done here is in the regions. Yes, we're putting solar cells on roofs right across Australia, but many of the technologies that the hydrogen production, the low emission steel and aluminium, which is really crucial to our heavy manufacturing, what we need to do in agriculture, it's got to happen in the regions. So a party or a coalition that understands the regions can work with people in the regions that has their support. That's the right side of politics to be able to drive this and guide this in a way which is good for Australia. So we're going to bring everyone along here. 

JIM WILSON: Yeah.

ANGUS TAYLOR: I realise that there are different views in the eastern suburbs of Sydney than there will be in Goulburn, in my electorate, on many issue but at the end of the day, this is a plan where we can bring everyone together. It's evolution, not revolution. It's sensible. It's good for the regions and it's good for bringing down emissions at the same time.

JIM WILSON: But how do you bring them with you when you've just mentioned the eastern suburbs and the seat of Wentworth who want more action against climate? It's going to take some convincing.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, we'll deliver. I mean, we're already delivering. We're almost 21 per cent down on our 2005 levels. I mean, you know, Canada, New Zealand are countries where people think, yeah, they must have done better than Australia, no they haven't. No they haven't. I mean, they've barely moved their emissions since 2005. They're the most comparable countries to us in the world because they're big commodity exporters, but we've done way better. China, of course, its emissions are up by over 70 per cent in that time frame. So Australia is doing well. Lots of people want to talk Australia down, Jim, it seems to be a habit in this country from one side of politics in particular, to talk Australia down. Well, they're wrong on this one. We're doing well, and we'll keep doing well.

JIM WILSON: We're speaking to Angus Taylor, who's the Federal Minister of Energy and Emissions Reduction. How about, Minister, the cost of living? Can you guarantee that this policy will not raise our power bills? 

ANGUS TAYLOR: This policy will not raise our energy costs or power bills. And look, I've been fighting to bring our power bills down now since I've been in this job. You might remember I was christened by the Prime Minister as the minister for bringing down electricity prices and the good news is, they've been coming down. Shop around if you haven't been getting the best possible deal, there's some great deals around now because we have seen significant reductions right across the country. So we'll keep driving that. We've got to make sure enough supply comes in. We've got to make sure that as old power stations close, new ones are replacing them, like we're doing with Liddell - thousand megawatts. Huge two big new generators we're replacing Liddell with. So, we've got to make sure those policies continue on but we understand, as a party, as a coalition, just how important it is to make sure we continue to put pressure on prices and that's exactly what we're doing. 

JIM WILSON: Okay, so how much will this policy cost Australia? I mean, Bill Shorten couldn't explain how much his climate policy would cost at the last election, it was a disaster. So can you explain how much your policy will cost?

ANGUS TAYLOR: I absolutely can. It's all budgeted now so there's no tax here. There's no raising of costs. This is about bringing down the cost of low emissions technology by investing in the research and development that brings those costs down. We've invested $20 billion which will be spent over the next ten years. It's already been in the budgets. There will be no raising of taxes for that. That's all fully budgeted now and that's how we'll do it. Look, you know, the key here is to use Australian ingenuity, Australian enterprise, to get these technologies to work even better than they have. Many people don't realise much of the work to support the cost of solar panels coming down was done in Australia, out of the University of New South Wales. Wall beating research and we can do much more of that. It is better for the Government to invest what's a relatively small amount in research and development to bring down the costs of these technologies, than to impose a tax to raise the cost of traditional fuel sources and traditional energy sources. Everyone has to pay for that and that's exactly the wrong way to do it. That's what Bill Shorten had in mind at the last election and we're not going to do it.

JIM WILSON: Minister, appreciate your time this afternoon.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Good on you, Jim. Thanks.

ENDS