LEIGH SALES: Joining me live from Canberra is the Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister, Angus Taylor. Thanks for being with us, Minister.

ANGUS TAYLOR: It's a pleasure, Leigh.

LEIGH SALES: How is this an ambitious plan when none of the policies in it are new, when it's not legislated, and when there are no short-term benchmarks against which to measure progress?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, Leigh, we have been developing policies to support this plan for several years. Whether it was the King Review, the Technology and Investment Roadmap we put out in September last year, the reforms to the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the refunding of ARENA, the reforms to the Clean Energy Regulator and so on. And the point about this plan is that whole suite of reforms that we have been announcing over several years now with $20 billion of funding focused on a technology portfolio that can bring down emissions across our entire economy, that plan today made the point that those policies will get us within range of net zero by 2050. And that puts us in a position- 

LEIGH SALES: So what you're confirming there, Minister, what you're confirming there is that there's nothing new in it. So Australia will be going to Glasgow saying we're not going to do anything extra or new?

ANGUS TAYLOR: We've been doing much new in recent times. I mean all of those things I've just announced the reformed through the King Review, the changes to the Emissions Reduction Fund, the changes to the way the Climate Solutions Fund and credits are being created, the broadening out to soil carbon to carbon capture and storage, the very significant investments we're making through ARENA and the CEFC, and a range of technologies, $1.1 billion to hydrogen, $500 million into hydrogen hubs, more than $500 million in technology partnerships. Look, Leigh, it's a long list of reforms and initiatives that we have announced in recent months, and the point about this plan is that it tells us that by investing in that portfolio of technologies, technologies that can create jobs for Australians, that can bring down the cost of electricity, that can strengthen our traditional industries like agriculture, manufacturing and resources, that that plan built on those policies that we have been announcing over a long period of time is compelling, is clear. And is unique in the sense that very few countries in the world have actually laid out a pathway to net zero by 2050.

LEIGH SALES: Minister, you're not legislating any of this. How can business have any certainty, the kind of certainty it needs for investment in new technology without legislation? Because you have a change of personalities tat top and suddenly the policies change as we have seen happen with three different Prime Ministers in this Coalition Government. 

ANGUS TAYLOR: Leigh, we didn't legislate our Kyoto targets, and we met and beat them by 459 million tonnes - almost a year's worth of emissions. We haven’t-

LEIGH SALES: Can I interrupt you there, Minister, because we hear this line all the time about meeting and beating our targets. This is due largely to land use and forestry decisions taken by state governments. It's nothing to do with the reduction in the use of fossil fuels which is the main factor driving global warming.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Okay, can I pick up on that? I should, by the way, just to finish the point I was making - the 2030 targets, we're on track to meet and beat those and we haven't legislated those either. But let's be clear: the goal here is net zero. This is a very important point. Now, if your goal is absolutely zero, you want to wipe out any industry with any emissions. That means agriculture. That means mining. That means fossil fuels. They've all got to go. Our goal is net zero. And net zero means that we can still have an agriculture sector, we're still going to have gas as an important part of the mix for many, many years to come. And that's appropriate, because you simply can't wipe these industries out, Leigh, and expect that the economy can keep functioning, jobs can continue to be created. We can have the balance in the electricity grid that we need. 

LEIGH SALES: Minister, you said today that Australia has led the world on this for many, many years. Let me bring up a graphic so I can show viewers what Australia has done since 1990 compared to the United Kingdom. The vertical axis is carbon emissions in the millions of metric tons, and the horizontal axis is the year. You can see that since 1990, the UK has had a straight downward trajectory more than halving its emissions, and Australia has made nowhere near the inroads of the UK. We have trended upwards for much of the time. They also have a population more than double of Australia's size and they're emitting less carbon dioxide already. It's just incorrect, isn't it, to pretend that Australia is leading the world?

ANGUS TAYLOR: No, it's not incorrect. I mean the baseline year for the Paris Agreement is 2005. Since 2005, our emissions are down by 20.8 per cent. That's better than New Zealand. That's better than Canada. That's better than Japan. That's better than the OECD average. That's better than the United States. It's certainly substantially better than China and India. China has seen its emissions increase by 70 per cent in that timeframe.

LEIGH SALES: So how do you square then say that Australia's allies, the UK and the US- 

ANGUS TAYLOR: The UK's economy has changed dramatically. It's one of the very few countries that has performed better than Australia and there aren't many. But it is one. The EU has performed behind Australia. So this is an extraordinary performance from Australia.

LEIGH SALES: If Australia's performance is so extraordinary, how do you explain that our chief allies, the UK and the US, have been calling on Australia to do more?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, looking forward they want us to commit to net zero by 2050 and we've done it. And I point out that just in the last 24 hours, Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister, has congratulated us for doing exactly that. So we are committed. We have a clear plan to do it. We're focused on technology, not taxes. We're focused on strengthening Australia's economy and creating jobs as we do it. And what we have laid out today is a plan to achieve those outcomes.

LEIGH SALES: Minister, why is there an absence of any detail about what the National Party has been promised in return for its support of net zero by 2050?

ANGUS TAYLOR: We're always very clear about our policies. And as policies get developed and finalised and go through Cabinet, they get announced, Leigh. And I've just talked about many policies we have been announcing in this area over an extended period of time. 

LEIGH SALES: But I'm asking specifically what the National Party is getting.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, as I say, they get it when it goes through Cabinet, it gets approved and it gets announced. That's how policy works. Now, we have had this debate for a long while, and I'm sure you have been involved with it, about Coalition agreements. It's not a new one. It's an old chest nut. When policies get approved by Cabinet, they get announced. But they've got to go through Cabinet. They've got to go through the normal process. That's our Westminster system. And, of course, the one thing that your viewers can be assured of is that we're focused on making sure we bring down emissions and strengthen our economy at the same time, strengthening our regions, strengthening our traditional industries of agriculture and manufacturing and mining, as well as making sure we are in a position to deliver that emission reduction outcome that we have achieved in the past and we can be very proud of.

LEIGH SALES: Minister, thank you very much for your time this evening.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Thanks, Leigh.

ENDS