PETA CREDLIN: Joining me tonight to pull apart some of Labor's policy detail and discuss his Government's plans to bring down power prices is the Minister for Energy Angus Taylor. Angus, great to have you on the show - great to have you in person.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Thanks for having me.

PETA CREDLIN: Difficult question to start off with - do Liberal Party family regard the party now as full of homophobic, women hating, climate change deniers?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Absolutely not. I mean, look, I'm sure that our political opponents would like to position us that way, but, Peta, look, that's certainly not my experience and, you know, at the end of the day, though, we are people who stand up for middle Australia, mainstream Australia every day. And that's what my electorate is - it's a median electorate, I see it every day. They are the greatest people in the greatest country and we stand up for their interests. And in doing that, we take on vested interests, we take on people who don't like what we do and we're always going to face opposition for that - that's the life of being a liberal conservative, which is what I am. But, you know, those sort of accusations run around and-

PETA CREDLIN: But this is from a colleague.

ANGUS TAYLOR: But it was actually not that colleague's comment, it was an observation of what other people were saying - well, you know, Labor/Green people would say that about us; you'd expect them to say about us. But frankly, we stand up for middle Australia and that's what I fight for every day.

PETA CREDLIN: You're smart, right - you've worked in business, you've got a good head for the bottom line. On all the economic indicators, this Government has got a terrific story to tell. It looks like when MYEFO comes out, as I said, in a couple of weeks' time you'll be in surplus territory. Yes, you're bringing forward the Budget because of the campaign timing but there's good news on the jobs front; all the indicators, as I said, are headed the right way. Why can't you get out of your own way at the moment to sell that message? What's happening internally that's [inaudible] what should be a great set of books to go forward to the next election?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, yeah, I mean, you're the commentator - you observe some of the things going on.

PETA CREDLIN: You're on the inside. I could guess, but-

ANGUS TAYLOR: And all I can do on the inside - and I do it every day, Peta - is go hard on the things that matter for Australians. And look, the story is fantastic - over a million jobs. You remember when we set that million job target and I remember looking at it …

PETA CREDLIN: And no one believed it; no one believed it.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, I remember looking at it, thinking: okay, that's ambitious; it's ambitious. And I remember doing the numbers on it. And we've got there - million jobs; over 100,000 jobs for younger Australians, youth unemployment at lower levels than has been the case for years. In my electorate, unemployment's got a two in front of it. I mean, it's extraordinary. The economy is going gangbusters. That means we've got money to get back to surplus. We're investing in infrastructure at a pace we never have before. And of course, you know, when you were around here working on this side of the table we started that off, and we're doing extremely well on those infrastructure programs. Look, so the story is a very good one. The key for us is just to keep telling it and not get focused on ourselves. You're absolutely right - this bubble in Canberra, Labor wants to drag us into it every day. I sit down there in Question Time and in the Parliament, they're dragging us into the bubble everyday. We've got to stay out of it, we've got to focus on the people that matter, which is people like your viewers.

PETA CREDLIN: It's interesting that you mentioned Question Time. Today I was watching it avidly and it was all ins- from both sides, to be honest: the Government's answers as much as the Opposition's questions - it was all insider chatter until quite the way through the program. Scott Morrison hit back very hard at the Opposition about their secret plans for a new carbon tax and discussions they're already having in relation to emissions intensity or emissions trading schemes. Now, most Australians at home thought they had voted a government in to scrap these things and that's been done. The idea that they could come back by stealth - tell me a bit more about that, because I didn't see that sort of detail in Labor's plans announced last week until Chris Bowen and Mark Butler and others were put under some pressure and it sort of seeped out.

ANGUS TAYLOR: We've had three senior frontbenchers now either say explicitly that there's going to be either a sneaky carbon tax or a carbon tax across certain sectors or not prepared to say there won't be one. So, all signalling is clear: Labor are moving down the path of carbon tax 2.0. It's going to have to be a big one, Peta, and I'll tell you why: because a 45 per cent emissions reduction target - which is what they've committed to - is a very high target, it's very aggressive by 2030. It will have to be across a whole range of sectors - agriculture - they're going to have to explain how much control-

PETA CREDLIN: Just let me hold you there - interesting that's a point. So, in relation to the power sector, the energy sector, the generators - they're on track or that sector's on track …

ANGUS TAYLOR: For 26 per cent.

PETA CREDLIN: …to meet the emissions at 26 per cent, you're right. Agriculture and transport are far more difficult to remove emissions from so it's a price or it's a culling of herds. So, how is Labor going to do that when they're doubling the numbers?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, each sector has its own characteristics. In agriculture, Labor will have to get control of the land. Take control away from farmers as to how they use their land.

PETA CREDLIN: This is more land clearing.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Whether it's native vegetation …

PETA CREDLIN: Smaller herds.

ANGUS TAYLOR: What pastures they can put in, what they can do with their native pastures, what their stocking rate should be. They're going to have to get more control over that land. This has been a fight that's gone for a long, long time with farmers, and every time Labor gets into power, they want more control. If you go to transport, they're going to have to reduce the emissions per kilometre you travel. In the last election, they snuck in a vehicle emission standard for light vehicles of 105 grams per kilometre. Now, they snuck it in. It went almost unnoticed.

Well, typical tradie out there driving a Hilux or a Ford Ranger or something like that, there'll be 200, 250 grams per kilometre. Labor's going to bring it down to 100. And then they're going to have to get the impurities out of the fuel-

PETA CREDLIN: I just have to interrupt you - you've got a house division and numbers are tight in the Parliament I know, Angus Taylor.

ANGUS TAYLOR: I've got to go.

PETA CREDLIN: I don't want to be responsible, you've got to go.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Thanks, Peta.

PETA CREDLIN: Thanks very much.