SCOTT EMERSON: The Prime Minister today unveiled his plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Scott Morrison says Australians clearly want something done about climate change, but not at any cost. The Federal Government has formally adopted now a net zero emissions target by 2050, and the goal will be reached by investing in technology and infrastructure such as electric vehicle charging stations. The plan, well, it will also rely on incentives, not penalties, including a $20 billion investment in low emissions technology. Angus Taylor is the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction, and he joins us on the line now. Minister, thanks for being on 4BC Drive.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Thanks for having me, Scott.

SCOTT EMERSON: Now, Australia first up. It's on track to meet and beat our 2030 emission reduction targets. Now, that was based on the 2005 levels, reducing from 26 to 28 per cent. What was revealed today by you and the Prime Minister, we're probably going to do that by a reduction of 30 to 35 per cent. Why not just update your target for 2030 to those numbers?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, we went to last election with a target, and we won that election. Labor went to that last election with a 45 per cent reduction target and lost it. So that's our target but as always, we seek to meet and beat it. We have always improved year on year, since we've been in government, on our projections. Our projections are now telling us we're in a position to achieve up to 35 per cent reduction on our 2005 levels. We're already tracking better than the OECD average, Japan, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, and I'm confident we'll continue to. This is a great story of Australians getting on and deploying technologies in a way Australians always do. Solar, we're the highest level of deployment in household solar in the world. One in four houses have solar on the rooves now and if you drive around Brisbane, in fact, it's more like 40 per cent now. In Brisbane, we've put up renewables at eight times the global average per person, and we've really shaped these technologies from Australia. Ninety per cent of commercial solar cells globally use Australian technology. So this is a great story. We've done it the Australian way. We'll continue to do it the Australian way. It's technology, not taxes, that will get us there and that means we can create jobs, not destroy them. We can put downward pressure on electricity prices, not drive them up.

SCOTT EMERSON: Well, the Prime Minister did describe his plan for net zero emissions by 2050 as uniquely Australian. when I had a look at what was released today, you mention the technology roadmap to get us there, but a lot of the technologies have been talked about are not yet being developed or not yet proved to work. How is it uniquely Australian if it's based on unproven technology?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, that's not right. If you look at the seven technologies that we've outlined, ultra-low-cost solar, it's happening at a rapid rate. I've already talked about that. Hydrogen, we're a big hydrogen producer now in Australia. Newcastle, for instance, in New South Wales, and in Queensland, indeed, we produce a lot of hydrogen. We're going to be using it in different applications in the future to the past, but we're shaping this. Energy storage, we've seen the cost coming down dramatically. We’re using energy storage. Snowy 2 is a massive energy storage project. Soil carbon, we're doing it now, regenerating our soils to be a massive carbon sink. Ninety million hectares of productive agricultural land. It's a big carbon sink now; it can be way, way bigger. So we're doing this now. Those technologies will continue to come down in cost, and as they do, we know they'll be taken up. They'll be chosen by Australian households and businesses, just as they have in the past. This is the way to do it. It's worked for Australia until now. It'll work for Australia as we look forward. It is a distinctively Australian way, because it's not about taxes. It's not about raising the cost of energy. It's certainly not about wiping out industries.

SCOTT EMERSON: We're talking here about a 2050 target, a long way away yet and you hear even the Queensland Senator Matt Canavan - I know he's opposed to net zero emissions by 2050 - he's come out and said, look, we can't really believe this, and the Government will change its mind after the election. Is this just a bit of theatre to get you positioned for the election the next six months?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Not at all. I mean, this is building on the way we've been doing this now for a number of years. It is incentives, not penalties, as you said. It's a portfolio of technologies. This has been the approach we're taking. The biggest criticism we're getting from the Opposition is this is too much like what we've been doing. Well, you know what? That's right because it's working. Our emissions at 20- over 20 per cent down and as I say, we're doing better than comparable countries. Places like New Zealand and Canada, very similar economies to Australia, big commodity exporters, they've barely moved their emissions since 2005. Ours are down by almost 21 per cent, over 20 per cent. So this is a great story of Australian achievement. We've got to keep going. We've got to keep taking advantage of the way we've been approaching this. We have to respect that Australians will adopt technologies as they come down in cost, allow them to make those choices. Electric vehicles is one of those technologies that will keep coming down in cost over time. Australians are buying hybrids at a rapid rate and they'll buy electric vehicles at a rapid rate as they come down in cost as well. We need to support that and make sure the infrastructure is in place to make it possible, to make those choices possible but let's respect Australians because they've done it in the past, and they'll do it again in the future.

SCOTT EMERSON: I'm talking to Angus Taylor, the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. Minister, obviously, the election is coming up. You need to hold seats here in Queensland, seats like Dawson, like Capricornia, like Flynn in central Queensland. They're very heavily reliant on the mining industry, the coal industry. How do you convince those voters that voted for you last time that you've got a plan that's going to secure their jobs, going to secure their futures?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Yeah, it's an important question, Scott. What we're seeing now with Australian exports is what customers are asking for is changing. Japanese customers, big customers for our iron ore, for our coal, for our gas - of course, the coal and gas, much of which comes from Queensland - they are asking for a lower emissions product and we have to provide that to them. Now, a technology like hydrogen, as I say, we're already big producers of hydrogen, but exporting it is new for us. It's a big opportunity. We're about to send our first shipment of hydrogen up to Japan from the Latrobe Valley, and I'd like to see that happening from Queensland. Gladstone offers enormous opportunity. Toowoomba, Townsville, all of these areas, we see great potential for Australia to take advantage of our natural resources, not just our gas and coal resources, but of course, our solar and wind resources as well are a huge opportunity for us to create an export product that our customers will want. It'll evolve. This is not going to be revolution; this is going to be evolution. The Coalition understands better than any side of politics what it takes to keep regional economy strong because we represent the vast majority of them. That's why this has been an important debate. That's why we've been so focused on getting it right. But it is about making sure we strengthen regions, not destroy them.

SCOTT EMERSON: But what do you do about a situation like your candidate in the seat of Flynn, you mentioned Flynn, based on Gladstone there, Colin Boyce? He's come out today in the media and said: look, I don't support zero net emissions, and I don't think the policy is going to work. You've got your own candidate there, running in a seat there, opposed to your policy.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, I don't think he's opposed to making clean hydrogen investments in Gladstone. I'm sure he's very supportive of that, and he hasn't seen the plan until today. He's seen it now but look, Gladstone is a phenomenal opportunity. I've spent reasonable amount of time, before going into politics, working up there in the aluminium sector, Alumina and you know, it is a phenomenal place. The gas exports there, I mean, it really is an energy powerhouse by global standards. Now, it has to evolve. Any business has to evolve to survive and Gladstone will have to evolve but we're the ones who understand most about how to do that. We understand these industries. We understand industries like gas exports, like aluminium and Alumina, that are so dependent on having affordable, reliable energy and so, I'm confident that this focus, which is about adapting to our customers, making sure we have the right technologies to deliver affordable, reliable energy, having a portfolio of technologies that can deliver, that's the way to do it and our customers are backing us. I'm talking to the Japanese constantly and the Koreans and others about making sure they get what they need, and they're relying on us to do this.

SCOTT EMERSON: Angus Taylor, I do appreciate you being on for 4BC Drive this afternoon.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Good on you, Scott.     

ENDS