Topics: PNG defence treaty, AUKUS, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, National Climate Risk Assessment.

E&OE

ANDREW CLENNELL:

All right. Joining me live now is the Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor. Angus Taylor, thanks for your time. Do you welcome this PNG defence treaty about to be announced by the Prime Minister, and what sort of conditions would you like to see in it?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we welcome any improvement in relations in the South Pacific, at a time when we know the Chinese Communist Party is seeking to increase its influence in the South Pacific, Andrew, but it has to be real. It can’t just be rhetoric. We need a government that's getting on and doing the job in building those relationships there. Anthony Albanese made a big deal of this when he was in Opposition, he promised an agreement with Vanuatu. We haven't seen that, and in recent days, we've seen that lapse or not happe; but we do want to see improvement with PNG and right across the South Pacific this, this is absolutely critical, but we're going to hold the government to account on its own commitments on this, we need action, not just rhetoric.

ANDREW CLENNELL:

The AUKUS announcement by the government yesterday. Is it enough as Anthony Albanese looks to his first meeting with Donald Trump?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, we'll see Andrew, but the truth is that this is a government that is well short of where it needs to be in terms of defence funding, about a percentage point a year versus what was in its own Defence Strategic Review. According to experts like ASPI, we need about another $25 billion a year currently on the current size of our economy to get to where we need to get to. And the result of that is that the government is not delivering on its traditional defence spending or funding requirements, but also on AUKUS. We're gutting traditional defence spending in order to get money into AUKUS, and we're still well short of where we need to be. So, the government needs to find this money. This is a real imperative. The Chinese Communist Party is militarising at an unprecedented rate, and right now, we're well short of what's necessary.

ANDREW CLENNELL:

Now, Angus Taylor, you brought Jacinta Price over to the Liberals as a candidate to run as your deputy and just missed the leadership, with Tony Abbott having a role to play there as well. What do you make of where she's ended up in the last week or so? Did Sussan Ley take the right action, and how is Jacinta feeling?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, Sussan made the right decision because Jacinta wasn't prepared to support her leadership, but I am very confident that Jacinta will play an important role in the Liberal Party in years to come, months and years to come, from the backbench and hopefully in the future on the front bench as well, and she's obviously a hugely talented Member of Parliament. She's had an experience that means she can make a unique contribution, and I'm sure she will. But the end of the day, Sussan made the decision she had to.

ANDREW CLENNELL:

Do you think this Jacinta Price saga hurt the Liberals in the polls, which were dire for the Liberal Party this morning?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Look, obviously, it's been a big distraction over the last week or so, Andrew. But look, we didn't need a Newspoll to know we've got a lot of work to do. The Newspoll obviously said that, but we do have a lot of work to do, and we've got to knuckle down and make sure that we've got strong positions in key areas, whether it's the level of immigration, whether it's energy policy, which is clearly going to be a big debate over the coming days, we've got to make sure we come up with those positions that are good for Australia, and Australians, and in line with our values. And that's the work that I'm doing every single day in defence, where we've committed already to get defence spending to 3% of GDP, and we're not falling for the Marles’ mathematics or the creative accounting he's using to try to convince the Americans that we're serious about this.

ANDREW CLENNELL:

And have you spoken to Jacinta Price in the last few days? How is she feeling?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Yeah, I have and Jacinta, as always, is a positive person who wants to make a contribution to this nation, and I am absolutely sure she will continue to, as she already has, Andrew in a very significant way.

ANDREW CLENNELL:

And just finally and briefly, the climate warnings out from the government today. What did you make of them?

ANGUS TAYLOR:

Well, obviously, all of us want to do everything we reasonably can to bring emissions down and to make sure we avoid increases in temperature, but it's also incumbent on the government to explain the costs that their policies are imposing on Australians and no doubt we're going to hear in the coming days what their 2035 target is. This is when they're clearly not on track to meet their 2030 target. They've barely moved emissions since they came to government. They're at about the same level as when I was Minister. And so the real question with these 2035 targets is how they're going to meet them, and what it's going to cost the Australian people. What it's going to mean for the cost of a vehicle? What it's going to mean for industry in this country? I mean, they're putting effect…

ANDREW CLENNELL:

Angus, sorry, thanks. Thanks so much for your time.

ENDS.