Topics: EPBC laws, Barnaby Joyce, Net Zero, ASEAN and APEC Summits

 

E&OE

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

Climate will be the focus as Parliament returns to Canberra this week, and already there's been plenty of hot debate this morning, and perhaps more now joining us live is the Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor. Angus, good to see you this morning. So, is Sussan Ley shoring up her leadership by resisting Murray Watt’s bill, as he suggested earlier?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Sussan Ley is focused on what I think all of us are focused on Pete, which is seeing more investment in our great nation. We desperately need it. Investment has fallen off a cliff under Labor, and that includes, of course, the mining industry and other resource-based industries. We need to make sure that we see investment increasing, and the key to that is making sure approvals aren't endless. They are endless under Labor, we're seeing 14 years, 16 years indeed, between…

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

The bill speeds things up, though, does it?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Resources are discovered and when they're approved, and it's way too long, Pete.

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

Yeah, but the bill speed things up, doesn't it?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, you know, that's the rhetoric coming out of Labor, but what I've learned from three years or so of Labor Government is the rhetoric and the reality are very different time and time again.

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

Yeah, but if you're removing state if state approvals and federal approvals, if that's all kind of blended together, then you've only kind of got one set of hurdles to jump through. Does that not speed things up in that sense?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, who knows what other hurdles are going to be in this legislation, and that's the point. Labor's track record on this has been appalling. We saw that with the McPhillamy Mine at Blayney. We see it across the board that approvals take forever under this Labor government, and all of a sudden it appears that they've discovered that we need to accelerate approvals, frankly, I'll believe it when I see it, and we haven't seen the legislation, so we will look at it. But right now, I have to say, Labor's track record on this has been appalling, and I expect it to continue to be appalling.

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

Okay, look, there's plenty for us to get through this morning, Angus, I just want to ask you about Barnaby Joyce, though he said that he won't be at the Nationals party room meeting this morning, but he will be with the Nats during Question Time. I mean, I know it's a, you might say that's a National’s issue to sort out, but from the Lib side of things, how tenable do you think that is?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, it is a National Party issue, but I want to see Barnaby around the table. I've been around the table with Barnaby throughout my political career and spent a lot of time with him around the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet table, and he has always been an extraordinary contributor and a contributor with great insight. We don't always agree, but it doesn't matter. That's the point. He is a person you want to have as part of your team, and I strongly encourage him to remain part of that team, Pete.

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

Yeah, so because he's going to be staying with the Nats during Question Time, do you feel like that keeps the door ajar as I was talking to Cam Reddin about last hour? Do you feel like there's hope that he will be staying with the Nats, therefore the Coalition?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Oh, I hope he does. Yeah, absolutely.

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

What about the Libs? Do you want Net Zero to be part of your energy plans? I know you guys are going to be having it out this week.

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, we'll be talking about it this week. I don't think it will be all resolved this week, but I think the starting principle here is that we shouldn't ever accept any target which is destructive to the economy or unachievable, we've already rejected Labor's bad plan for 2035 – a target of 62-70% – which is unachievable. I mean, Labor's barely moved emissions since they've come to government. Emissions are still at very close to the level they were at when I was Energy Minister, Pete, and to think that they're going to get to suddenly, to 62 to 70% when they're struggling at 28% I mean, it's just not credible, and so we should reject targets that are unachievable, and we should reject targets that are economically destructive. Make no mistake about it. I mean, Labor's own plan, they've laid it out in their own documentation, requires a carbon tax of around $300 over time, and that's about 13 times Julia Gillard's carbon tax. That's what they're planning, Pete, we can't accept that as Liberals, and we won't accept that.

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

Okay, what do you what do you say to those more moderate Liberals, though, who want Net Zero as part of the mix?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, I think what they want to see is a pathway to lower emissions and the key to that, and you've just heard it a few minutes before, now, the key to that is technology and choice, and I think those pathways are important. That's why we went to the last election with a broader range of technologies than Labor and, you know, Labor shut down technologies that can reduce emissions, reduce prices and create a more sustainable grid for all of us, and that is Labor's track record. We need to reverse that.

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

Okay, Angus, let's get to China. That will no doubt be a focus this week, maybe even the focus at ASEAN and APEC in a trade sense, in a military sense, we saw what happened with flares just last week. What do you hope the Prime Minister gets out of the two summits this week?

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:

 

Well, we do want to see a free and open Indo Pacific. We want to see the end of those dangerous sort of military activities that you just described, and we've seen much of that from the Chinese Communist Party and the PLA in recent times, we want to see an end to that, and we want to see an assurance that we will have a free and open Indo Pacific for many years to come. That's important for our trade, it's important for investment, and it's important for the stability and prosperity of our region, and so that's got to be the focus. It was good to see the Japanese Prime Minister putting a strong focus on that, but that needs to be central to that, and that includes bringing tariffs down. We don't want to see tariffs. We're against tariffs. They're a bad thing. They're bad for our region and they're bad for the world.

 

PETER STEFANOVIC:

 

Alright, Angus Taylor, the Shadow Defence Minister, thanks as always, for your time. We'll chat again soon.

 

ENDS.