MARK BUTLER, SHADOW MINSTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE:
Tony Abbott has taken the renewable energy industry right to the edge
of the cliff over the last 18 months. We’ve seen Australia go from a
position of being the fourth most attractive country in the world to
invest in renewable energy to being a country which has seen investment
plummet last year by 88 per cent. Investment has frozen, projects
stopped, jobs have already been lost and more jobs are very much at
risk. So, we’re very pleased that today we’ve been able to have a
serious discussion with the Government about getting this back on the
rails. I think we’ve got now a position that is the basis for a serious
discussion, the possibility to get investment started again, to get
projects being built again here in Australia and more jobs created in a
critical industry for the 21st Century.
We’ve got a proposition today based on
33,00GWh and some other details to take back to a Shadow Cabinet meeting
and a Caucus meeting that is scheduled for very early next week and
we’ll then be in a position to go back to the Government. We’re also
very keen to understand the views of industry about this. After all,
they are the ones who make the decisions about investing in renewable
energy projects into the future.
I must say though that Labor is very
disappointed that Tony Abbott has decided at the last minute to throw a
red herring on the table. There is no case for introducing native wood
waste burning into the renewable energy industry and I want to be very
clear that Labor will not be accepting this proposal from the
Government. We are though keen to get investment started again in this
industry. We know that on the basis of the proposal we have to change
the target to 33,000GWh we could get to the point of having 25 per cent
of our electricity generated by renewable sources by 2020 which is a
significant achievement.
Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: So, you’re saying the Government’s proposal is dependent on biomass being included?
BUTLER: Well,
there are a number of features there, but the critical feature is to
change the large-scale target to 33,000GWh. The Government has also
indicated it’s not proposing to make any change to the rooftop solar
program because Labor had said there’s no way we’d agree to any change
to that incredibly successful program. The Government has also indicated
that it wants to open the renewable energy scheme to include the
burning of native wood waste and we’ve indicated that we’re not going to
agree to that. Now, at the end of the day, the Government’s going to
have to make a decision about whether it is keen on getting a deal that
starts investment, secures existing jobs and creates new jobs.
JOURNALIST: So,
just to be clear, that would be a deal breaker if that was included in
any proposed legislation, you would not back that legislation?
BUTLER: Well,
we won’t vote for that provision in the legislation. We would vote for
33,000GWh if that proposal is endorsed by the Shadow Cabinet and the
Caucus next week. We’re going through that process. But, I’m very
confident there’s no way Labor will support an inclusion of the burning
of native wood waste. At the end of the day, the Government will have to
decide whether that is a deal breaker. We have a serious discussion
here. We cannot let a deal disappear because of Tony Abbott throwing a
red herring at the last minute on the table.
JOURNALIST: Why is the Opposition against the inclusion of wood waste in the RET?
BUTLER: Well,
we considered that when we were in Government, we don’t think there’s
any industry set up to deal with it, I’ve got no representations in the
last 18 months of dealing with this issue from the industry that says,
‘this is an important issue’. What we’re trying to do is deal with the
renewable energy industry as we know it. The industry that’s been
building projects over the last several years, that had its investor
confidence utterly dashed by Tony Abbott’s reckless attack last year. To
throw this red herring on the table at the last minute, we hope is
simply a stunt. It’s simply a distraction from the main issue before us
which is to get investor confidence back on the rails.
JOURNALIST: What other changes are they proposing?
BUTLER: Look,
I’m going to go through them with the Shadow Cabinet. I’m responding to
the issues that are on the public record, that the Government have
allowed to be put through the media, but it’s fair to say, I think, that
those are the significant issues that have been put before us by the
Government.
JOURNALIST: Are there any measures that would ensure large scale solar would get a slice of what head room would be left in the RET?
BUTLER: Look,
I’m not going to go into the details. If the Industry and Environment
Minister, I understand, are talking to the media in the near future,
want to go to their details, I will. But I’ve indicated that I will take
the proposal back to Shadow Cabinet and I will only respond to the
issues that are already on the public record.
JOURNALIST: If there is an agreement at 33, would Labor look at increasing the target, if you won Government?
BUTLER: We’ve
been very clear that we will do an agreement at a level like this simply
to get the industry back on the rails, to secure the existing projects
and jobs and have new projects and new jobs created. We’ve also said
though that if we’re elected in 2016, we will look to increase the 2020
target. We think there is scope for building beyond 33,000GWh. Most
importantly though, as early as next week, we will be sitting down with
stakeholders to start working out the details for the period beyond
2020, because as I travel around the country I find that’s what people
want to talk about. We’ve been talking about a policy that was put in
place last decade and how we get that back on the rails, people want to
talk about what level of ambition Australia has for the next decade in
renewable energy and that’s what we want to talk to them about too.
JOURNALIST: Was this the best deal you could achieve?
BUTLER: Well,
we’ve been working very, very closely with the industry to make sure
that any deal that is achieved is viable, is going to lead to
significant new investment over the rest of this decade, and I think in
close consultation with the industry, we’ve lifted the Government from a
position of first of all, wanting to demolish the RET altogether and
secondly from a position that the renewable energy industry itself and
all of the investment community simply wasn’t viable. Now, if those
industries say to us, ‘this deal will lead to significant new building
and will be platform for us to talk about future growth in the
industry’, the responsible thing for Labor to do will be to support it.
JOURNALIST: Do
you take responsibility for prolonging industry limbo on this issue?
After all, it was Labor who walked away from negotiations for a crucial
period of time.
BUTLER: Well we
did and that’s had the significant effect of making the Government and
the Prime Minister realise he was not going to get a deal at an
unsustainable number. We did that after advice from the industry that
the parameters of negotiation set by the Prime Minister were simply
unacceptable.
JOURNALIST: But that period of limbo has had a heavy cost on workers across the country.
BUTLER: It’s
been a very significant cost and that cost lies at the feet of the Prime
Minister. We were told very clearly that a negotiation around the
numbers that the Prime Minister had put on the table would be worse than
no deal whatsoever. What we’ve been able to achieve is to get the Prime
Minister to shift to a position that will lead to significant builds in
the future, will lead to the securing of existing jobs in the industry
and the creation of new jobs.
JOURNALIST: Did you ask the Ministers why it took so long?
BUTLER: No, I didn’t.
JOURNALIST: Just on another matter, do you think Maurice Newman should stand down for his comments in The Australian this morning?
BUTLER: Well,
I’ve never been clear why Maurice Newman holds the position he does hold
given how central climate change is to the future economic prosperity
of Australia. As the senior business advisor, what Maurice Newman said
in The Australian newspaper this morning is no different to the sorts of
things he’s been saying for years now about this incredibly important
policy. That ultimately though is a matter for the Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST: The
solar industry is saying the RET deal with the Coalition is a bad deal,
but they have no option by to accept it. What do you say to that?
BUTLER: Well
we’d prefer that Tony Abbott stuck to his election promise and [audio
cuts out]. What we have been able to secure here is the rooftop solar
program in its entirety. No change whatsoever to the rooftop solar
program and if we’re elected next year in 2016, as I said, we’d look to
increase the 2020 target, which would be at about the same time, as I
understand it, the large scale solar projects become significantly
viable.
JOURNALIST:
Climate scientists have confirmed the world is headed into a major
drought bringing El Nino event, which will lift global temperatures and
lead to bushfires and water shortages in eastern Australia. What’s your
response to that?
BUTLER: Well
I’ve seen reports of that this morning. As I understand it the Bureau of
Meteorology will be making more detailed advice available next week and
we’ll look at that very closely. We know that when El Nino events hit
Australia the impact, particularly on rural Australia, is very, very
significant, so I know this will be of great interests to my colleague
Joel Fitzgibbon and many others, but it does raise the need for
significant policy in this area.
Thanks very much every one.
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