TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS CONFERENCE ABOUT RENEWABLE ENERGY TARGET

Date:  18 August 2014

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW TREASURER: Thanks for coming everybody.

Today, another of dysfunction and lack of coherence when it comes to this Government's Budget. We see Ministers engaging in thought bubbles and speculation about compromise, about walking away from Budget commitments.

Today we've had Julie Bishop, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party talking about compromise; the Treasurer has clearly lost control of the Budget narrative; the Treasurer has clearly lost control of his Budget. The Treasurer has gone into hiding as he fails to sell his Budget to the Parliament or the people. The Budget has been comprehensively rejected by the Parliament and the people. No amount of tinkering, no amount of window dressing or no amount of cosmetics will change the fundamental unfairness of this Budget, a bad Budget, an unfair Budget.

The Treasurer needs to outline very clearly, crystal clear to Australian people about what his plan is. He casts around blaming everybody else. It's the media's fault, it’s business’ fault, it's the Parliament's fault. Well it's the Treasurer's responsibility to right his Budget and to ensure the pass of the Budget through the Parliament. No Treasurer has failed to do that in living memory and this Treasurer fails to do it and fails outline a clear plan or way forward.

Twelve months ago today, Tony Abbott promised, and I quote, “to lower all taxes". He wanted to see all taxes lower. Today he's confirmed that the petrol tax indexation is a tax rise. Twelve months ago today we see, to the day, him walking away from that commitment and him confirming it in the media this morning.

And, of course, we've seen the comments by the Trade Minister Andrew Robb in The Australian today about sovereign risk and the Budget. These are highly irresponsible and ill-judged comments. ‘Sovereign risk’ and the ‘Budget’ are two terms that should not be linked in relation to senior Cabinet ministers. We talk about sovereign risk when you're talking about the Budget is a serious matter. Australia's Budget is triple-A credit rated from the three major ratings agencies. Barnaby Joyce was sacked as Shadow Finance Minister for linking Australia's Budget and sovereign risk a few years ago and today we see a senior Cabinet minister making that link.

The only risk that's a sovereign risk in Australia is the Government's perceived attempts, apparent attempts to wind back the renewable energy target. We have $11 billion of investment in renewable energy based on clear Government policy, a policy which had been bipartisan, and we see the Government floating, walking away from that target. That creates sovereign risk for Australia's investors. My colleague Mark Butler will talk about that and we're happy to take questions.

SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, MARK BUTLER: Thank you, Chris.

Chris is right, the only example of sovereign risk being discussed by the Australian business community at the moment is in relation to the renewable energy target. Today in this morning's papers we saw the latest kick in the guts by this Government on the renewable energy industry with reports from Government sources indicating that the Prime Minister's office itself has sent back the draft review report for the renewable energy target and asked that an option be prepared to abolish the target altogether. Now this is the latest in a series of steps that appear to confirm that the Prime Minister is readying himself to walk away from another, yet another, crystal clear election commitment. A commitment that was made during the election campaign itself, to keep the existing renewable energy target in place. A target that has been bipartisan now since 2001, over four periods of the Parliament.

Now, ironically, these government reports, these strategic leaks, appear on the same day as we receive yet another report that confirms that three things will happen if you abolish the renewable energy target or wind it back: firstly, power prices will go up. Under Tony Abbott, if he has his way with renewable energy, power prices for Australian households will go up, and up, and up. Secondly, we already know that up to $12 billion in investment will be lost between now and 2020 along with thousands of jobs that go with it, but we do know, we learn from this report today, that there will be a winner of the scaling back or abolition of the renewable energy target, and that is the big coal and big gas companies, who will repay a windfall profit of some $10 billion at the expense of prices paid by Australian households.

Now it is well beyond time. The renewable energy target has been supported by Tony Abbott in the 2010 campaign and the 2013 campaign. We have had companies from across the world come to Australia, invest billions of dollars, crate thousands of jobs, for lower households power bills, and for cleaner electricity generation in Australia. It is well beyond time that Tony Abbott stopped this flight of fancy and returned to the crystal clear commitment he made only last year that he made to keep in place the renewable energy target.

BOWEN: Happy to take questions?

JOURNALIST: Chris Bowen, the Government keeps on saying that when it comes to the Budget the Opposition keeps on saying ‘no’. Is it time for Labor to sit down with the Government, sit down with the cross bench, sit down with the Greens, and start talking about alternative proposals?

BOWEN: Let me make a couple of points James. We see, apparently, the Government begging Labor to rewrite the Budget for them. That is apparently the Treasurer’s request to us. Parliament’s vote on Budget measures at any particular time. Oppositions vote on the Budget as presented by the Government. They vote on particular measures up or down. That's the way the parliamentary process works.

And in fact as Tony Burke and I have pointed out. There are $21 billion of either revenue of savings measures which the Labor has indicated our support for which the Government through some form or another has rejected, whether they be measures that the previous government had in place that this Government has reversed, be it our offer to support particular savings measures which the Government has in effect rejected by refusing to split the necessary legislation. There's $21 billion right there.

At the same time as the Government insists on implementing its own unfair, extravagant and unaffordable paid parental leave scheme at the cost of $5.5 billion a year, so we're not going to be lectured by the Government about fiscal records when they are putting before the parliament an unfair and unaffordable paid parental leave scheme at the same time as insisting that the Parliament do things like cut the age pension, increase the debt of university students and the list goes on.

In relation to discussions with the Government we've said consistently if the Government wants to put something to the Labor Party we would listen but our values and principles have been clearly outlined, our red lines we are not prepared to negotiate have been very clearly outlined, matter of principle like the universality of health care for example, included in that.

As I have said before, the Labor Party is always open to discussions if the Government asked us to do it, but we will be very clear about our values and principles and the judgements we have made based on those.

JOURNALIST: But isn’t there a risk that Labor could deal itself out of debate? And leave important decisions to the crossbench?

BOWEN: The Senate will vote on measures. There will be some that the Labor Party wins the day on in the Senate and there will be some we lose. That has always been thus and it will always be thus. What is important is that we vote based on our judgments about the matters before us and underpinned by our values and principles and that's exactly what we'll do.

JOURNALIST: Could you support repeal of the mining tax if the measures that support lower income households are kept? If the Bills are effectively split?

BOWEN: Our position on both of those matters is particularly clear. We don't know yet whether the Government will split the bills. There's been speculation, as I understand it, it was briefed out by very senior figures in the Government that it would split the bills, then the Treasurer’s office denied it, they’ve been at sixes and sevens on that. Let them be crystal clear on their way forward, our way forward has been very clearly articulated by us.

JOURNALIST: The Prime Minister has been meeting with Islamic leaders in Sydney today. Are you supportive of that and what do you think he can achieve?

BOWEN: Well any dialogue, any interaction with Australia's ethnic communities is always a good thing and should be welcomed. Of course the Government very foolishly went down the road of trying to repeal section 18C of the relevant Act which was an unfortunate move which the community ground swell saw a reversal on and that was linked to proposed anti-terrorist measures, which I think was an unfortunate move by the Government. But any interactive, of course, between the Prime Minister and ethnic groups, or indeed any community groups, on important matters is welcome to us.

JOURNALIST: Mr Butler, just on the RET. One of the argument put around is that lower energy prices has meant that 20% is actually 26, 27%, is there any - does Labor see any room to move on the 41,000 gigawatt hours that constituents the large scale RET at the moment?

BUTLER: Well Sid, going back to the early version of the renewable energy target underwritten by John Howard's Government, there was a debate about whether this should be a generation target, a precise firing like the 41,000 gigawatt hours that is currently in the legislation or a percentage of a floating or moving set of demand figures. And it was agreed by the Liberal Party, by the Labor Party and by the industry itself that the precise generation target was important to underpin investor certainty and investor confidence. Now we’ve seen no argument from parts of the electricity industry or from the Government to shake our position about that - that a precise generation target is the right one. Obviously we always look at these arguments if and when they’re made. But at the moment this was a policy that was working. It tripled the number of jobs, it attracted billions in investment, it started to reduce carbon pollution from the electricity sector and it was a policy that Tony Abbott signed up to on two elections. Not just one but on two elections.

So we think it’s important that Tony Abbott is kept to his promise, that there be investor certainty to ensure that pipeline of billions in dollars in investment and thousands of jobs continue to flow to Australia. We’ve seen no argument, no suggestion that that policy was wrong.

JOURNALIST: Do you subscribe to arguments from the industry that this sort of speculation poses a sovereign risk which goes beyond just the renewable energy sector, into infrastructure?

BUTLER: I might let Chris talk about the business community more broadly but I do know talking to the electricity sector including the clean energy sector over recent months that they invested in this country, whether they were overseas investors or Australian companies, based on there having been four election campaigns where the two major parties went to the election promising a bipartisan support for the renewable energy target. These are long term investments. The renewable energy target program is a long term policy and the extent that the Government of the day, the Prime Minister of the day suddenly decides he wants to walk away from a promise clearly made during the election campaign itself does undermine business investor confidence. There’s no question about that.

BOWEN: Well, that’s right and its broader than the renewable energy target when international investors receive a message that Governments can change and will change policy despite long term bipartisan commitments to that then investors right across the spectrum, not just to renewable energy would then question those investments, if Governments can at a whim post-election reverse a policy which very substantial amounts of money, billions of dollars have been invested in Australia based on an understanding of bipartisan policy commitment, that does raise real sovereign risk issues right across the board.

JOURNALIST: Chris Bowen, you were a senior Minister in the Rudd Government, can you recall the former Prime Minister polling on what his core values should be?

BOWEN: Look, I know what that question is referring to. As I’ve said, I have a different historical perspective based on some of these questions. My position on those issues is well known around this building and more broadly for a long long time. But I’m focused on the future, as the Labor party is. The Shadow Ministry is completely united in taking the fight up to Tony Abbott at the next election. That is what the Labor Party is focused on here providing a real alternative to the Australian people, policy alternatives and an alternative vision for the nation and giving the Australian people are real choice at the next election. And fighting the next election very hard because Australia deserves better than the Government we have today.

JOURNALIST: Is it unhelpful then that he is focusing on the past when you guys are trying to focus your attacks on the Coalition?

BOWEN: I think Wayne Swan, as I’ve said previously has an important contribution to make to political history based on his stewardship, with Kevin Rudd, of Australia through the Global Financial Crisis. Obviously on some matters I have a different perspective and a very different experience but we are focused on the future and we are focused on being a united front which the Labor Party 100 percent is in taking the fight up to Tony Abbott.

JOURNALIST: Is Tanya Plibersek’s attendance at the launch focused on the future?

BOWEN: She’s perfectly entitled to be launching Wayne Swan’s book and of course you see people launching books of colleagues and friends across the board very regularly in Australian politics.

JOURNALIST: You have a bit to do with the business community do you encounter any oligarchs or plutocrats?

BOWEN: Well obviously in my time as Treasurer and Shadow Treasurer I have engaged very assiduously across the board, formally and informally, big and small, medium, in capital cities and regional centres, right across the country. I’ve made it clear that the business community and the Labor Party will sometimes look at things from a different perspective and we have different jobs to do but our doors should always be open to each other. We should always be able to have full and frank and free exchanges and to be able to talk about some of the big challenges facing the nation.

That’s certainly the approach taken by Bill Shorten and I when it comes to engagement with the business community. There will be some things we agree on and some things we don’t at the end of the day. But the nation can only better with full and open discussions by governments and the business communities, oppositions, alternative governments and the business community more broadly because they’re big economic questions facing the nation. At the end of the day the Labor Party want to see economic growth, we want to see jobs created and working with the business community on reform and big questions is the way to do that.

JOURNALIST: Do you welcome reports that the Abbott Government has apparently struck an uranium export deal with India?

BOWEN: Well of course the Labor Party set up, when we were in office, the circumstances whereby this could happen, that was something that we were working towards. I’ve just heard those reports as I was walking to this press conference so we’ll see the details. But of course the Labor Party put in place the policy framework to allow that to happen so if that has been progressed that’s something that’s welcomed.

Okay, thanks.