BELINDA KING, HOST: You might recall late last year, COP26 was on that brought many countries together to talk about climate change. Now we got a bit of an inside snapshot as to how it was all travelling because Pat Conroy went along. He is actually the Shadow Minister Assisting for Climate Change and Federal Member for Shortland, and he was able to give us a little bit of insight into what was happening over in Scotland. Now he’s actually going to be able to give us a bit of insight into what he’s doing in Tasmania at the moment. He flew in yesterday, and I think has got a very full dance card. So from Scotland to George Town, Pat Conroy good morning.
PAT CONROY, SHADOW MINISTER ASSISTING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: Good morning Belinda, how are you?
KING: Yeah doing well. What brings you to Tasmania, Pat?
CONROY: Well I am spending a couple of days with Ross Hart, our candidate in Bass connecting and talking to organisations. So yesterday we were at the Australian Maritime College talking about how they can help with some really significant defence projects that we need in this country, and then today we’re out to George Town to meet with local business leaders to talk about how Labor’s climate policy can deliver a jobs boom to Northern Tasmania. So it’s an interesting program with a mix of climate and defence, and it’s really enjoyable to be back in Northern Tasmania.
KING: Well let’s unpack that a little starting with the Maritime College. Exactly what sort of projects does Labor have in mind that you might be able to fund should the federal election fall to your party?
CONROY: Well the Maritime College already is a national jewel. The work they do around things like hydrodynamics - so how do ships go through water properly - and cavitation which is how do we make sure ships and submarines in our Navy are as quiet as possible is unique in Australia. No one else can do it, and we are going to need that help with the new submarines that obviously are being proposed, and the new Hunter class frigates. So the Hunter class frigates are our new frigates for the Navy and unfortunately they are already $15 billion over budget and four years late, and they’ve got some real issues around noise. And these frigates are designed to hunt submarines, so having a noisy ship is a problem for those. So the research work that we looked at at the Maritime College yesterday will be critical in making sure that the Navy gets the best possible frigates. And that’s vital for our national security and also means more jobs in northern Tasmania.
KING: In regards to the submarines, of course Australia has had under the current Government a change of heart as to our purchase of the French submarines and have now set up an alliance with the US and the UK to look at submarines coming through their technology and their builds. Do you see Labor supporting that pathway?
CONROY: Labor does support it. We’ve received classified briefings that explain why it’s necessary to go for a nuclear-propelled submarine in terms of the tasks we want it to do basically mean that you need a nuclear power plant. But what this Government really needs to explain is how they are going to achieve it because it’s a massive industrial undertaking to build nuclear powered submarines. They’re much bigger and much more complex than conventional powered submarines, and we are going to need the mobilisation of the entire sort of technology and industrial institutions in Australia to do that. And the Australian Maritime College is going to be centre to that. The research they do is essential to that sort of undertaking. But Labor does support the acquisition of these submarines, but we think a lot more work needs to be done before they’re going to get anywhere near the water.
KING: Well let’s turn our attention to George Town at the moment with the idea of jobs being generated around hydrogen. What were the discussions that took place there?
CONROY: Well that’s happening at lunch time today.
KING: Ah.
CONROY: So I am very excited. Yesterday was the Maritime College and today is George Town, and there’s going to be some fascinating conversations because the climate policy that Labor announced late last year is very focused on jobs and in fact independent modelling found that the various initiatives we have announced will deliver 600,000 jobs for Australia. Most importantly, 500,000 of them in regional areas including northern Tasmania.
And one of the great opportunities is hydrogen. I was here a few years ago talking about that and the George Town area and the sort of broader Bell Bay industrial precinct nearby are going to be critical to that. Hydrogen produced from renewable energy is the way of the future. It’s going to be really important for industrial processes, and it’s going to be a great export industry if we invest in it quickly, because we are competing against countries in the Middle East and in the Americas. So it’s a great opportunity for northern Tasmania to be the heart of low cost energy intensive manufacturing again which was obviously the case a few decades back.
KING: Pat Conroy, while I have got you one of your many hats is Shadow Minister Assisting for Defence so I wanted to ask you how you see the situation in Ukraine right now and what if anything a Labor Government would do differently in response to that?
CONROY: Well it’s obviously incredibly concerning. These acts of aggression by Russia are completely unacceptable. To invade a neighbouring country is wrong and unacceptable and should be called out. And look, we have been in lockstep with the Government. We think the Government is taking the necessary actions as part of the global efforts around sanctions, around military aid, and non-lethal aid to Ukraine.
So I don’t think Labor would do much if anything different. I think this is an issue where having a completely bipartisan approach is really, really important. Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago the Prime Minister tried to suggest that national security was a partisan political issue, and we obviously disagree strongly. On issues such as Ukraine, it’s important that we present a united front and that Russia knows that no matter who is in Government in Australia, they can expect strong push back as part of global efforts to condemn their action and to pressure them to reverse course.
KING: Pat Conroy, thank you very much for joining us this morning.
CONROY: Have a lovely morning Belinda, thank you very much.