TRACY MCKELLIGOTT, HOST: Joining me on the line now is the Federal Member for Shortland and the Shadow Minister Assisting for Climate Change. It is Pat Conroy. Good morning and thanks for joining me Pat.
PAT CONROY, SHADOW MINISTER ASSISTING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: My pleasure.
MCKELLIGOTT: Now when do you go and what's going on? Obviously you're going over to Glasgow for the climate change seminar, everything that's happening, the conference over there. What are you doing over there?
CONROY: So I'm going as an official Australian observer. The way these conferences work is that the Opposition generally sends a climate change spokesperson to observe proceedings and to take meetings with delegations from around the world. So it’s a great opportunity to understand what's going on in Glasgow, meet with overseas delegations, international delegations from other governments. And it’s really important that we've got someone from the Hunter there given we really are the centre of the debate that’s going on about climate change. So it’s a huge opportunity.
MCKELLIGOTT: So obviously from the Hunter’s perspective you'll be there. There's a lot of countries that are changing how they deal with coal and coal fired power stations and and everything that that surrounds that. Obviously you'll be there wanting to know what their changes are and how they'll impact upon us.
CONROY: Yeah that’s absolutely right. So the future of our coal industry won’t be determined by decisions made in Canberra. It will be in boardrooms in Tokyo, in China, in South Korea, and India, and there’s a full day devoted to energy and in particular the future of coal at the Glasgow conference. So it's really important that someone from the Hunter is there.
MCKELLIGOTT: Yeah absolutely, without a doubt. Now what else do you hope to get out of the conference?
CONROY: I think it's going be really important to get frank reactions to what the Australian Government’s position is. That’s something that often doesn't occur in the public. So being there behind closed doors is really important because the truth is we just haven't committed enough to around take action on climate change. The fact that this Government hasn't got a plan for 2050 and has refused to list its ambition for 2030 means that the reaction internationally is expected to be quite negative.
So it's very important to understand how that reaction takes place, and what it means. So this just won't be hot air. There's some real potential that we will face carbon border tariffs on our exports because we'll be seen as not taking enough action.
MCKELLIGOTT: And that there is some research out today that actually says that with the targets going to 2050 instead of 2030 that it is most likely that we will go up 2.5 degrees in temperature which is disastrous, and we really need to look to 2030, not 2050.
CONROY: And that’s the entire focus of the Glasgow conference. 2050 commitments are sort of the base level. That gets you a ticket to go to Glasgow. But what the organisers want is for people to commit to lifting their ambitions for 2030 because there's no point having a target off in the never-never if you're not actually going to deliver in the short term.
And the truth is, if every other country in the world committed to what Australia has, we’re doomed. We've got no chance of halting climate change. The US is committed to a 50 per cent cut by 2030, the UK I think is about 50 per cent as well. Lots of industrialised countries have made similar commitments, and we’re really at the back of the pack by Mr Morrison refusing to lift his commitment from 26 per cent which is just a disgrace.
MCKELLIGOTT: When will we hear the Opposition's climate change policy that you expect to take to the next election Pat?
CONROY: So we've made a commitment that you will hear that well before the next election. It makes sense to do it post-Glasgow because we're not the Government, so we just need to know what governments around the world have committed to. But we have announced key parts of the policy already. For example, the $20 billion Rewiring the Nation fund that will invest in transmission investment like the poles and wires that means we can get more renewables into the grid. That'll lower power prices, lower emissions, and create jobs. We’ve announced our electric vehicles policy that will cut the price of an electric vehicle by up to $9,000, and community solar batteries.
So we've made really strong announcements. We'll have more in the future, and importantly we've got runs on the board. So Australia as a whole has cut our emissions by 20 per cent since 2005. 14 percentage points of that occurred under the last Labor Government, and five of the remaining six percentage points occurred due to Labor’s Renewable Energy Target that this Government has tried to abolish repeatedly. So we've got a good track record on action on climate change and you can expect more in the future.
MCKELLIGOTT: Listen you obviously head off on the 2nd of November. How long are you gone for?
CONROY: Seven days. So I leave on the Monday and I get back on Wednesday with the time zones and everything else.
MCKELLIGOTT: Do you have to isolate when you get home or are you right to go?
CONROY: Thankfully no. Unless I come back with COVID then that’s not good.
MCKELLIGOTT: Please I don’t do that?
CONROY: Well there’s 100,000 cases a day in the UK. Some have accused me of going on a junket. I don't think it is a junket. I think it’s a very important mission.
MCKELLIGOTT: Absolutely. No, I don't think anyone would be willingly going to the UK at the moment with those kinds of figures. Look, stay very safe. I'd love to catch up with you while you're there if you've got time?
CONROY: Yeah, absolutely. It would be my pleasure to have a chat while I'm on the ground.
MCKELLIGOTT: Fantastic. Look, best of luck. Keep them honest over there, and we'll chat very soon.
CONROY: Will do, thanks. Have a great morning.