NEIL BREEN, PRESENTER: Labor has sent a representative to the conference, he’s still there. Pat Conroy is the Shadow Minister Assisting for Climate Change, he joins me on the line from Glasgow. Good morning to you Pat.
PAT CONROY, SHADOW MINISTER FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE PACIFIC & SHADOW MINISTER ASSISTING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: Good morning, how are you?
BREEN: I’m really well thanks. Thanks for joining us from Glasgow. What have you seen this week?
CONROY: Well it’s been a mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly to be honest. I think the good news is that when we’ve seen the updated what’s called nationally determined contributions where governments increase their commitments around emission reductions, those commitments combined if they’re followed through by the governments – and that’s a big if – for the first time means we can keep global warming under two degrees. That’s great news. We need to keep it under 1.5, but the great news is that the contributions, the commitments from governments around the world if followed through mean we can keep global warming down to two degrees.
So that’s the good news. The bad news is that it makes the Morrison Government’s decision not to increase its 2030 target even more stark and counter to the global momentum. So there’s a lot happening –
BREEN: I don’t know how you can say that. The public aren’t stupid Pat Conroy. When China don’t even turn up and India go ‘oh 2070’, most Australians switch off. They go ‘why should we, why should we do this and why should we sacrifice when those massive emitters don’t?’
CONROY: Well China has turned up, they’ve sent a very high level delegation including the person who negotiated their key role in –
BREEN: Have they given a year? Has China given a year?
CONROY: Yes, they’ve actually committed to net zero emissions by 2060 which is a massive move by China, and India committing to 2070 is still a massive move in the right direction for the globe.
BREEN: We’ll all be dead. We’ll all be dead Pat Conroy by 2070.
CONROY: But let’s look at the positives. The positive news is that the national contributions from around the world if followed through – and that’s always a big if – means that we can keep global warming under two degrees. The truth is if every country in the world committed to the same levels of ambition as the Australian Government, global warming would be close to four degrees Celsius. So there is room to be positive, but Australia is definitely a laggard which isn’t just about it feeling good internationally, it means that we are going to miss out on the economic opportunities, the job opportunities –
BREEN: Which countries are we lagging behind? With our plan for 2050, we didn’t sign up to methane, that’s because of the strength of the Nationals and when there’s a Coalition Government they will always do that the Nationals. We signed up to the rainforest things, which countries ae we lagging behind?
CONROY: So for example the United States have increased their 2030 targets to 50 per cent, and Boris Johnson’s conservative government in the United Kingdom, they’ve committed to a similar target. So most western nations have got targets of somewhere between 40 and 60 per cent reduction on 2005 levels. So we are lagging behind most of the western world to be honest, and that’s been pointed out quite often internationally.
BREEN: One of the key things, one of the key things – yeah well most of those countries are bigger emitters than we are so they should be doing more – but one of the key things for Labor, and I’ll concentrate on Queensland here. You head to a federal election next year. You’re way behind – 23 seats to six in Queensland – and this was one of the issues that derailed you last time. How are you going to win over the inner-city voters, the inner-city Greenies to vote Labor, and also the working class people in the mining towns? We know Anthony Albanese’s sensitive about it because he went to a mining town and told no one.
ALBANESE: Well that’s not quite true. He told the local press, and they were there for his press conference. We will be talking about –
BREEN: But he didn’t tell the mainstream press so the people, the inner city voters of Brisbane didn’t know.
CONROY: Well I think he has signalled a real intention to engage with those communities. I represent a proud coal mining district in the Hunter Valley, so the way we are going to communicate about climate action is by talking about the economic opportunities that go along with taking action on climate change. Whether it’s mining lithium, whether it’s making lithium batteries, or parts for electric vehicle, there are huge economic opportunities from this transition, and coal mining isn’t going to end overnight. We [inaudible] digging our coal, especially fresh Queensland coal because most of it is used for steelmaking, that will still exist for decades to come. But at the same time we should be investing in these new job opportunities.
I met lots of Australian companies at the conference today and yesterday who are champing at the bit, who have got great markets for their products overseas, but they don’t have those markets in Australia, and that means that we are missing out on Australian jobs.
And that’s what we are going to be communicating. We can protect existing jobs and tackle issues like the insecurity of work in the coal mining industry while we are growing new jobs in battery manufacturing, and that’s our main message to the people of the Bowen Basin as well as the people of New Farm.
BREEN: Okay, it will be interesting times ahead. Pat Conroy, Shadow Minister Assisting for Climate Change, enjoy the rest of your time in Glasgow.
CONROY: Thanks mate, have a good morning.