RICHARD KING, HOST: Well Buckingham Palace has released a statement saying that Queen Elizabeth has cancelled her planned engagement at the United Nations Climate Conference, accepting doctor's advice to rest. Well, the Queen won’t be going but somebody who will, he's local federal Labor politician and Member for Shortland, Pat Conroy, and he is on the line. Good morning Pat.
SHANNA BULL, HOST: Morning.
PAT CONROY, SHADOW MINISTER ASSISTING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: Morning guys.
KING: Just first up Pat, will you be going as a participant or as a spectator to the conference in Glasgow?
CONROY: I’m going as an official Australian observer, so sort of halfway in between. I'm not a negotiator, but I'll be allowed access to the negotiating tent and most of the critical sessions.
KING: Right, okay. Well the announcement yesterday by the PM and Angus Taylor who we will be speaking to a bit later this morning, they've come to an agreement on a zero emissions target for 2050, but no change to their 2030 target. A lot of people have said this is not an emissions reduction plan, it's a technology development plan. Your thoughts on the announcement yesterday, Pat?
CONROY: Well it's a joke to be frank. They made this big hullabaloo about this announcement, and then they've sort of kept talking about having a plan, but what they've got is a 15 page PowerPoint presentation that actually has no concrete details about how they're going to get to net zero by 2050. They literally state in the documents this is all based on existing policies. It's an embarrassment, and it means that Australia under these policies won't get anywhere near net zero, and we'll lose the economic opportunities that are there for the taking.
BULL: Pat do you think this is more about trying to win an election for the Government then trying to get really serious about climate change?
CONROY: Absolutely. This is all about looking like they're doing something about healing the huge rift in the Coalition party room, but without any concrete plans to combat climate change. And it’s our future, our kids’ future that are being sacrificed because of this cynical political move.
BULL: What are you ultimately hoping though will be achieved at the COP26 conference in Glasgow?
CONROY: Well we need more ambitious medium-term targets. So net zero emissions is the base commitment that gets countries to the conference. But what the organisers have said is we really need medium-term target, so targets in 2030 upgraded if we to have any chance of keeping global warming at one and a half degrees Celsius. And that's really important because if global warming gets above one and a half, two degrees, the impact on countries, especially Australia, will be massive. So that's what Glasgow is all about - getting those commitments to actually take strong action on climate change.
KING: We, Australia hasn’t made a commitment to, well up the ante from the 26 to 28 per cent reduction which they've stuck with, and that's what the PM took to the election in 2019. But all the figures seem to indicate we are on track to cut emissions by 30 to 35 per cent, and it may be that, you know, between now and then they will make, you know, an announcement on what their target is and it could be better than the 26 to 28 Pat.
CONROY: Well, I'd say a couple things. One, Mr Morrison yesterday ruled out taking any different level of ambition to the election, so he said he won’t up their target. And if you don't actually put it in - so what happens at the UN, you put it in as a nationally determined contribution which is legally binding effectively. So they can talk about what they think will happen in 2030, but unless they commit to it as a target, they're not obliged to reach it.
And their projections released yesterday are very rubbery. They have a significant change from what they announced last year. So last year in their projections - so every year they update their projections for how much emissions will be cut by 2030. Their projections last year had Australia only 22 per cent below 2005 levels in 2030. Now it's going to be 35 per cent below 2005 levels in 2030. So that's a massive jump, and they have to explain why their projections have changed because they haven't changed their policies, so why is there a massive jump in how much emissions they think they're going to cut by 2030?
BULL: Pat, your party's yet to produce your own plan to reach net zero emissions by 2050. When you return from this climate conference in Glasgow after that summit does conclude and you report the findings from that, will Labor then be releasing their plan?
CONROY: Yes Anthony Albanese has indicated that we will announce our plan post-Glasgow, well before the next election so everyone has a chance to understand exactly what we want to do. We've already announced key parts of it, for example, the $20 billion Rewiring the Nation fund that will invest in new electricity transmission lines that will bring in lots more renewable energy and storage. That will cut power prices and grow a lot of jobs. We’ve announced policies to make electric vehicles cheaper by up to $9,000, and community batteries. So we've made critical announcements, but you can expect our full policy well before the next election.
KING: Okay, it’s easy to poke holes in what was said yesterday, but surely the one positive is that there's now agreement amongst the Coalition parties that they will go for a net zero target to 2050. And surely that's a positive Pat?
CONROY: Well I welcome it. I do, I genuinely do. We announced net zero some years ago, and I'm glad the Government has come on board with that. Obviously the proof will be in the pudding. They've actually got to put in place policies to demonstrate it, and we are worried about what the National Party will actually do, because three of the four National Party Cabinet Ministers voted against net zero emissions in their own party room. So now they’re supposedly in favour of it including Barnaby Joyce.
But you're absolutely right Richard. It is better that all major parties commit to net zero then they don't, and so that's to be welcomed. We just need concrete action to deliver it.
BULL: How do you feel about the reports with the deal the Nationals did with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Minister for Resources Keith Pitt, the man who's still yet to make a decision I might add on PEP-11, returning to Cabinet?
CONROY: It all smelt to be honest. First off, we don't have any details about what the National Party is getting beyond one thing which is that Keith Pitt is getting a massive pay rise, something around I think of $50,000 or $60,000 to return to Cabinet. So Keith is actually getting paid $50,000 or $60,000 more to sit on his hands and not decide the fate of PEP-11, something that's been overdue by 255 days now. It's remarkable, like people accuse politicians of getting paid for nothing and I think Keith’s the poster child of that at the moment.
KING: Oh alright, okay. Changing the subject, I daresay in your family, happy about the fact that school’s back this week Pat.
CONROY: Very, very happy. Homeschooling was a challenge and my kids are in Kindergarten and Year Two. So it's been a real test, and they've done very well. My wife would do three days a week and I'd try and do the other two, and we’re very happy they they’ve returned to school. Let’s just say I think the teachers have a great case for a pay rise given parents have had a real insight into what they have to do.
KING: And did you get an assessment from your children as to who was the better homeschooler – you or your wife?
CONROY: They seem to prefer me because I suspect I was slightly softer on them. But they did like the science excursions. I’d take them to the beach to investigate rock pools or jump in puddles.
KING: Okay, look I hate to on a negative but we've had a number of our listeners who have emailed in and suggested that this is a bit of a junket for you at taxpayers expense going over to Glasgow. Your response to that?
CONROY: I understand that, but let's be honest. Every climate conference the Government attends and usually an opposition member attends because it's really important to understand what's going on there not just for the nation, but also for our region. So for example, on Wednesday or Thursday of next week, the entire global community will be discussing the future of energy which will be centred on things like, for example, will our customers keep buying our coal which will determine the future of our coal mines for example.
So I understand why people think it's a junket, but these are really important conferences that affect the future of the entire nation and our region in particular given how carbon intensive we are. So I don't take spending taxpayers money lightly, but this is a really important event for Australia to be represented and quite frankly, the Hunter to be represented given the nature of our coal-based economy.
BULL: And just quickly Pat, all the big wigs are going to be at this climate conference. Are you looking forward to meeting anyone in particular?
CONROY: I think I'll be excluded from the big, big wig sessions. I think they try and keep that fairly tight for security reasons. But I'm looking forward to, and I'm trying to arrange meetings with some of the Pacific leaders because I'm also Shadow Minister for the Pacific. So it will be really important to touch base with them and see how they're dealing with both climate change and the COVID pandemic.
KING: Thank you very much for your time this morning Pat. Have a good day.
BULL: Yes, safe travels.
CONROY: You too. Have a great day, bye.