TRANSCRIPT: TV INTERVIEW - SKY NEWS - MONDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2021

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS WITH KIERAN GILBERT
MONDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2021

SUBJECTS: Coalition climate chaos; Keith Pitt; Christian Porter coverup.

KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: Tony Burke, thanks very much for your time. I know Labor’s been critical of this process, saying the Nationals have led the way and so on. But when you look at the detail – not a lot of detail that we've seen – but we know that the target’s there at least. Is this going to be enough for Scott Morrison to say, look, we are taking this seriously? While the Nats speak to their people in the bush.

TONY BURKE, MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS: Well, first of all, all Mr Morrison's done is make an announcement to get him through one conference and one election. He is still the person who ridiculed electric vehicles as ending the weekend, he's still the person who argued about battery storage and compared it to the Big Banana. He's still the person who doesn't believe in action. He can't be trusted to ever deliver on it. In terms of what's the plan that they've announced? All they've announced is a pay rise for Keith Pitt. That's all. So in terms of creation of jobs, they've created one. And they for all their talk of you know, here's our plan, they don't have one. And they've struck a political deal to get through a conference and get through an election.

GILBERT: Well we know that they’ve got the Nats on board for net zero, at least. Barnaby Joyce might not support it. But he is now because of course, he's a member of cabinet, he's bound by cabinet solidarity.

BURKE: It's a funny definition of on board. You would have heard what he said in question time today. He's on board with “the process”. But ultimately they can't be trusted to deliver on any of this because they don't believe it.
GILBERT: But they're speaking to their, like I said, they’re speaking to their constituency, whether it be in Central Queensland or wherever else. You've got the Dave Sharma’s of the world speaking to theirs.

BURKE: Well, let's just take, you know, I don't accept that the regional constituency is a group of climate deniers. I don't accept that. But let's just, if we do accept that, well, what's their poster boy just done in terms of Keith Pitt? Abandoned what they believe in, in order to get himself a pay rise. Now, you can imagine how they're looking at it. You know, there's been times over the years, you've seen it with different members of parliament, moments of high drama where someone gives up their position because of the principles they believe in. This bloke gave up his principles because of a position, because of a job that he believed in. This is the opposite of what we normally see at moments of high drama, where everything that he’d claimed publicly about net zero, he’s willing to say oh, look, can I just cut a deal to get the extra salary and get myself into cabinet? People in the regions will see that as being as cynical and self-centred as it is.

GILBERT: Isn't this an argument though that the Nats can say, look, we've got more representation around the table, we can represent those industries that need it more forcefully around the table where the decisions are made.

BURKE: The thing they can't say to their communities, is they can't say they've delivered cheaper energy. We’ve known for a long time now, renewables and firming deliver cheaper energy. And when we talk about the jobs that come from renewables, it's not just the construction of the renewables as some of the Nats have tried to point out. If you've got cheaper energy then all the value-adding and manufacturing becomes more affordable. For a manufacturing industry to work in any country you need the raw products, and then countries either compete on cheap energy or cheap wages. The regions don't want to be competing on cheap wages. Cheap energy through renewables is the way in both the regions, and in the suburbs as well for that matter, to create jobs. And what the government and the Nats have gone down is a pathway where they have consistently held back communities from cheaper energy and therefore the jobs that go with it.

GILBERT: There’s the old political adage that no two elections are the same. Does Labor take that view when it comes to your own ambition on climate? I know last time Bill Shorten was caught off guard, I guess, with not all the detail that he needed in response to questions. This time, will you be more cautious about the mid-term targets so you don't effectively pick a fight because of the experience last time or is this entirely different? The political situation now?

BURKE: Both Anthony Albanese and Chris Brown have made it clear we'll make an announcement before the election with respect to where we go in terms closer than the 2050 target. But there's a series of policies that we've already announced that mark a complete difference between us and the government on these issues. You go to transmission, you go to community batteries, you go to electric vehicles. Transmission throughout the grid allows renewable energy to provide that downward pressure right across the grid by rewiring the nation. Putting community batteries in place allows people to get solar panels on the roof and to continue to get the storage benefits at night, as well. And then with respect to electric vehicles, what we’re offering there is effectively a tax cut. What we're offering there on electric vehicles makes electric vehicles more affordable. And you only have to look at what's happened to petrol prices around Australia over the last week to get a real sense of what climate change action from an Albanese government would mean in making your cost of living much cheaper, Whether it be your energy prices or the cost of running a car.

GILBERT: You've referred, on another matter, Christian Porter, well tried to refer him again to the Privileges Committee in the parliament. You know what the government's reaction would be though, they will use their numbers to block that once again, won’t they What are you trying to achieve on that?

BURKE: Look, what I want to make sure is the backbench Liberal and National Members of Parliament realise they can't have it both ways. You would have seen articles in the paper both on Sunday and on Friday as well, where you had anonymous members of the government saying they really didn't like having a vote to stop there being any scrutiny of Christian Porter, and where on earth the money's come from. Well, they put that out to the media, said that they didn't like having to vote that way. We give them another chance. The third time they've had a chance to vote for transparency. What do they do? The exact same thing again. Every member of the Liberal Party and the National Party have their fingerprints all over this cover-up. The reason we have rules that if a Member of Parliament gets a significant amount of cash you have to report where it came from is to stop corruption and to stop bribery. And they are refusing to have any scrutiny over exactly that.

GILBERT: Tony Burke. We're out of time. Talk to you soon.

ENDS