TRANSCRIPT: TV INTERVIEW - SKY NEWS - THURSDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2021

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS WITH TOM CONNELL
THURSDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2021

SUBJECTS: Clean Energy Finance Corporation; voter ID legislation.

TOM CONNELL, HOST: Joining me live now is the Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and the Manager of Opposition Business, Tony Burke. Thanks for your time. We've got a bit of a hint from your side on what's happening. So can you clarify here? If this is new money from the government, will Labor support the changes to the CEFC that would need to happen?

TONY BURKE, SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: Well, we're not going to make a commitment based on legislation we haven't seen. So that's the first thing Tom. In terms of whether it's new money or not is one of the questions we don't know the answer to. What the legislation will look like, we don't know the answer to. We do know it's not a $1 billion fund, as you just described just a moment ago, it's half that the government says it's putting forward. Immediately before the last election, they announced more money for the CEFC. None of that money has turned up yet. So in terms of announcement and where any of this goes, it's more spin from the Prime Minister. So if legislation comes in front, we'll look at what's there. But let’s not get too excited about this. Two elections ago they were trying to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Then last election, they announced money for it and none of that money's turned up. Now we're leading up to another election after the PM’s been humiliated over at Glasgow and they make another announcement. All the time with this inaction we're missing out on jobs in Australia.

CONNELL: It was mentioned that it was $500m from the government so that we have been upfront with that element of it. But I understand what you're saying about new money. We'll see that clarified, confirmed position. What about Labor's principle? Previously, you had an issue with this going to so-called unproven technology that could include carbon capture and storage? Is that no longer a red line for Labor?

BURKE: Well, once again, you're wanting me to give an answer on legislation that we haven't seen. In terms of carbon capture and storage. Labor has been on the record for more than a decade, when we were in government, we established the flagship program, we funded research into carbon capture and storage. And when this government came to office, they abolished the that funding, that's what they did. Now, what they do is they try to set everything up, because what they want is not outcomes, what they want is a fight. That's what they want. Now, the only people who have decided to fight with the government right now are members of the government. They're the ones who had said, haven't seen the legislation but know that they oppose it. And at the moment, it's members of the government are the people who are drawing red lines and are committed to opposing this. But I just think we, on carbon capture and storage, we need to remember, it's not clean energy. Whether it can help or not, is something that Labor was funding work into and this mob abolished. Everything about how Mr Morrison behaves, comes down to one principle: he tries to set up fights and when the going gets tough, he goes missing. That's what he does every single time.

CONNELL: When you say it's not clean energy. So far, the projects that have been attached to power stations have been partially successful. So that's true for now. But it can be clean energy, can it not? If it's carbon-free, ultimately carbon neutral down the track, doesn't that constitute clean energy? Isn't that the hope?

BURKE: I haven't seen even on a small scale examples of this where you get emissions to zero. There can be examples where there's a reduction in emissions. And that's why we previously funded the work. I’m not ridiculing the technology here Tom. I'm simply saying we shouldn't pretend that that's traditionally been within the remit of the of the CEFC. It's not clean energy in that sense but it is a way where emissions that are otherwise occurring can potentially be reduced. And that's why we've previously funded it through other means that this mob abolished.

CONNELL: Let's talk about the voter ID bill. So what we know about it so far, as the Coalition is spruiking it, it’s a very low threshold still even though it's a significant change. So if someone has no identification on the day they go to vote, they can try to vote. If the person isn't convinced it’s them someone else can vouch for them. If that still doesn't work, they can sign a form with their date of birth, and vote, and have that verified later. So to clarify, nobody's going to be just turned away on election day, will they?

BURKE: I don't accept that that'll be the outcome of this at all. You need to start with a principle of why is the government even doing this? Last election there was zero prosecutions for electoral fraud. So after each election, you always have the case after each election that the AEC goes through to try to work out if there has been examples of fraud. They go through all the records, they work out if a line was drawn through the same name more than once. We ended up zero prosecutions being preceded with. So you then got to ask why does the government want to do this? Why do they want to put an extra barrier and make it harder for people to vote? And you think it through, and the people who are less likely to have ID on them in every situation are going to be people who have a form of vulnerability. Now, there is nothing in this proposal about encouraging people to vote. Everything here is about putting in delays. If you're in those vulnerable categories, yes, there might be a pathway for you to be able to, it takes a hell of a lot longer, you'll be waiting in line with other people in the same circumstance. The strongest opposition of this comes from the Members of Parliament who represent remote communities like Warren Snowdon. They know exactly what this will mean. And the reason the government's doing it is simple. They want fewer people to vote. And you can do your own maths about why that might be the case.

CONNELL: But with what we've seen in the legislation, again, this is an important message to come out here. I mean, this might become a reality. Surely you still want to tell voters you won't get just turned away on the day even without ID. Nobody can just say, “Go away, you can't vote.” Every voter will have the right to vote, even if they have to put their name and date of birth on the back. And that's checked later. Isn't that an important message that you'd want to get out there?

BURKE: Yeah, there are two messages to get out. One is we want everybody to do everything they can to vote. And we always push for that. The second thing, though, is this legislation has not gone through. We have already had votes in the parliament on the legislation trying to prevent this from going through. We're on the eve of an election and they suddenly want to change the rules for voting. That's where we are. And so while we encourage everyone to vote, we want everybody to turn up and vote absolutely. The government's not going to get a free kick here. They are putting barriers in the way, trying to make it more difficult for people. And the people they'll make it more difficult for are people who are more vulnerable. Now, on the eve of an election, you don't change the voting rules. And that's exactly what Mr Morrison is doing.

CONNELL: Got to leave it there Tony Burke, thanks for your time.

ENDS