SUBJECTS: Labor’s Powering Australia plan; climate change; Labor’s policy agenda.

GARETH PARKER, HOST: Anthony Albanese, good morning.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Good morning, Gareth. Good to be with you. And thanks for the cricket update.

PARKER: It's a pleasure. No doubt you're following proceedings closely like everyone else at the GABBA. Thanks for your time. We were due to speak earlier this week, but we had a scheduling conflict. So, I appreciate you making time for us today.

ALBANESE: My pleasure, mate.

PARKER: It was six days ago that you released your new climate change policy. And I think there's some interesting implications for Western Australia here, particularly around the targets that you've set. Do you want to just explain why you've set a target for 2030 and what that target is?

ALBANESE: Well, what we did was we didn't set a target and then work backwards. We worked through good policy and then got modelling done which shows that we will reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. This will lead to $52 billion dollars of private sector investment. That it will for WA, it is a bit different, of course, because you're not part of the national energy market. But as part of the national energy market, it will reduce prices by $275. The impact on WA is a bit different. Of course, you have different regulations in WA.

PARKER: Sorry to interrupt. But that $275 promise, that doesn't apply to WA?

ALBANESE: That is correct. That's for the participants in the national energy market. But WA will benefit substantially from our Rewiring the Nation program. What that's about is fixing transmission across the board. A plan that's been developed by the Australian Energy Market Operator. They developed something called the Integrated Systems plan, which put simply, enables renewables, or anything else for that matter, energy regardless of the mode of where it comes from, to be able to fit into the grid. And that will make a significant difference as well. But West Australians will benefit from programs that we have such as solar banks, which is about people who can't put solar on their roofs, getting access to renewable energy, community batteries that are available, we know that so many Australian households have solar panels on their roofs, but they're not able to afford a battery. So a community battery can make significant difference there as well. And WA will benefit, of course, as the entire national economy will benefit, by the 604,000 new jobs that will be created directly and indirectly as a result of this policy going forward.

PARKER: We will talk about those jobs in a moment. But I want to come back to the issue of the 2030 target. As you said, you haven't set it and worked backwards, you've worked forwards. But it's a target to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. At the moment, the Morrison Government have a target of between 26-28 per cent. The West Australian state government, they haven't got a target at all. We're the only state that don't have a target for 2030. A question in two parts - should we have one? And given that our emissions in Western Australia are going to rise because of our mining industry, and especially our gas industry, where does this leave Western Australia in your more ambitious target?

ALBANESE: Well, Western Australia will be better off because the entire nation will be better off. And one of the things that we've done, for example, is taken the safeguard mechanism, which is basically the model that was established by Tony Abbott's Government in 2015. We have projected that to net zero by 2050, which is the common target that we have with the Morrison Government, but they don't actually have a plan to get there. We've said that emissions intensive trade exposed industries, so areas like the gas industry, for example, that is so important to the West, won't have any more onerous duties put upon them than their international competitors. And that's been very much welcomed as well. We know that the major companies who are involved in the West, like Woodside and others, all have targets which are consistent with either net zero by 2050, or in many cases, actually better and stronger than that.

PARKER: There are no gas companies that I'm aware of, certainly not in Western Australia, that say that their emissions are going to fall by that amount by 2030, by your amount. You're saying that there'll be a carve out for the West Australian gas industry, that they'll be permitted to increase emissions, as is projected to happen?

ALBANESE: Well, it's a national target. You don't have a national target and then have every single company affected exactly the same way. What the modelling shows is that for different industries, and indeed for different facilities, because the safeguards mechanism applause to the major facilities, just a bit over 200 facilities, the highest emitters around Australia, will be impacted. And there is provision in there to make sure that those who are exposed to trade and are emissions intensive don't have more constraints on them than others. Because otherwise it wouldn't actually achieve its objective. Our objective isn't to stop emissions in Australia but just have them transferred somewhere else. Our objective is to make sure that Australia plays its part in the global effort to reduce emissions.

PARKER: So, Western Australia's emissions are projected to increase over the next 10-20 years. You're okay with that?

ALBANESE: Well, in terms of WA, there's also substantial efforts being done in terms of a shift to renewable energy.

PARKER: Right. But even with those efforts, our emissions are going to increase. And you're okay with that?

ALBANESE: It accommodates the specific needs of the industry. It's been worked through to maximise the Australian economic benefit and the employment benefit whilst projecting Australia onto a path of reducing emissions. And that's why it's received support from the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Industry Group, the National Farmers' Federation, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as from unions, including, of course, the peak, ACTU.

PARKER: It's all true. Not quite from the gas industry just yet. They want more details.

ALBANESE: They said as well that they are engaging constructively with us. And they know, certainly, I have spoken directly with industry leaders, including in WA, and they understand that we need to act on climate change. They're adapting themselves, not just in terms of their rhetoric, but in visiting places like Karratha and Port Hedland and others, which I have, the importance of making sure that climate change is front and centre of the national debate.

PARKER: Anthony Albanese, thanks as always for your time. I appreciate it.

ALBANESE: Thanks very much.

ENDS