SUBJECTS: Net zero by 2050; Morrison Government’s lack of modelling for net zero by 2050; Coalition Government focused on themselves and their pay; climate change; Labor’s policy agenda; Glasgow summit; renewable energy; methane emissions; 2030 targets; Australian Open quarantine; Aussies stranded overseas; nuclear SMR technology.

ALICIA PAYNE, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Good morning, everyone. I'm Alicia Payne, the Member for Canberra and I'm really pleased today to be at the SolarShare Community Solar Farm and to welcome our Leader, Anthony Albanese, our Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, and our Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation, Ed Husic, to visit this community solar farm here in Canberra. This is a perfect example of the community being so far ahead of our Federal Government on renewable energy. I'm so proud to be a part of a Labor Party that, in government, will embrace that opportunity, the science and the opportunities to come from renewable energy. I'd first like to welcome Clara Wilson, the CEO of SolarShare Solar Farm, to talk a bit about the project.

CLARA WILSON, CEO OF SOLARSHARE:Thank you, Alicia. Morning, everyone. I'm Clara Wilson and I'm the CEO of SolarShare. On behalf of the company, I'd like to welcome Anthony Albanese, Chris Bowen, Alicia Payne and Ed Husic to our flagship project, the Madura Valley Community Solar Farm. We at SolarShare are a Canberra-based community energy company with a vision for creating a sense of connection between our members and their community, their energy usage and their environment. This is our flagship project, a 1.2-megawatt solar farm which can generate over 2.3 gigawatt hours of electricity each year. Already, since commencing operations in March, our project has generated over one gigawatt hours of electricity, which is enough to power over 260 Canberra homes. Now, we're looking forward to the future and are turning our minds to new projects to continue Canberra's leadership on renewable energy production and community ownership of projects. Thank you.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY: Well, thanks very much for the warm welcome here at SolarShare, which is showing that the community is leading this Federal Government, which is dragging the chain. They, of course, left it to the last minute before Scott Morrison jets out to Glasgow before they announced a so-called plan. But it was really just a brochure. What we saw was net zero actual commitment from people, including the Deputy Prime Minister. What we've seen is net zero new policies, net zero costings and modelling and net zero genuine commitment. Australians know that they want to take action on climate change. And they know that it's actually good for their power bills, it actually improves their standard of living. And this solar farm here, enough to power 260 homes here in Canberra, people who've taken action themselves through this cooperative. And that's being mirrored around the country. One of the things that we want to do is to have 400 community batteries so that people who aren't in a position to be able to store energy for their own home are in a position to benefit from community battery technology. And of course, we know that if you do that, you can have 24-hour energy. Now, I know that comes as a shock to the Resources Minister, Keith Pitt, who still is muttering out the old lines. But you can't really blame him. Because for nine years, this Government has disparaged renewable energy. This Government has ridiculed electric vehicles and ridiculed new technology. And now we have, at the last minute to midnight, a plan, that so-called relies upon technology, but is really just a pamphlet without any detail. So our plan for community batteries stands in stark contrast to the pamphlet that we have from the Government. And it's along with our policies, including Rewiring the Nation, fixing energy transmission for the country, our plan when it comes to making electric vehicles cheaper, our plan for new energy apprenticeships, all of which are contributing to our plan for net zero by 2050, something we've being committed to and are united in achieving, unlike this Government. Now, tonight, Barnaby Joyce, will be Acting Prime Minister. Barnaby Joyce doesn't support net zero by 2050, nor do a majority of National Party Cabinet ministers. And it just shows that you just can't trust this Government. Barnaby Joyce, the Acting Prime Minister as of tonight, has been on the record over a long period of time calling the whole climate change debate a scam. So, what are our international partners in Europe and the United States and Japan and Korea to think of Australia with an Acting Prime Minister who has abused that Barnaby Joyce does? And that's why Barnaby Joyce can't appear next to Scott Morrison. They're trying to hide him. And it's not surprising, because Barnaby Joyce's contribution to this debate is anti-science and is embarrassing. And it has been a contribution which has been there for a long period of time. What we know from this week is just two things. One, that Keith Pitt got a promotion, that he is now in the Cabinet. And the second is that the Productivity Commission will do a review every five years of how it is all going. Well, the Productivity Commission that is also something Barnaby Joyce's made disparaging comments about and has said that they're worthless. Indeed, his comments are a bit similar to the comments of the Prime Minister, who compared the big battery in South Australia with the Big Banana and the Big Prawn. Australia needs to take action on climate change. And we need a Government that's prepared to do it. And we need a minister like Chris Bowen who is prepared to lead it.

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Thanks, Anthony. Tonight, Scott Morrison jets out for Glasgow and he's travelling light. He takes no policies. He takes a pamphlet instead of a plan. He has, compared to the rest of the world's leaders, no concrete plan to hold the world to 1.5 degrees of warming, as we said we would try to do at Paris. The whole idea of this Glasgow Summit is for leaders to update their plans. Scott Morrison is almost alone in the world in having failed to update his plans. As Albo said, the only news this week is that Keith Pitt is getting a pay rise. That is not a climate policy. With the National Party and the Liberal Party, it's all about them, not about the jobs opportunity that is the world's climate emergency. Climate change is the world's biggest challenge and Australia's biggest economic opportunity. And Scott Morrison is failing at both. And as Albo said, for Scott Morrison yesterday to wave a mobile phone around in Parliament and to say he was a friend of technology, the man who said that electric vehicles would 'end the weekend' and a man who said that a big battery was as useful as a Big Prawn, is an insult to the intelligence of Australians. Now, what we need is a Government committed to real action on climate change and with the policies and plans to implement it. And, as Albo said, that is an Albanese Labor Government with a policy of community batteries, which works quite well with community-owned facilities like SolarShare, 400 community batteries across the country, Rewiring the Nation to get the renewable energy from where it's generated to where it's needed, our electric vehicle tax cut. Scott Morrison talks about technologies, not taxes. How about a tax cut for electric vehicles to make them more affordable to give Australians the choice? And of course, our new energy apprentices to ensure that projects like this and right around the country have access to the skills that will be required for this revolution. We will fall short in skills unless we invest in the skills of the future. Our new energy apprenticeship policy will achieve that. And of course, we have much, much more to say and do. But Scott Morrison and Angus Taylor will turn up at Glasgow with empty suitcases, with no policies, with no plans, just a pay rise for one of their colleagues.

ED HUSIC, SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION: Thanks, Chris. You've heard a number of times this week the Coalition say they want to get out of the way, they want Government to get out of the way of things. But the reality is that when it comes to some ideas, we've needed governments to step in to support Australian ingenuity from the get-go. It's why governments put money into research, into universities. That's why Labor set up cooperative research centres 30 years ago. It was Bob Hawke that did that. Labor set up the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and ARENA. And Labor is also, in its next instalment, committed through the National Reconstruction Fund, of finding a way particularly in terms of manufacturing and for manufacturing to get a slice of the action when it comes to renewables and lower emissions technology and to ensure that Australian ideas don't go offshore, but instead, we solve problems in Australia with Australian ideas, backing in industry and jobs. That's what Labor has said it will do. It's what Anthony Albanese announced in March this year when we dedicated $15 billion to the National Reconstruction Fund. Very important. But in this debate too, I feel very strongly for those people that are being ignored by the Government they expect to be on their side. And by that, I mean Liberal voters. Liberal voters who take climate change seriously vote for Liberal governments that do the exact opposite. These voters are constantly ignored by their own Government. And it is really time now for them to do a bit of course correction here and inject a dose of existentialism for the Liberal Party. Because they are not going to change. They are always going to use this as a political weapon until they are given a shake. So, the only way that can happen is to vote out, in their prized seats, those Liberals who claim that they want to take action on climate change, but never do it when they come to Canberra. So, it's people like Katie Allen, got to go. Tim Wilson, got to go. Josh Frydenberg, got to go. Jason Falinski, got to go. You have got to inject some existential threat in this for the Liberal Party to take seriously the issue of climate change, but importantly, to start respecting their own voters who say, like many other Australians, that this is a chance for us to change and we can actually benefit out of it. And that has got to happen.

JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese would a Labor Government commit to cutting methane emissions to up to 30 per cent by 2030?

BOWEN: We are not calling on the Government to sign that pledge. What we're calling on the Government to do is to work with agriculture, to work with farmers to reduce methane emissions, to work cooperatively with the agriculture sector. We recognise not only that agriculture is so important to the Australian economy, but also Australian agriculture is broadacre grazing, by and large, as opposed to feedlot in other countries. But there are great opportunities for Australia. A few months ago, we were engaged in this silly debate about whether agriculture should be included in net zero. Of course it should be, because it's an opportunity. Australian scientists are working on amazing initiatives, like Asparagopsis seaweed to reduce methane emissions dramatically in our Australian herds. They are the sorts of opportunities that are available if a government actually gets it and provides the framework, the policy framework and the investment and the R&D. There are great opportunities. We recognise it's a big mountain to climb. So, we're not calling on the Government to sign that pledge. We are calling on the Government to actually work with farmers who get it. Farmers who know their country, love their country and see their country changing and know the opportunities in agriculture of good policy.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).

BOWEN: Well, as I said, our position is that the Government should work with the agricultural sector, work with the CSIRO and the agencies doing such good work to reduce methane reductions and to achieve methane reductions. That is the best way for Australia going forward. The Government has shown very little interest. We've got all these great Australian scientists, as I said, working on Asparagopsis seaweed and other great initiatives which could lead the world. I mean, this is technology which could be deployed not only in Australia, around the world. That's the key to getting this right.

JOURNALIST: Boris Johnson has called Australia's commitment to net zero heroic. Do you think other world leaders will react in the same way? And what do you hope comes out of the G20 and COP26?

ALBANESE: Well, I think what we will see is that the rest of the world won't fall for slogans rather than substance. And what we saw on Tuesday from the Government was the Prime Minister and a Minister who mentioned the word 'plan' 94 times. Mentioning it doesn't mean that it exists. What we are yet to see, the Australian people are yet to see, is any modelling. I just find it extraordinary that the Government is saying, 'We'll show you modelling in a few weeks'. Well, why don't they show it now? Why wasn't it released with the net zero position? One can only think that there must be a good reason. It must show things that the Government doesn't want people to see. And I've tried in the Parliament, we tried to move a motion that it be tabled. Indeed, the Senate passed a motion that it be tabled. And the Minister had to make a declaration about the need for secrecy. We need transparency here. We need transparency going forward so that we can maximise opportunities. Here, there would be Australian technology in these solar panels. That was developed at the Australian National University. Two of the world's great institutions that have led scientific breakthroughs in PV solar are the ANU and the University of New South Wales. And what we've seen is those breakthroughs commercialised to create jobs in China. I want those breakthroughs commercialised to create jobs here. And that's why our National Reconstruction Fund is so important. It is so important for industry going forward. Just as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, that the Government tried to abolish, is important. And ARENA, that the Government tried to abolish, is important.

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible).

ALBANESE: We'll have our policy well after, one, we see the modelling from the Government, but secondly, also, after Glasgow. We'll have a look at what comes out of Glasgow. I said a year ago that we would wait until that occurred. I said the debate would change on climate.

JOURNALIST: Can you say whether it will be a target or a projection?

ALBANESE: We will make our announcement. I'd encourage you to ask the Government to show the modelling. Because what that will show is the projections which are there, where we are right now, from the department, and where it envisages, under various programs going forward, it sees the economic impact. At the moment, we don't have that.

JOURNALIST: Mr Bowen, you were critical the other day of it being a projection. Will you commit to Labor taking a target to 2030?

ALBANESE: You know I am here.

BOWEN: Well, as Albo said, two days ago, we got the Government's baseline. And it's appropriate, just like a fiscal plan, no opposition can release a fiscal plan until you see the Government's fiscal baseline. Same with climate. Now we've seen the Government's climate baseline, we can then take the next steps ourselves. Because as Albo has said, we've been very consistent. Glasgow first, we called on the Government to increase its target that it takes to Glasgow. We've been very consistent about that. We've called on the Government to increase its target. We've also been very clear that we will outline a very strong roadmap to net zero by 2050, including clear policies to achieve targets. That's the important thing that Albo and I have been talking about. Scott Morrison says you can't have targets without policies. I actually agree with him about that. He used it as an alibi not to have either. He uses it as an alibi not to have either. We will have both. We will have clear policies. We have clear targets. And we have a clear, ambitious roadmap to net zero by 2050. You've already seen more policy announced by the alternative government on climate this year than the Government by far, and you'll see a lot more as well.

JOURNALIST: Barnaby Joyce has just revealed what else he got out of this deal on net zero. It includes a regional infrastructure fund. What does Labor make of those details?

ALBANESE: Well, why is it that days after the press conference, this is now being revealed? I'd encourage you to ask about the detail. Labor supports good regional investment. What we don't support is the National Party's approach towards using taxpayer funds for political purposes. We want to know that in terms of investment in regions, it's not determined by a colour-coded map. But that's what we've had from this Government. And that's what's led to massive waste. That's what's led to National Party ministers, including Bridget McKenzie, having to resign because of improper use of taxpayer funds. But they're back. They're back immediately. So, we want integrity in the system as well. One of the reasons why we think there needs to be a National Anti-corruption Commission is to stop the abuse of taxpayer funds. And we don't trust the National Party when it comes to use of taxpayer funds. So, I haven't seen Barnaby Joyce's announcement. But we will look at regional funding on the basis of merit and integrity. That's why we established Infrastructure Australia, for example, to determine where that funding would go, rather than on the basis of a political map.

JOURNALIST: Should unvaccinated tennis players be able to come into the country for the Australian Open if they quarantine for two weeks?

ALBANESE: I think that the rules for visiting Australia should apply across the board.

JOURNALIST: Do you support Dan Andrews in not applying for an exemption for those players?

ALBANESE: I think that the rule should apply across the board.

JOURNALIST: Unvaccinated Australians can come in.

ALBANESE: I tell you what, there is about in excess of 35,000, Australian who wish that what your question implies was true, who've been trying to get home, who were promised they would get home by last Christmas. And some of them now are being told they will get home by this Christmas. This Government has failed to bring Australian citizens home. The Australian passport has not been a guarantee that you can get home to Australia under this Government.

JOURNALIST: The IMF says the world's richest countries need a carbon price so that businesses know the pathway to net zero. Do you agree with that?

ALBANESE: Labor will determine our policy, not any international bodies. And the thing about a price signal is that you need a price signal to change what the market says. This market right here is the cheapest form of new energy in Australia. And that's why you don't need the sort of price signal that might have been needed 15 years ago when renewables were not the cheapest form of new energy. And let me say this, there would be a lot more of this had the Government not wasted nine years. We've had nine years of inaction. Nine years of them saying that renewables weren't the cheapest form of new energy. Nine years of a Government that doesn't understand that you can actually store energy. Nine years of anti-technology from this Government.

JOURNALIST: The net zero roadmap leaves the door open to nuclear in the form of SMRs. Would you ever back lifting the prohibition?

ALBANESE: No.

JOURNALIST: Why not?

ALBANESE: Because it doesn't stack up. What stacks up for Australia is clean energy like the renewable energy that we see here. Thanks.

ENDS