JULIAN HILL, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CITIZENSHIP, CUSTOMS AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS: G'day everyone and thank you so much for coming and I'd like to welcome the Prime Minister back to South East Melbourne. We're in Narre Warren in South, in the beautiful Berwick Springs estate. But particularly, to thank Shane and Danielle and 2-year-old Parker and Trigger the dog, particularly, for a beautiful photo, for welcoming us to their home. We've just been in the garage having a look at the newly-installed, giant battery to work with the solar rooftop set. And Shane and Danielle are amongst thousands of Australians now taking up, making the choice to switch to solar as part of the renewable energy transition. The one thing that I just want to say, and when you're out and about in the community, I was down at the Berwick Men's Shed last week [INDISTINCT]. And you talk about the transition. Sometimes people can be just a little bit glass half empty, depends what TV they watch of course. But Australia has the best renewable energy resources of any developed OECD country. And families like Shane and Danielle have enormous savings on their energy bills that they can use if they choose to switch to solar and battery. But we would be mad not to take advantage of the economic opportunities which will come from this transition and use those energy resources that we have. So, I'd like to hand over to the Prime Minister, but thank you again for being back in South East Melbourne.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's fantastic to be in Julian's electorate of Bruce here in South East Melbourne once again. And I do want to thank Shane and Danielle along with their young son Parker and Trigger, of course, for welcoming us to their home. That's soon to be an expanded family in this home as well.
Look, Australians have been really clear. They want action on climate change. They also want to make sure that they address their living standards and cost-of-living. The advantage of solar panels with batteries is that it's doing both. And that is why 60,000 people since 1 July have taken up our batteries rebate policy. It's extraordinary that more than a thousand batteries are being installed in houses right around Australia, each and every workday. And it's not surprising, of course, because for the same reason why an economic unit, a household, has an upfront cost but then gets the advantage of cheaper bills forever in perpetuity, meaning they are better off once they pay off that capital cost, that upfront cost, they're better off then all the way through – that principle applies to our national economy as well. It's why it makes economic sense for our national economy to move that way to move towards Net Zero. Yes, there's an upfront capital cost, but it will benefit and lead to stronger growth as we go forward as a result of that investment.
Now yesterday of course, we accepted the Climate Change Authority's advice to cut emissions by 62 to 70 per cent by 2035. That was advice based upon the science, based upon the best technology. An ambitious target, but one that is achievable. And we accepted that advice.
Today, we've had the extraordinary comments by the Leader of the Liberal Party who said this: 'we don't believe in setting targets at all, from Opposition or from government.' So, we had essentially the announcement of withdrawal from Paris, because it was Tony Abbott who signed up to the Paris Agreement that requires NDCs, requires nation states to put forward targets every five years, which they will seek to achieve to limit climate change. We also then had, of course, after that occurred, Malcolm Turnbull set an agreement going forward, agreed with that. And then it was Scott Morrison, the Morrison Government, that established a commitment to Net Zero by 2050. But in this statement, what it said was a lot about the modern Liberal Party. They're focused on their own jobs and fighting each other. I'm focused on fighting for Australian jobs and fighting for the interests of the future of our children and our grandchildren, fighting for Parker's future here and his younger brother or sister who's on the way. That is what our focus is on. The Liberal Party are too busy fighting each other, too busy, looking over their shoulders, too busy arguing with each other to argue for the interests of Australians. And today's bizarre statements by the Leader of the Liberal Party where she walked away from setting any targets, as are required by the Paris Agreement, says it all about how their focus is simply on their internals. We'll continue to work with Australians, work with people like Shane and Danielle here, who are making a difference. Good for the environment, but what's driving it is that it's good for their bank balance as well. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition has since clarified that the Opposition would set a target if they came to government?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, she made a pretty clear statement. It says it all if the Opposition aren't clear from minute to minute, let alone in any considered way, you have in Australia an orderly Government that receives proper advice, that acts on science. And on the other hand, you have an Opposition that changes its policies from hour to hour, let alone day to day.
JOURNALIST: Will the Government need to commit more funding to hitting the 2035 target than what you unveiled in the press conference yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER: No, what we did in the press conference yesterday was outline our funding that we will commit, have committed going forward. We know that this isn't just about Government effort, it's also about private sector effort. The BCA estimate that in order to achieve that target, we'll see between $400 and $500 billion of private sector investment. This will be led by the private sector. The job of the Government is to facilitate that investment. Just like here, the battery, 30 per cent, a rebate from the Commonwealth, but the investment being made by the household in order to benefit them. And just to give an example of the difference you can make here in real terms, the dollars of the bills of this household. Before the battery was installed, because they have two cars as well, a hybrid and a fully electric that they plug in here, in one month, was $304.85. The following month, $59.21. A massive saving, including the powering up of two motor vehicles, for this family.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, that advice given to your Government suggests that over the next decade, average households will have to -- the cost for average households will have to fall by about 20 per cent under the renewables rollout. Do you think this is possible under your Government's current plan?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there's modelling, is out there. The modelling that you've quoted is modelling which is there.
JOURNALIST: Will the Government get rid of the household and small business electricity subsidies? What is your understanding of when electricity prices will finally start to fall?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the modelling is out there for people to see, and people can examine that, the work that the Energy Market Operator has done. What we'll continue to do, and there's various support that's in place, some from state governments, some local governments, some federal government, some private sector support as well. So, what we'll do, we've put out a very clear plan, including industry plans, that we put out yesterday, our Net Zero Plan we've published. We have given a lot of consideration to how we go forward in order to reach that 62 to 70 per cent target the Climate Change Authority advice we've released for all to see and we're acting on that advice.
JOURNALIST: So, are those household and small business subsidies here to stay? Will you guarantee that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're not all ours.
JOURNALIST: The Federal Government one?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they're not all ours. What we are doing is rolling out the subsidy, for example, a rebate of 30 per cent we are rolling out, which has made a substantial difference. What we're also doing is providing support for industry plans, including the announcement that we made yesterday of the National Reconstruction Fund, $5 billion. What that is, is a fund to facilitate private sector investment. That is why we're putting that in place to help the industry to transition, because we know that the three areas that are required are the energy sector, the electricity sector, industry, but also transport as well.
JOURNALIST: You talked about the cost-of-living. Can you guarantee that electricity prices will actually fall and when can Australians expect that to happen, if at all?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the modelling is out there and you can see the modelling.
JOURNALIST: Can you guarantee --
PRIME MINISTER: You can see the modelling.
JOURNALIST: Just on electric vehicles, the report states that half of new light vehicles sold in the next decade will need to be electric vehicles in order to the lower end of that target range. [INDISTINCT]?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there's been a doubling of the models that are out there already and we put in place fuel standards, which is already seeing cheaper electric vehicles and greater choice for consumers. We don't have a target. We want that to be left to consumers to make their choices. But we know that consumers are voting with their wallets and they are investing in electric vehicles. This household here has one EV and a hybrid. Why do they do that? Because it means that they don't need to fill up at the petrol pump. It saves them money. And the fact that increased numbers of vehicles are coming online, they're more efficient, they're cheaper. And if you look at what's happening in the global car market, this is happening not just in passenger vehicles, but also in things such as utilities. We're seeing great choice as well as of course in heavy vehicles, buses, et cetera. We're seeing a change in the nature of the transport sector. The Government's job is to facilitate that change. Previously it was only Australia and Russia, were the only countries in the world that didn't have any fuel standards. We fixed that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I understand the modelling says prices will fall, but the modelling is based on variables that could change. Can you guarantee that you will get the policy settings right moving forward that prices will 100 per cent fall for Australians? They're struggling with their bills.
PRIME MINISTER: I can guarantee that the cheapest form of new energy is renewables. The cheapest form of new energy is renewables. The modelling is there. It's not Government modelling, it's modelling that's been done by the Energy Market Operator. And what we know is that the cheapest form of energy is renewables. We know that that's the case, which is why also the market is operating itself. Now, 24 out of 28 coal fired power stations announced their closure under the former government. 24 out of 28. And during that time, they had 23 different energy policies announced and didn't land one. What we've done is have one policy, 43 per cent by 2030. We have the Safeguard Mechanism, we have the Capacity Investment Scheme. We have other investments and policies there to drive through, but we have a consistency. And what business are calling for is certainty. Business needs certainty in order to invest, which is why business has overwhelmingly welcomed the policy announcement that we made yesterday and why business will be quite frankly surprised that the Liberal Party today has questioned whether they will have targets from Opposition or from Government, have changed positions from one hour to each other.
JOURNALIST: What will the total cost of Net Zero be by 2050, Prime Minister? Do you have a total figure?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it depends what figures you look for. If you look for investment for 2035, the Business Council of Australia are saying that the cost will be around about $400 to $500 billion. If you ask for what our policy is, yesterday we announced an additional $8.3 billion of investment, meaning our total investment is $75 billion.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Victorian Premier is in China right now. Do you think she's doing a good job representing Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's our major trading partner. Probably a good idea that we talk to our major trading partner. Because it's about Australian jobs. And I'm sure the Premier is there as the Victorian Premier talking about jobs here in Victoria that are pretty important.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, sorry, just back on electricity prices. Just to clarify, Treasury and the Climate Change Authority are assuming electricity prices will fall under the 2035 target. Given you've accepted this advice, do you agree that electricity prices will fall?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the analysis is there from them. What I certainly know is that renewables are the cheapest form of new energy, which is why in spite of all of the rhetoric of the Coalition, when they were in Government, 24 out of 28 coal fired power stations announced their closure dates. They didn't start one new coal fired power station and they certainly didn't build any nuclear power plants or start any during that time. The truth is that the investment that we have in our plan, which is renewables backed by gas, backed by storage, is the way forward for Australia. That's the way that we ensure we maximise economic growth, we maximise jobs, we maximise wages, we protect living standards and we protect our national economy.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just on the behalf Damo over here who's clearly dressed for the occasion -
PRIME MINISTER: He is.
JOURNALIST: Your Mighty Hawks are playing tonight. Who are you tipping for the win?
PRIME MINISTER: They are. Well, thank you for that tough question. As someone whose first Grand Final was in 1989 when the Hawks beat Geelong and Gary Ablett Sr kicked nine goals, won the Norm Smith, and they still lost. I think that's a good sign for Hawthorne tonight and we'll wait and see. But they're a young side, and they certainly have been – to win away in Sydney and then away in Adelaide means we're on a roll. Go Hawks.