TRANSCRIPT INTERVIEW WITH LAURA JAYES, FIRST EDITION ON SKY NEWS 26 February 2020
E&EO
Subject: Infrastructure Australia, Dams & Water Infrastructure, Net-Zero Emissions;
LAURA JAYES:
The future of Australia's water security could soon rely on recycling and desalination plants, according to a range of proposals from Infrastructure Australia. In a new report, the independent body calls for Australia to diversify a way for a single source of water such as dams to build resilience against extreme weather events. The infrastructure body also outlines 12 priority projects in its $58 billion wish list. Let's go live now to the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. He joins us live from Canberra. Thanks so much for your time.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Pleasure.
LAURA JAYES:
More priorities on this list than ever before. You've been in for two and a half terms your government, what have you been doing?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, we've increased our spend on infrastructure, Laura, right across the nation to $100 billion. That's a record amount of money being spent on such things as dams, on roads, on rail, the inland rail, it continues at a pace and we're making sure that we build the infrastructure not only for the here and now but setting Australia up for the next 100 years.
LAURA JAYES:
You say you've been spending all this money on dams and certainly that has been a focus of the National Party, but doesn't this list and this report from Infrastructure Australia show that perhaps that has been the wrong focus? It is now talking about a new priority such as desalination plants and water recycling. Does this mean that you are changing your focus now?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Sure, that's one part of the priority list but there are many, many projects on the priority list and many of those, in fact almost all of those, reflect exactly what we've been talking about, what we've been pledging and more importantly, what we've already been building and I'm so delighted that if you look at the Princes Highway, you look at the M1 Pacific Motorway, you look at many, many of the projects, rail and all of those things. We're actually already getting in and we're doing and we've funded and we're building and, of course, this reflects the $100 billion ten-year plan that we've got, whether it's urban infrastructure and perhaps most importantly for myself, regional infrastructure, making sure that we've got the right roads and rail to get product from paddock to port to plate.
LAURA JAYES:
But should desalination and water recycling now be a higher priority and take precedence over any new dams?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I want to build dams. Desal plants, fabulous. Expensive water. IA has identified it. They have given it as a priority to government but I want to build dams and I'm looking forward to, in coming weeks, commissioning and getting online Scottsdale Dam in northeast Tasmania, making sure that Emu Swamp near Stanthorpe in Queensland starts before the end of the year and of course we've got Rookwood, Hells Gate, Big Rocks. There's so many projects, so many dam projects. They're going to build climate resilience, they're going to store water and they're going to grow agriculture. We want to grow agriculture to $100 billion sector by 2030 and we're going to do just that, Laura.
LAURA JAYES:
That seems exactly the opposite.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
You do it by adding water.
LAURA JAYES:
Yes. That seems exactly the opposite of what Infrastructure Australia says in this report, though, so how do you justify it?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
No, it doesn't suggest anything opposite, Laura. Yes, we need to obviously build urban infrastructure and particularly water, but let's not forget that supplying town water is the remit of State Governments. Yes, we work in because we build dams and of course, that feeds into the process of storing more water and desal plants are great when they're turned on and certainly in times of drought and we've had that right across the country and that's why I'm glad I'm part of a Government that's actually balancing the books so we can address drought, that we can address issues as they arise and infrastructure is number one priority of this Government and we're making sure that we're building the infrastructure that we need, not just for the here and now but, indeed, for years to come.
LAURA JAYES:
Farmers, more broadly now, the Farmers’ Federation has a policy of trending towards carbon neutrality by 2030. Is that a policy The Nationals support?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, trending towards and actually achieving might be two different things, Laura. What The Nationals support is jobs in regional Australia and jobs in agriculture. What The Nationals support is making sure that we grow agriculture from the $60 billion enterprise it is now to $100 billion. Now you're not going to get that under the Labor plan of basically destroying jobs in regional Australia via some knee-jerk reaction to the left and appeasing The Greens. What we're going to do is make sure that we meet our international obligations, yes, that's a priority.
LAURA JAYES:
But the Farmers’ Federation sorry to interrupt
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
But we don't do it at the expense of regional jobs.
LAURA JAYES:
No, but the Farmers’ Federation have had this policy since 2018. They state they want to be a global leader in reducing emissions and trending towards carbon neutrality by 2030. That's only 10 years away. Is that a policy you support?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, that's aspirational, the Farmers’ Federation.
LAURA JAYES:
Sure, but is it a policy you support or not?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
What we support is more jobs, it's aspirational by the NFF. Good on them and I support Fiona Simson and what the NFF stand for. But the fact remains we want to make sure that we grow agriculture. What we want to do is build more dams. What we want to do is make sure that we help farmers through technology, not taxation and we're doing that with so many investments across rural and regional Australia. We will continue to do that to support our farmers to be able to support themselves and to be able to support those free-trade agreements that we'll be negotiating and indeed, signing over the terms of Government that we've been in.
LAURA JAYES:
What is the difference between carbon neutral and net zero emissions because the Labor Party and the Farmers’ Federation seem to be on a very similar page here?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
They're not as one and I don't think Labor and farmers are ever, ever as one, and we hear Joel Fitzgibbon all the time ranting and raving and carrying on. What Labor does is they might talk up a big game but they never ever deliver for rural and regional Australia and particularly our farmers. What we do is we get in there, we support them. Yes, it's technology, it's not taxation. We don't want to hit farmers with a carbon tax. That's the Joel Fitzgibbon, Anthony Albanese, Labor way. We're not going to do that.
LAURA JAYES:
What is the difference between the Berejiklian Government and the Anthony Albanese Opposition? They both have the same goal?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, I'm not in either Government but what the NSW Coalition Government actually has is a plan. They've got a strategy. They've got measures in place but, again, I say I'm in the Morrison McCormack Government, the Liberals and Nationals Government here in Canberra, working hard to build dams, working hard to do the sort of practical things that I know our farmers want us to do. Our farmers, they want to make sure they've got jobs, they want to make sure they've got water, that's what we're working to deliver for them. Technology, not taxation.
LAURA JAYES:
What does a 2050 net zero emissions mean? Does it mean the end of agriculture?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, and it depends on how you try to achieve that. Labor's going to do it via taxation. Labor's going to do it via a method which is going to cruel our farmers. I come from a generational farming family and I'm sure that our farmers in the Riverina and elsewhere don't want more taxation. They don't want more impediments in their way. What they want to be able to do is get on with doing what they've always done: grow the best food and fibre and we're going to support them in that initiative. You add water, you add agriculture, you add more markets, you add more trade, you add more jobs. That's the National Party way, that's what we'll be achieving.
LAURA JAYES:
How's your week been? Better than the last fortnight? Have things calmed down?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Every week's a good week, Laura, especially when I'm talking to you.
LAURA JAYES:
Flattery will get you everywhere. Thank you, Michael McCormack, we'll leave it there.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
All the best. Thank you