Sky News AM Agenda interview
KIERAN GILBERT: With me now is the Trade Minister, Steve Ciobo. How important is it for the Government that this National Energy Guarantee is supported through the party room this morning?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well, it's important for the Australian people, actually, Kieran, that's who it's most important for, because as a Government, we're absolutely committed to addressing what has been runaway increases in power prices that we've seen. Under Labor, power prices doubled. As a Coalition, we're absolutely determined to bring down prices and to improve reliability. That's what this NEG is all about.
KIERAN GILBERT: What do you say to the critics here that don't buy the recommendations of the largest energy users in the country? Craig Kelly this morning was telling me that it's because they're emissions-intensive, trade-exposed companies, so they're not necessarily going to be exposed to the high power prices as much. Therefore, they're up for this energy guarantee. What do you say to those concerns?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well, I mean, ultimately at the next election, Australians will have a clear choice in approaches. There's one of two options here, that's Labor's approach or it's the Coalition's approach. Now, our approach, the National Energy Guarantee, has the support of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Business Council, the major employers, BlueScope, BHP, a whole range of businesses have all gotten behind the Coalition's approach, because it improves reliability and it brings down prices. Now, the alternative, and this is all the alternative is, there's our approach or there's Labor's approach.
KIERAN GILBERT: Those groups you talk about, the industry group, Business Council, Farmers' Federation, they're not representing all emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industries. They're representing all business, aren't they? And farmers, all farmers.
STEVEN CIOBO: Correct. And more importantly than who, what they're representing are millions and millions of jobs. That's who those people are representing, millions of jobs of Australians, and they're saying get behind the Coalition's NEG, because it will improve reliability, and it will reduce prices. Now, the only alternative, as I said, is Labor's approach. Now, Labor's approach is to say that they want to continue subsidizing renewable power. Bill Shorten says he has a 50 per cent target. Now, we have seen that exact model used in this country. They did it in South Australia. We saw the consequences of it in South Australia, and that will be replicated at a national level if Labor wins. They're the choices.
KIERAN GILBERT: You say it's the only alternative. It's actually, there's another alternative, and that is the one being put forward by Tony Abbott and others, Craig Kelly, who are continuing to express concerns about the National Energy Guarantee.
STEVEN CIOBO: Well, not an alternative. That's not an alternative. There's the National Energy Guarantee, which we're taking as a Government to Party Room, and we're hopeful of receiving Party Room support. Never take it for granted, but of course hopeful of receiving Party Room support. And we have the strong support of Australian business, millions of jobs that are reliant on this going through. This is the best approach. It increases reliability, it decreases price. The only other alternative, as I said, is Labor's approach, which increases unreliability and will lead to blackouts.
KIERAN GILBERT: What if it doesn't go through the Party Room as you hope?
STEVEN CIOBO: You know, Kieran, I don't think there's any value in crystal ball gazing. Let's deal what we actually have to face, and what we have to face is the fact that we have got, largely, support from the states now. We're going to bring together a nationwide approach that's going to be consistent with achieving those two outcomes of more reliability and lower prices.
KIERAN GILBERT: When it comes to the Abbott approach though, is there an argument to pull out of Paris?
STEVEN CIOBO: I don't think there is at all. And Paris is much more complex than that. You can look at it from the environmental perspective, you can look at it from Australia's given a commitment, and do we honor our commitment? You can also look at it in terms of other repercussions. Now, I'm Trade Minister. We're currently in negotiations with the European Union on a free trade agreement. Now, I can tell you one of the very first consequences if we were to adopt that approach would be that we could kiss goodbye doing a trade deal with the European Union. I mean, they would walk away from it. I have no doubt about that at all. So the impact on that, on Australian exports, on Australian jobs would be profound. So let's recognise that all of these things aren't discretely packaged in a little box, all separate from one another. All of these things are interrelated, and what we need to do as a Government is make decisions in the national interest, that's good for Australian jobs, good for Australian workers, and most importantly, good for household budgets.
KIERAN GILBERT: Is it too simplistic to say that Trump has said he's pulling out of Paris, and then therefore we should, because with that, it's not formalised 'til after the next US election anyway, so therefore the Democrats could revoke that? And the other point that's often made is about if you look at California, for example, the eighth largest economy in the world, they already met their emissions reduction targets for 2020, so they are very aggressive when it comes to emissions reduction. It's not just one cohesive climate skepticism out of the United States.
STEVEN CIOBO: Well look, I mean, Australia has given a commitment. I believe that we have a role to play. The Government believes that we've got a role to play. If you look at any of the forward projections in terms of cost curves, and if you look at issues around the way in which we'll be able to generate power in the future from renewables, all of that is improving. I mean, the fundamental problem remains the fact that we don't have storage at a grid-wide level. That obviously is still problematic, but what we need to do in this country is improve reliability. For the first time-
KIERAN GILBERT: Looks like you need discipline, don't you, in terms of your Party Room? Would you urge colleagues not to cross the floor on this matter?
STEVEN CIOBO: It's a very straightforward message to everybody, that's all Australians, members of the Coalition, members of the Labor Party, you know, Australians. The choice is very straightforward. The Coalition's approach, which will improve reliability and bring down prices, or Labor's approach. Labor's approach is to continue the policies that saw electricity prices double, continue the policies that saw blackouts across all of South Australia, and continue policies that see major subsidies involved in the market, which actually will make the problem worse, not better.
KIERAN GILBERT: Minister, appreciate your time as always. Thank you.
STEVEN CIOBO: Good to speak with you.