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DEL IRANI: Trade, Tourism and InvestmentMinister Steve Ciobo joins us now from Parliament House. Good morning to you.
STEVEN CIOBO: Good morning Del.
DEL IRANI: SoI'll talk to you about the One Nation preference in just a moment,but first this morning a diverse alliance of industry is calling for abipartisan approach to energy policy, just how serious are you about addressingthe energy crisis that's going on in this country at the moment?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well look, very serious. The factis that keeping the lights on, keeping power supply to homes is one of the mostfundamental tenets of government. Frankly, the Australian Government has beenvery concerned at some of the complete failures that we've seen at a stategovernment level. It's well and good for state governments to announce theyhave all of these renewable energy targets, but the simple fact is that whenyou actually see the impact that that is having, where it cannot even keep thelights on in people's homes, then you know that it's a problem that needs to beaddressed.
DEL IRANI: You're saying that it is stategovernment problem, so how is the Federal Government going to address thisissue because a lot of what these experts are saying is it's the uncertaintyaround the policy that's preventing investment?
STEVEN CIOBO: No, that's not the case at all. Ifyou look at South Australia, for example, what you see is that there's been abig increase in the amount of renewable power. Now people generally get thatrenewable power is a positive thing. We think that a low carbon future is wherewe're going as well, but what we need to do is make sure that we address it ina way that doesn't distort the market to such an extent that you actually endup losing base-load power operators as well. Now in South Australia, forexample, between day one and day two when it came to renewable energy supply,namely wind power, what we saw was a 95 per cent reduction in wind power thatwas being used to generate power. And that's why the lights went out on daytwo. This is part of the reason why the Federal Government is determined tomake sure that we can help to drive an agnostic, if you want, an agnosticapproach to energy generation that says, look, we'll use clean coal, we'll usegas, we'll use renewables, we'll use whatever is appropriate in order to makesure we can maintain consistency of supply.
DEL IRANI: You're talking about renewableenergy, but clean coal is more expensive than renewable energy. Isn't it justbetter to focus on renewable energy because that is the way of the future?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well, I just made the point to youthat issue with renewable energy was that we actually lost base-load powergeneration. When you have 95 per cent volatility in the generation of renewableenergy you can see what the problem is. So what we need to put emphasis on isstorage because you can have renewable energy but if you can't store that powerthen there is a problem. Take even, for example, solar. Now in Queensland,we've got a high concentration of solar panels on people's roofs. What thatmeans is that often during the traditional peak demand periods during the day alot of people actually aren't even calling on the national grid, they're actuallygenerating their own power from their rooftops. And then when they're actuallywanting to draw down power is actually at night when traditionally that's beena low power demand period, so you can see the kind of volatility that getsbuilt into the system.
DEL IRANI: Alright, Steve Ciobo, just changinggears for a moment. The Fraser Review is due out today, this week I should say,and the review, of course for those who might not know, it is about thegovernance of industry super funds. Your colleague Financial Services MinisterKelly O'Dwyer is already questioning the independence of this report before ithas even been released. Is this reflective of the Government's view? Do youthink this whole exercise has been useless?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well I think we need to wait andsee what's contained in the review and the basis upon which recommendations aremade. But as a Government we have been very clear that we expect industrysuperannuation providers to, for example, have independent directors; to makesure that they are consistent in terms of their governance approach with whatwe'd expect more broadly across the sector.
DEL IRANI: Alright, let's talk about the dealthat has been made in Western Australia. The Liberal Party has, of course,signed a preference deal with One Nation. How likely is it now that a similardeal might be signed in Queensland?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well the way that it works in theLiberal Party is we're a federal body, a federated party, which means that eachof the states make their own decisions about what they do with preferences.Obviously I'm a member of the Federal Liberal Party and I'm a member inQueensland of the LNP so the decisions in Queensland will be decisions taken bythe LNP, and ultimately that comes down to it being the party organisation'sdecision not the decision of us as federal parliamentarians.
DEL IRANI: But what is the view as a federalparliamentarian that you're seeing a deal being made in WA? I mean this isgoing to be putting people within your Coalition like the Nationals, particularlyoff side wouldn't it? Wouldn't people like Barnaby Joyce be feeling doublecrossed by this move?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well in Queensland, of course, as Isaid we've got the Liberal National Party so I don't think there's any concernthat the Nationals will feel double crossed in Queensland because it's all partof the one party.
DEL IRANI: But what about in WA?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well I mean look I can't comment onWA. I'm not from Western Australia. I can't really comment on the reasons whythey've taken their decisions.
DEL IRANI: What about the federal implicationsof this? What about federal implications for this? This could trickle down.
STEVEN CIOBO: Well I think that in terms of thefederal position and in terms of, as I said in Queensland, those decisions aretaken by the state bodies. Now One Nation's a different political party to whatit was 20 odd years ago. At the end of the day what I'm focused on as a Memberof Federal Parliament is getting as many votes and as much support as Ipossibly can for the Federal Liberal Party. That's what I'm about and I want totry to take votes from One Nation, from Labor, from the Greens, from whoever Ican and have them come to our Government so we have strong, stable government,and more importantly I want our policies to be broadly appealing so Australiansknow that it's reflective one, of their views and values but secondly, will putus on the right course for a stronger Australia.
DEL IRANI: So do you support this preferencedeal with One Nation?
STEVEN CIOBO: Which preference deal is that, theone in WA?
DEL IRANI: The one in WA. The one in WA and ifthere is one in Queensland. I mean is this a move now from the Liberal Partyfederally that you are going to be looking more at One Nation as a preference?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well Del there's a lot of 'ifs' inyour question with the greatest respect. If this, if that, if the other, I mean-
DEL IRANI: What is your view Steven Ciobo?What's your view on this?
STEVEN CIOBO: Well let me be very plain aboutthis. My view is our primary objective, and for me as a member of the FederalLiberal Party is to get as many votes as I possibly can reflected through goodpolicy by the Federal Liberal Party. Now, of course, like any political partywe have got to talk to other political parties about what we do withpreferences. As I said, One Nation is a different political party. It's clearlygot in Queensland a very strong base support now that's growing and we, ofcourse, are watching that. We want to make sure that the views and values thatthey're putting out, they're annunciating, are views and values with clearlyresonate with some people, and so we'll look to that but we'll also look atwhat we do with our own policy, to make sure that our own policy is reflectiveof a broad base of support across the Australian population.
DEL IRANI: Alright Steve Ciobo we've run outof time. Thank you so much for your time this morning.
STEVEN CIOBO: It's a pleasure.