27-May-2009
Portfolio Media Releases, Emissions Trading Scheme
Topics: Emissions Trading Scheme.
MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Robb you want the vote deferred on ETS, the Government says it won’t happen and it looks certain that you will now be voting against it in the Senate.
ANDREW ROBB: Well we think we’ve got a very strong case that the Government should consider. We hope they just don’t take a knee jerk reaction to this. The fact of the matter is it is quite compelling. We are only 6 months away from Copenhagen to see where the world will take this. The United State is making significant progress on their Bill. It looks like being substantially different to Australia’s and there is clearly work that must be done, should be done on our model. We have the opportunity, the Government’s delayed the start date of the bill by 12 months. It makes absolutely no sense now that we have given the Government a united position on targets that they can take to Copenhagen.
MARIUS BENSON: The criticism of the Opposition is that this is simply a call for a deferral, you don’t actually have a plan of your own, this is in the words of Lenore Taylor in The Australian this morning “a stalling tactic dressed up as a plan”.
ANDREW ROBB: Well that’s a nonsense. The fact of the matter is that the Government has got on the table what is a deeply flawed scheme. That is the Bill that is being debated and considered. Now we have said to the Government after receiving a major independent report that there is important analysis that has not been done, the Centre for International Economics told us that this legislation was deeply flawed because there has been no consideration of the transition period. What if countries don’t come on board for 10 or 15 or 20 years. Also there has been no serious assessment of some of the alternatives. That work can be done quickly within 6 months and that will contribute to our assessment of the Bill and to the nation’s ability to see whether this Bill can be changed, a clause can be removed so that it could be effective and also I must say, overnight there was a global business summit in Copenhagen where the UN framework convention on climate change, the Executive Secretary said that they don’t need to see legislation finalised before the Copenhagen Summit. So it’s puts a lie to what the Government has been saying to everybody about the urgency on this issue.
MARIUS BENSON: Just looking at the Coalition’s position, it’s pretty clear after yesterday’s joint party meeting the Coalition is split. The official position is you want to defer a vote but you have voices like Wilson Tuckey from the Liberal Backbench saying I wouldn’t vote for an emissions trading scheme under any circumstances and from the Nationals, Barnaby Joyce, “this is a vote against the scheme and I will always vote against the scheme”. They are not for a deferral.
ANDREW ROBB: There was a united view in the Party Room firstly on the fact that this scheme that the government has on the table is deeply flawed, it would cost Australia tens of thousands of jobs. The second thing was there was a united view that the strategy that was put to the Party Room was a sensible strategy.
MARIUS BENSON: There is the prospect now that come October the government might have this issue as a trigger for a double dissolution if there is such a vote. You will be portrayed as climate sceptics as a group and you personally will be portrayed as a climate sceptic, a charge you reject. But you have often spoken of the cost of taking action against climate change. Do you ever speak of the cost of inaction, or the jobs that will be created by a climate change policy?
ANDREW ROBB: Well the thing is that everyone accepts, the Government, everyone in this debate that there needs to be a global solution, that Australia cannot take unilateral action which will have any impact, in fact it could be deleterious.
MARIUS BENSON: Sure, but the point I wanted to ask is that you are always warning of the dangers of action but never of dangers of inaction.
ANDREW ROBB: Well the point is that what has been on the table is a Government scheme, our job is to keep the Government accountable in the first instance. Our job is to look at the strengths and weaknesses of what they are putting forward and the timetable and the impact. Our great concern is, my great concern is, that this scheme is so flawed that if they bring it in in a rush, if they bring it in ahead of the world with these flaws it will lose community support for wide ranging action on climate change and CO2 emissions because it will have such an impact on loss of jobs. It is important to look at the flaws in their scheme in order to build a good scheme.
MARIUS BENSON: Andrew Robb, thank you very much.
Media Contact: Stuart Eaton, 0433 298 620