PM: It's good to be here with Penny Wong the Minister for Climate Change and Jim Turnour our Local Member and we're here today to talk about the practical impact on the environment and the economy of climate change.
Its real. Anyone who doubts that climate change has a real impact on the economy and the environment should go and have a look at the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is a fantastic asset for all Australians, for all Queenslanders and in fact for this great system of biodiversity which it represents.
It is the greatest corral reef in the world, but we have a real problem on our hands and our scientists have been hard at work establishing the linkages between coral bleaching and climate change.
And it's a bit like this: what Penny and Jim and I have just seen is some of the great corals out there at the low isles and what they demonstrate through a process of coral coring is this. That if you go back into the ancient corals some of which are a 1000 years old, what you can establish is that it is only literally in the last 20 to 25 years that we see evidence of coral bleaching.
So you have a clear record from the history of the corals going back a thousand years. A mapping of the recent history of the reef since the 17th century and yet what we see is the first evidence of significant coral bleaching literally occurring in the late 1970's. That's what the scientists tell us.
The second thing the scientists have told us and its demonstrated on the computer presentation we've just seen is the intensity and frequency of coral bleaching across the reef is increasing at a pace of knots.
Now what are the causative factors here. Plainly climate change is at work and it's compounded in this part of Australia also by problems of water quality. So if were serious about the future we need a practical action plan to deal with both these challenges.
Firstly on the question of water quality, what we committed to prior to the last election was a $200 million reef rescue package and we are delivering on that undertaking. And that's to assist our local farmers with how they manage their nutrient run off from their farms into the waters which flow into the Great Barrier Reef. That is one critical causative factor.
The second is this: what do we do on the great challenge of climate change itself? And that is why a centrepiece of our response to this is the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme which the Minister Penny Wong has released in recent times through the Green Paper and which we're now in the business of consulting industry on.
This represents a clear pathway forward for the nation, a clear pathway forward for those concerned about the preservation of this great Australian asset, the Great Barrier Reef.
To conclude, those who are still climate change sceptics need to have a long hard look at the absolute importance of preserving this wonderful asset the Great Barrier Reef. We have a plan for dealing with this in the long term, it's going to be tough, difficult and hard but let me tell you it's a better course of action than burying your head in the sand and pretending its not happening.
That's our approach; we intend to stick with it. Over to you folks
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is about acting on climate change in the long term so we preserve great assets like the Great Barrier Reef.
Secondly when it comes to the electricity industry what we have said is that when it comes to coal fired generators we are already investing a half a billion dollars in our clean coal initiative to assist that industry. Secondly we've already indicated through the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper that will also be providing some assistance through the electricity supply adjustment fund and of course we will be in continued consultation with the industry.
I go back to the core point, we need as Australia to act locally and globally on the challenge of climate change because if we fail great assets like the Great Barrier Reef will be fatally in peril.
JOURNALIST: So they don't need to fear that they won't be getting assistance to change to cleaner forms of generation?
PM: We have already provided one form of assistance through a half billion dollar fund to assist with the new technologies to deliver cleaner coal. And the second is our commitment in the Green Paper to assist further with the electricity supply adjustment fund.
JOURNALIST: Apparently Julie Bishop last night said that the coalition's ETS policy is under review. What is your thought on their stance on the issue?
PM: The problem with the Liberal Party is not it's personalities, it goes to the core of it's policies on climate change and Workchoices. The Liberal Party's policies on climate change are rooted in one thing, denial, climate change scepticism and ignoring the peril which currently threatens the Great Barrier Reef.
We have a plan of action. The Liberal's alternative plan of action is to dig a hole and bury their head in the sand.
JOURNALIST: The Head of the Commonwealth Bank yesterday said the bank might raise rates again independent of any movements by the RBA. IS there anything the Government can do to stop that or prevent it or increase competition amongst the banks?
PM: The key challenge facing Australia because of the adverse developments in the global economy, the global financial crisis, which has now been running for about 12 months, the global oil crisis and the third great oil shock that we have seen in recent times, is what do we do in Australia to continue to fight the fight against inflation.
Part of that challenge lies in making sure that you deliver a responsible and reasonable Budget surplus. (Inaudible)
Therefore, given these global challenges in the global economy and also on the question of the global oil shock, the challenge for Australia is as follows.
What do you do to fight the fight against inflation here. We since January have embarked upon a five point strategy to deal with the inflation challenge in the long term. The core of which is a $22 billion budget surplus to take pressure off inflation by taking pressure off overall demand in the economy.
And to invest in skills through our $11 billion education investment fund and invest in skills through our $20 billion infrastructure fund, the Building Australia Fund. This is a concrete plan of action to put downward pressure on inflation over time and downward pressure therefore on interest rates.
That is a clear cut strategy. The alternative strategy again, put forward by our opponents, a bit like climate change, is to bury your head in the sand, pretend there is not a problem.
Remember on the inflation challenge which is directly linked to interest rates, and directly linked to employment, what they have said is that inflation is a fairy tale, that it shouldn't be taken seriously.
We think it has to be taken dead seriously and let me tell you, households across Australia don't regard inflation as a fairy tale like the Liberal Party have said. It really affects cost of living pressures right now and our job is to assist with responsible macro economic management, and to provide assistance to households under financial pressure.
JOURNALIST: Are you getting any amusement out of the latest dramas involved in the conservative merger in Queensland?
PM: The problem for the Liberal Party and the National Party is not one of personalities or structures. It is one of policy . A policy which is wedded to Workchoices. A policy which is wedded to climate change denial. A policy which has no response to the sixteen year high inflation record they left us with at the time of which the Government changed at the end of last year.
Having said that, we need to get to Cairns because we are going to be late for a civic reception. Got to run folks.
JOURNALIST: Beijing terror plot (inaudible)
PM: Well I have seen the reports from Beijing concerning the soccer facilities I believe, in Shanghai. I believe the Chinese authorities will be monitoring these events closely. We have not received our own direct diplomatic reporting on this yet.
But first and foremost responsibility that we all face in partnership with our friends in the Chinese Government is the security of the athletes who represent Australia in other countries, that is my first and foremost concern. And based on the evidence I have so far, the Chinese authorities are taking the security challenges in Beijing and elsewhere in China, most seriously.