PM: Well thank you very much. Can I say it's very great to be here today and thank you to Roy and Chevron for making it possible. I'm joined by our Minister, Martin Ferguson, our Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism. I'd also like to acknowledge we're joined by Senator Louise Pratt, one of our Labor Senators for Western Australia and by a local State Member Tom Stephens, who represents Karratha where so many people associated with this project stay or travel through on their journey to Barrow Island.
I'm very pleased to be here today to welcome these two pieces of good news. Of course as a Government we believe climate change is real, we believe the Australian community wants to see us tackle climate change. That's why, in Canberra on Thursday, I attended the first meeting of the Multi-Party Committee to work on pricing carbon. And it's why yesterday I was in Newcastle, there announcing and signing the funding agreement for the Smart Grid, Smart City project, which will show new ways of saving energy in Newcastle, in parts of metropolitan Sydney, and in a small country town. So having demonstrated that smart grid technology, we can roll it out in other places across the nation.
Today we're here talking about another way of tackling climate change and that is the technology of capturing carbon and storing it underground. The Government has worked with Chevron so that this Gorgon project could be a world leader in capturing carbon and storing it. I'm proud that we've been able to support their world leading endeavours.
And now these world leading endeavours have been recognised internationally by the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum. That's something I think we should all take pride in. Chevron, everyone who's involved in delivering the Gorgon project and the Australian nation, that we're here with the largest carbon capture and storage program and it is being recognised at that international level.
The Government, of course, wants to ensure that we not only see carbon capture and storage taking place in Australia, but that there is international sharing on the learnings about the technology, the ways of doing it, making sure that nations around the world understand the importance of carbon capture and storage to our future and to tackling climate change.
That's why as a nation we sponsored the creation of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute and so I very much welcome the announcement made today by Ambassador Bleich that the American Government will support the endeavours of the Institute with a half a million dollar grant, which will enable us to provide information to other countries about carbon capture and storage and what is happening here.
So two very good pieces of news to celebrate and I'm very pleased to be here on Barrow Island to be able to do just that. And we're very happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Your Green colleagues have been opposed to this project because it's on a (inaudible) reserve. Do you think a project like this, the fact carbon capture and storage project (inaudible)
PM: Look I think this project is showing how to get it done whilst honouring all of the environmental standards that our nation expects. I've had the opportunity to travel here before, I've spoken to Roy, I've seen what's happening on the island, and everything that is happening here is respecting the fact that it is a class-A nature reserve, the footprint of the project is being kept deliberately small, the quarantine arrangements are very strict to make sure that no contaminant comes from the outside which would make a difference to the habitat and biodiversity here. So the environmental standards on the ground are excellent, and then of course, we are seeing this project demonstrate how carbon can be captured and stored. Now I would echo the words of the Ambassador here, many Australians would think carbon capture and storage is one of those things that scientists are experimenting on in labs around the world, but that it's not going to be part of their contemporary reality. What Gorgon is showing us is it is going to be part of how we live and work in a project that is taking shape and you can see it taking shape behind us.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) good timing for you and your Government, (inaudible) a couple of days after the Citizens' Assembly was shelved (inaudible) perhaps suggest a little bit of indecision in the Government's approach to climate change?
PM: Well these announcements would have been good news on any day, so I'm very happy to be here to celebrate the good news. As a Government, what we are doing is taking a methodical approach to tackling the challenges of climate change. We are investing record amounts in renewable energy and solar and wind and the emerging technologies of the future. We are, in fact, driving energy efficiency, the Newcastle Smart Grid, Smart City project is part of that. We are also making sure that for the future we mandate strict standards for power stations, we act to green our car fleet, we act to green the buildings that we work it, we provide support to schools to use solar energy, we provide support to households to use solar energy and yesterday, I announced the Prime Minister's Energy Efficiency Taskforce report which will help guide policies in the future.
And of course we're working through the very difficult question of pricing carbon. In the election campaign I did talk about a Citizen's Assembly; that was one way of helping harness a community consensus about pricing carbon. There's not one way to harness community consensus, and now, through the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee, we will work through other mechanisms to do just that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you've come an awfully long way, you're about as far away as you could possibly get from Canberra, it's a Saturday, it's not an election campaign (inaudible) that the Government's climate change message hasn't been selling so well.
PM: Well I'm always prepared to jump on a plane and come to Barrow Island, I've done it before and yes it is a long way from Canberra, but I've had a few long plane flights lately. I was joking with Louise that the trip is nowhere near as long as the trip back from Brussels to home, so a much shorter trip, but this is a great opportunity to be here, the celebrate this piece of news, and obviously the timing has selected itself because the international committee in Warsaw has just made this announcement.
JOURNALIST: Just on another issue Prime Minister-
PM: If we're moving to domestic issues, anybody got any more questions actually on the announcement or the project? Alright, all been covered? Ok? And I'll take your questions.
JOURNALIST: What's your reaction to Liu Xiaobo being award the Nobel Peace Prize?
PM: Well the Australian Government welcomes this news. We have made representations on his behalf to the Chinese Government, and we welcome the fact that his work has been recognised internationally now with the Nobel Peace Prize.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well the view of the Australian Government on his incarceration has been made well known to the Chinese Government well before this point in time, we've made representations in the past and will continue to do so. Now of course we commend the Nobel Prize as well.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) by the fact that he should be released from prison?
PM: Well certainly we've made representations that he should be released and we think the Nobel Prize is fitting recognition of the work that he has done.
JOURNALIST: In the past you've copped a bit of flak while you've been away from the Opposition over your comments with regard to Tony Abbott's sleeping patterns with regard to Afghanistan. Did you think you might have opened a bit of a can of worms there by commenting on (inaudible) of Afghanistan and why-
PM: I didn't make any comments on any of those matters, and I'm happy to refer people directly to what I said, and what I said at all points when I was asked was that Mr Abbott's travel arrangements are a matter for Mr Abbott, I've never said anything more than that and I don't intend to.
JOURNALIST: But you did point out the fact that you had managed to do the trip and get eight hours sleep, I think the clear inference to draw was that you were able to do it and he wasn't.
PM: Well I'll leave you to talk about how you may draw inferences. I was asked repeatedly when I was overseas to comment on Mr Abbott's travel arrangements and each and every time I was asked to comment I declined to do so, saying simply those things are a matter for Mr Abbott.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we're here on one of the driest spots in the country, it's probably an appropriate place to talk about water. There's huge outcry over yesterday's announcement that allocations (inaudible) Murray-Darling Basin (inaudible) lead to a loss of thousands and thousands of jobs?
PM: Well thank you for asking that question because it enables me to be very clear about what is happening here. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority is an independent authority; it has released a guide which is subject to consultation. Following that consultation it will release a draft which is subject to further consultation. So my message is, to anyone concerned, and I understand that there are people very concerned, there is a process in which their voice will be heard. So this is a guide which is a prelude, following consultation, to a draft plan. What I would say also about the Murray-Darling Basin is it's in the interests of every Australian that this river system is environmentally healthy. Whether you're a farmer, whether you live in one of our big cities, it's in our interests to get this right. That will require all of us to work together and there's a very clear process, for people from every perspective, to have their voices heard so we can get all of that and that can help facilitate the process of working together.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) social cost of jobs and towns shrinking?
PM: Well a degrading river comes at a cost to all of us, it comes at a cost to future of farming, it comes at a cost to future of the environment and obviously cities like Adelaide worry, rightly, about the impact on them. So there's a balance that needs to be got right here, a balance between keeping water flowing down the river, through the proper concerns of farmers, through supporting regional communities. There is a balance and obviously there is a process so everyone's voice can be heard as we work through achieving that balance. But I'd stress again this is the work of an independent authority, it's a guide for consultation, the outcome of that consultation will be a draft plan which will be the subject of further consultation.