PM: I'm in the Latrobe Valley today and I've had the opportunity to speak to the workers at Hazelwood as well as to meet with representatives of the relevant unions, the CFMEU and the Metal Workers Union and I'm looking forward to continuing my discussions with local community members this afternoon.
I understand that the policies of both sides of politics have raised anxiety here in the Latrobe Valley. Last Sunday I announced our carbon pricing plan and of course our carbon pricing plan is about reducing carbon pollution and about securing a clean energy future for our nation.
As part of that plan we will be working with electricity generation here and around the country and as part of that plan we are looking to retire 2000 megawatts of energy capacity that generates a lot of carbon pollution from our electricity grid and to replace it with cleaner energy sources.
I understand that having heard that policy announcement last Sunday, there is anxiety here in the Latrobe Valley. I also understand there's anxiety from Mr Abbott and Mr Hunt making it clear that they are determined to close Hazelwood.
So I've come here today to have a conversation direct with the Latrobe Valley and with the workers here. In that conversation, some hard questions got asked and that's appropriate. I wanted to come and explain my perspective on pricing carbon pollution, on securing a better environment for the future and a stronger economy for the future.
I've explained that in order to take 2000 megawatts of dirty energy generation out of the system, we will engage in a contract for closure process. Businesses will be able to come forward and tender to work with the Government and to close over time. Any such closure would take a number of years.
And I've also said to the working people here in the Latrobe Valley that I understand that they come to this process with some anxiety because they lived through the era of privatisation in the 1990s. I remember what happened to this community in the 1990s when Jeff Kennett and Alan Stockdale had privatisation come and hit this community like a sledgehammer, with little support for adjustment in this community.
The perspective I am bringing to change as we go about pricing carbon and dealing with the 2000 megawatts of the dirtiest electricity generation is a perspective about standing alongside communities. Making sure we work with communities, we listen to their voice and we generate for them a strong economic future.
The questions I've taken today have included questions about the mechanics of pricing carbon, about what it will mean for families, about what it will mean for the global- well for the national economy, how we fit in with the global economy and what it will mean for this local economy.
I am very confident that the Latrobe Valley has a bright future. I am very confident that it has the community leaders who will have their voice heard as we work with this local community and have their say in developing a bright future for the Latrobe Valley.
I'm very happy to take people's questions.
JOURNALIST: What was the mood like inside Prime Minister?
PM: The mood was anxious, there's a lot of anxiety there and that's why I'm here, to talk issues through with people, to be there directly available to have a conversation. You'd be expecting people having lived through privatisation to think about another period of change and to be anxious about that period of change, but as Prime Minister I've been able to say to them that we will be working alongside communities, standing with them, that certainly didn't happen when the Liberal Party engaged in privatisation here.
JOURNALIST: The community's been concerned (inaudible).
PM: The process that we will go through is a tender for closure process so we need to work through that. But I've been very happy to say to the workers here that we will be working with local communities not just on the first day, but over time. We've allocated $200 million through our carbon pricing plan to work with local communities to secure their future. And I do see a very bright future for the Latrobe Valley.
JOURNALIST: How much of that $200 million is likely to come to the Latrobe Valley?
PM: Well you're making some assumptions about the tender process, the tender for closure process. I'm afraid I can't make those assumptions with you, we've got to go through this process a step at a time, but obviously the Latrobe Valley is synonymous in people's minds with electricity generation and that's why it was appropriate to come and talk about our plans here in the Latrobe Valley.
JOURNALIST: So do you see that continuing, I mean what sort of electricity generation do you see occurring in the Latrobe Valley down the track once the carbon tax is introduced?
PM: Well the process we're going to go through is to seek to retire 2000 megawatts of capacity out of the system which is generated with high amounts of carbon pollution. You generate far more than 2000 megawatts of electricity out of the Latrobe Valley.
Now as we work through this process, obviously this being such an important place in Australia for the generation of electricity, people are thinking what does it mean for me, what does it mean for my family? That's why I'm here today to start a conversation with this community with an assurance that we will keep working through with them. It's not my intention to leave this community or indeed any other community in the country in the lurch the way we saw them left in the lurch in the era of privatisation under the Victorian Liberal Government.
JOURNALIST: You said you're going to (inaudible) consulting with the community today, you're out here to talk about it, but I don't see one member of the Latrobe Valley community here-
PM: Well I've been in the meetings and then come out to speak to the media.
JOURNALIST: Is there any consultation with them at all or is it purely a media circus?
PM: I've been in meetings for a number of hours now and I've come out of those meetings to have this conversation with the media.
JOURNALIST: As I said this isn't the community (inaudible).
PM: No I understand that, I've been in meetings for hours now with community members and I've come separately to here to have a conversation with the media.
JOURNALIST: Who else will you be meeting with Prime Minister?
PM: I've met with Hazelwood workers and there were large numbers of workers there, I've had conversations with the union representatives. I'm going to be meeting with the local council and I'll also be sharing a bite to eat with some local community members.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minster there's been quite an emphasis on Hazelwood, what about some of the generators like Yallourn which is ageing infrastructure as well and Loy Yang. What sort of conversations are you having with them?
PM: Well clearly in talking to the unions, they represent workers across all of power generation here in the Latrobe Valley and I'll be talking to the community more broadly through the local council, so the message for the local community is a constant one, which is we will be working with this local community. I understand that when they hear me talking about pricing carbon and a cleaner energy future they wonder what it means for them. I understand when they hear Tony Abbott and his spokespeople talk about closing Hazelwood they wonder what it means for them. I wanted to come here directly as a show of good faith to say I want to work with this community, I want to engage with this community, I certainly do not want to see this community dealt with as it has been in the past by Liberal governments.
JOURNALIST: What are the plans to protect the workers' jobs, is there anything on the table as yet?
PM: We will go through this contract for closure process and then of course we are working strongly with the electricity generation industry to support the transition in electricity generation to a cleaner energy future. The package I announced last Sunday has in it $5.5 billion of assistance to electricity generators. It has in it the capacity to offer loans if that is necessary to electricity generation. It has the contract for closure of 2000 megawatts of dirty electricity generation and of course, as well there are funds to support innovation as we move to cleaner energy technologies.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, realistically how many jobs though do you think will be lost eventually from the tax in the Valley?
PM: Well this is a question that we need to work through and I want to be as frank with you as I can. But we've got a tender process to go through, I can't pre-judge the outcome of a tender, it requires companies to come forward, it requires appropriate objective decision making and it would be quite wrong of me, legally wrong and wrong in every other way to try and pre-judge the tender round.
But this is a part of the world associated in people's minds with electricity generation, that's why I wanted to come and talk to the community here.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned you might be preaching to the converted by meeting with the unions here today?
PM: I've met with workers who were anxious, prepared to ask some very hard questions, prepared to have very direct exchange with me. I wanted to do that, come and meet with the people who are likely to be the most anxious so that I could look into their eyes as they looked into mine and we could have a conversation.
JOURNALIST: Did you reassure them that there'll be a job for them in say ten years' time?
PM: What I said to them and what I absolutely believe is that there is a strong future for the Latrobe Valley including a strong economic future.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister would this have to be one of the toughest weeks you've had as Prime Minister. It's been such a massive week selling the carbon tax, how's it been?
PM: I'm always happy to come out and have a conversation with people because we've got to get this done. We have to, as a nation, seize the opportunities and possibilities that come from a clean energy future. We do need to cut our carbon pollution to do the right thing by our environment and also to have the jobs of the future. Very determined we're going to get that done as a nation, I understand that a lot of explaining is needed and I've been very happy to come out and about doing that explanation myself.
JOURNALIST: How much are you going to be spending explaining to people about the tax, we notice there's some sort of campaign?
PM: Not sure that I follow your question?
JOURNALIST: An advertising campaign or something like that, I mean we haven't seen all that much this week, are we going to see something like that down the track?
PM: You will see advertisements starting tomorrow night and just as I personally, this week, have spoken to workers at Hazelwood, I've sat with steel workers and spoken to them, I've spoken to people in a community forum in Brisbane, just as I've done all of that to provide information to people, we will advertise to provide information to people. Australians want to know what this big change means for their future, we will provide that information to them through direct engagements like the one I've had today as well as providing them good quality information through advertising.
JOURNALIST: Are there plans for you to appear at a community forum here in the Latrobe Valley sometime in the future?
PM: Are there?
JOURNALIST: Plans for you to participate in a community forum here in the Latrobe Valley sometime in the future?
PM: I believe this is the start of a conversation, I've got more to do today before I leave the Latrobe Valley so I'm looking forward to doing that first. This is the start of a conversation and we will continue to work very strongly with the Latrobe Valley community. Minister Simon Crean has been here already this week, now I'm here personally and you should expect to see us continue to be engaged in the Latrobe Valley.
JOURNALIST: So you'll be back?
PM: Well, what I'm indicating to you is I'm intending to stay engaged with the Latrobe Valley.
JOURNALIST: Tony Abbott has said today something along the lines of the people feel ripped off by the carbon tax package and it hasn't been based on proper modelling? What do you say to that?
PM: Well, I'm smiling because it would amaze me that Tony Abbott would raise questions about proper costings. Let's be really clear here, both I and Mr Abbott are committed to reducing carbon pollution in this country by minus 5% by 2020. He says he believes in that target too. The difference is I have a fully costed modelled package available for the Australian people so they can judge every detail of it. Mr Abbott's got a magic pudding that won't work and will smash the budget and smash into Australian tax payers. We believe that that cost will be $720 per household per year. Now Mr Abbott needs to explain to Australians why they should pay all of that.
Economists are saying the most efficient way to grab a clean energy future for our country is for us to put a price on carbon. I'm determined to act in the most efficient way with every figure on the table and it all adding up. Mr Abbott's got this hocus-pocus where he pretends that he can cut carbon pollution, match tax cuts without a revenue source, it just doesn't add up. It's up for Mr Abbott to put his figures before the Australian people too.
JOURNALIST: Just on a separate issue, Westpac's now forecasting that the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates next year by 100 basis points with the first cut late this year, what's your reaction to that forecast?
PM: The interest rates are set by the Reserve Bank independently so it's not proper for me to comment on the future direction of interest rates. What I would say about the Australian economy is its fundamentals are strong. We've come out of the global financial crisis stronger than any other developed country. That's a good thing. But what I've also talked to the Australian people about is the patchwork nature of our economy today with some regions and industries booming ahead and other regions and industries feeling pressure. That's why we've put the budget together in the form that we did, we understood the patchwork nature of the economy, we want through the minerals resource rent tax to be sharing the benefits of the resources boom and we do too want to be working with regions that are feeling under pressure so they get the benefit of the jobs and opportunities of the future. So the patchwork nature of our economy is putting pressures on some places and we are responding to those pressures.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister as someone who works and lives in the Valley, what might happen if Labor starts this process now with the carbon pricing plan, a Coalition government comes in into the future, we've got the ball rolling somewhere along the line to transition this community, what might happen should there be a change of government?
PM: What I would say to the people of the Latrobe Valley and it's been reinforced today for me in some of the discussions I've had- people have been anticipating that there would be change in the Latrobe Valley for quite a long period of time now. People have been anticipating that there would be a price on carbon, people have been anticipating that that would make a change for the Latrobe Valley. I'm in the business of giving the people of this community, and the nation generally, certainty, that's why I spelt out the package that I did last Sunday. Mr Abbott is determined to rip that certainty away from Australians because he would rather see all of that chaos if it helps him be Prime Minister, than do the right thing to help people plan for a clean energy future.
Thank you very much.