HOST: Good morning Prime Minister.
PM: Good morning Richard.
HOST: You're well and in our neck of the woods with a tough job ahead of you trying to sell this carbon tax. Look, I noticed there's an article in the Newcastle Herald today, Prime Minister, with your name on it and it says, quote ‘people who live and work in the Hunter know we have to tackle climate change'. I mean, a lot of people would disagree with you on that one Prime Minister.
PM: I think Australians generally do believe climate change is real and do want to do the right thing by themselves but also by their kids and the future and cut carbon pollution so that we do tackle climate change and I'm here today in the Hunter and I'll obviously be talking directly to people who worked in mining, I think there's been a lot of fear spread and a lot of misrepresentation. There is a good future for the coal industry as we tackle climate change and we're going to be working with coal companies to achieve just that and really in many ways the coal industry has spoken, we've seen big businesses like Peabody engage in takeovers of Australian businesses because they know there's a good future in mining coal and of course we've had big unions come out too and say they see a bright future for industries like coal and steel even as we price carbon and do the right thing, not only by the environment but by our economy because we're giving investors certainty and attracting new investment in our nation.
HOST: Right, well look, you're saying that and obviously your Government, I spoke to Greg Combet last week, but in our neck of the woods yesterday Ralph Hillman who is the Australian Coal Association executive, I mean he obviously disagrees with you. Nikki Williams who's the boss of New South Wales Minerals Council prior to the details of the carbon tax suggesting that there'd be several mines closing and thousands of jobs lost. Yeah, sure the fear factor's long and loud, but you know, a little bit of confusion and a lot of money being spent on, well from the coal industry trying to ram home their point of view, you're spending, I believe your Government, about $25 million to get the message across. It would appear that people are hearing their message rather than your Government's message, Prime Minister?
PM: I'll be out there continuing to talk with people and I think people are smart enough to think through and they'll look to get the information. But if on coal I can just give you some simple statistics which I think help paint the picture, coal prices have doubled in the last few years from $150 a tonne to $300 a tonne. The big companies are making profits in the order of a million dollars per worker, the average impost on coal from us pricing carbon is less than $2 a tonne, so that's against a back drop of prices having doubled. Yes there are some mines which are gassy which generate more carbon pollution than others and we've set aside $1.3 billion to work with those mines and to work with the coal industry. So I think when people are thinking this through they may want that kind of information, which I think helps give a sense of the scale of what we're doing, less than $2 a tonne against a backdrop of prices having doubled to $300 a tonne.
HOST: Yeah, do you think that part of the problem here in selling the message is that it is all about the environment and pollution and yet it's been reduced to an economic debate, Prime Minister?
PM: Well it's about both. We want to do the right thing by our environment and cut carbon pollution so this is (inaudible) we are doing the right thing by your environment is also doing the right thing by your economy. I want us to have the clean energy jobs of the future. I don't want us to fall behind the standards of the world and see those new industries and new jobs go to other nations. And other nations are acting and capturing that new investment from those new opportunities by giving people certainty about how we are going to price carbon in this country, we can unlock new investment here which will create new jobs and new opportunities for the future. So as we price carbon our economy's going to continue to grow, employment is going to continue to grow and we will be doing the right thing as we cut carbon pollution.
HOST: Greens leader Bob Brown, when you made the announcement of the details of the carbon tax Sunday prior to last, was crying about the fact that if it hadn't been for the Greens we wouldn't have this carbon tax, I mean you obviously disagree with him on that?
PM: Yes I do. We've talked as a - well in this sense I do, we've talked as a nation about pricing carbon for the best part of a decade. So if we go back and look at how this debate brought us here, we've had people like Margaret Thatcher warning the world that temperatures were warming and we needed to do something about it. We had John Howard go to the 2007 election saying that he wanted an emissions trading scheme and to put a price on carbon. In the 2010 election I spoke to people about an emissions trading scheme and pricing carbon. Where we will get to is from 1 July next year we'll have a three year period with a fixed price, effectively a carbon tax and then we'll get that emissions trading scheme which means we will cap the amount of carbon pollution that our economy can generate. So it's been a long journey and many people playing many different roles in the long journey, Margaret Thatcher, John Howard, you name it.
HOST: Oh yes.
PM: But we're here and we've got to make this decision and get this done.
HOST: Tony Abbott did at one stage say that he thought that pricing carbon was the best way to tackle the problem. He's certainly moved away from that. There has been up until now a commitment from both sides of politics for a 5% reduction by 2020. Are you surprised that Tony Abbott from what he said yesterday seems to be moving away from that commitment?
PM: I'm astonished. Tony Abbott has been in many different positions in this debate. He was of course in John Howard's cabinet when they all agreed that they want an emissions trading scheme and then during this period in Opposition he's been for an emissions trading scheme and for a carbon tax and now he's against the carbon tax. But up until yesterday he was certainly saying he was for cutting carbon pollution by 5% by 2020, that is he shared the Government's ambition that we cut carbon pollution by that amount. Yesterday he performed this amazing back flip and now he's saying he doesn't want to cut carbon pollution at all. We'll I think he needs to explain that incredible back flip to the Australian people.
HOST: Thank you very much for your time Prime Minister and enjoy your time in our neck of the woods today, you're off to Centennial Coal at Mandalong a little later this morning I believe?
PM: Yes I am and I'm enjoying your beautiful sunshine in the meantime.
HOST: Alright, make the most of it. Thanks for your time, have a good day.
PM: Thank you.