Prime Minister
PRIME MINISTER: Australians understand, and they support, the need to take action on climate change. So do I. So does our government. I know this because Australians and our government are already taking action on climate change and we're already delivering. We're already down the path. Australia has already achieved more than a 20 per cent reduction in our emissions since 2005. Australia has already achieved the highest rate of rooftop solar in the world. Australia already has a rate of installation of renewable energy that is eight times per capita faster than New Zealand and Japan and three times faster than the United States, and the EU and Germany, specifically. Australia has already met and beat, but our Kyoto 2020 targets and indeed Australia will beat and meet our 2030 targets as well. Australians' actions on climate change speak louder than the words of others.
We're getting it done on emissions reduction. That is the Australian way. And we've done this at the same time as increasing the size of our economy by 45 per cent. Growing our economy and creating some three million jobs. Expanding our exports, expanding our agriculture and resource sectors, in particular our LNG sector. And most recently, Australia now has a million of our number back in manufacturing jobs. A million Australians employed in manufacturing. This is what is being achieved in Australia. Emissions coming down. Our economy growing. And the opportunities of Australians expanding. Australians want action on climate change. They're taking action on climate change, but they also want to protect their jobs and their livelihoods. They also want to keep the costs of living down. And they also want to protect the Australian way of life, especially in rural and regional areas. The Australian way of life is unique. I mentioned this to our party room this morning. After the terrible floods in North Queensland, when I stood in the town hall in Julia Creek, I said we needed to rebuild the cattle industry, which had been devastated in the space of about 24 to 48 hours, for many reasons. But one was because it was part of the unique Australian way of life. And that remains true in all of the challenges we face. Australians want a plan that gets the balance right. And our plan to reach what will be our new official target, of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Our plan gets the balance right. Our plan charts a uniquely Australian way. That recognises the challenges.
The world is changing, and the world's response to climate change is changing the world, it is changing the global economy. This is real. It's happening. We understand it and we recognise it. We need to protect against the threats that come from that. And we also need to realise the opportunities that indeed help mitigate those threats and enable Australia to succeed. We know we can't let the changes that are happening around the world just happen to Australia. We know we can't pretend it's not happening, the changes that are occurring around the world, just as we haven't been pretending in the actions that both the government has been taking and most importantly, Australians have been taking. Our plan is a fair plan. It's a practical plan. It's a responsible plan. Our plan for net zero by 2050 is the plan that I believe Australians want because it gets it right. It's been carefully put together. We've listened very carefully to both the concerns and the ambitions of Australians in pulling this together to ensure that we get the plan right. Our plan, most importantly, backs Australians to achieve what they want to achieve when it comes to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Australians want to do that and our plan enables them to do that. Our plan works with Australians to achieve this goal. Our plan enables them, it doesn't legislate them, it doesn't mandate them, it doesn't force them. It respects them. It understands that Australians want to do this, that they want to improve their pasture, that they want to protect their industries, that they want to see them succeed in the future, that they want to have the skills in the future and for their kids to have the skills in the future to be successful in the world that they will face over the next 30 years. It's a plan that backs Australians.
It's also a plan, as I said, that's uniquely Australian. It's an energy trade and economic plan, not just an environmental plan. It's about delivering results through technology, not taxes. It's focused on Australia's national interests and securing our strengths by determining our own destiny. Australians will set our own path to net zero by 2050, and we'll set it here by Australians for Australians. It keeps traditional advantages in the regions while supporting the growth of new industries, and it guarantees we keep downward pressure on those costs of living. It's a plan that ensures that there are many things we don't do as well. It's not a plan at any cost. There's no blank cheques here. It will not shut down our coal or gas production or exports. It will not impact households, businesses or the broader economy with new costs or taxes imposed by the initiatives that we are undertaking. It will not cost jobs, not in farming, mining or gas, because what we're doing in this plan is positive things, enabling things. It will not increase energy bills. It won't. It is not a revolution, but a careful evolution to take advantage of changes in our markets. And it's not a set and forget plan. It has an insurance policy review mechanism to make sure that it keeps delivering for regional Australia. In this plan, there is accountability. And we will be having the Productivity Commission every five years, the first one due by the end of 2023, that will monitor the impact, the socio economic impact of our plans into the future.
So I can say to rural and regional Australians, so this is a good plan for you, it's a good plan for all Australians, and we're confident that it's going to secure your future, that you can plan for your future with confidence and we're backing that up by ensuring that we'll measure that. We won't just be measuring the fact that we'll be reducing emissions. We'll be measuring the fact that we're creating jobs. We'll be measuring the fact that we're boosting incomes will be measuring the fact that we are preserving Australians' livelihoods right across the country because that is also one of the key measures of performance and success with this plan.
So I'll be taking this plan to COP26 for our target to achieve net zero by 2050. You'll be supported by our updated projection that will see us exceed our 2030 target with emissions reduction of up to 35 per cent by 2030. We will keep our commitment, though, when it comes to our pledge that we made and took to the last election of 26 to 28 per cent. But we will meet it and we will beat it, and we will beat it with emissions reductions, we believe, of up to 35 per cent, and we may even achieve better. But this is the approach that we put to the Australian people. We said, there's the mark, but we can meet it and we can beat it and we will. And the world will be able to see us achieving that and they'll be able to take record of that. Because what Australians are doing now is getting results, and they're going to keep getting results and they're going to keep getting better results, so we will honour our commitment to the Australian people. That's what I took to them. That's what they approved and that's what we're doing, and we will continue to work to do even better as part of our plan.
Now I'm going to pass you over to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction. I want to thank Angus for the tremendous work that he has done within the government over many years now as we have worked our way through this issue. It has been a very difficult issue and it is one that has been carefully considered. Many who are in this room have been here for a long time. And our journey to this, this place today, I think, has been an important one. But what it says to Australians is we don't come at these things lightly. We come to this in a considered way, in a responsible way. We've come to this very conscious of the impacts of what is happening around the world on Australians and to ensure that we can address that and we can put them in a stronger position. You know, only the Liberal and National parties working together, I think, can get the balance right here. And only the Liberal and National parties, I think, can be trusted with an economic plan that can achieve this and deliver this because we get it, we get both the risks and the opportunities. And that's what our plan is designed to address. So I'm going to ask Angus to take you through that. I think all the members of my cabinet, of course, the Deputy Prime Minister, in bringing us to this very important point and to enable Australians to move forward with confidence with what they're already doing, which is cutting emissions and growing our economy. Angus.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Thanks PM. Well, this plan is practically achievable pathway for Australia to reach net zero by 2050, the Australian way. And that means supporting our traditional jobs, but also capturing new opportunities. It means recognising that customer and investor demands are changing and we need to adapt with them. It means preserving our traditional advantage in competitive, reliable, affordable energy, but it also means building on our track record. And if we turn to the first slide, you'll see that Australia's track record is a proud one, we see developing countries that since 2005 have increased emissions by up to 86 per cent in India, over 70 per cent in China, 33 per cent in South Korea. And Australia versus even developed countries has performed extremely well, with a reduction of almost 21 per cent since 2005 - 20.8 per cent. That's higher than the OECD average in terms of reductions at the United States, Japan, New Zealand and Canada that are obviously comparable major commodity exporters like Australia. Now we've achieved that at a time when we've increased our economy by 45 per cent and we've increased our product exports by over 200 per cent. And you'll see on the next slide that reduction of 20.8 per cent, of course, is substantially larger if you exclude that extraordinary export performance, which all Australians can be very proud of, part of that is the rapid growth of the LNG sector where Australia has been a world leader.
If we look forward to 2030, we are on track to meet and beat our Paris targets. As the Prime Minister said, we're on track now with the work we've done in the technology investment roadmap to achieve up to 35 per cent reduction by 2030. And that comes on a per capita basis to a reduction in emissions 50 per cent or more, which is a very, very respectable performance. And as always, with Australia, we achieve, we deliver. That has been our track record. When we say we're going to do something, we do it, we meet it and we beat it. Now, if we look forward to our plan to 2050, if we go to the next slide. The vision here is to take practical action to achieve net zero by 2050, and that plan is built on our existing policies. It's a plan that will not put industries, regions or jobs at risk. It means we take advantage of those economic opportunities that are emerging now while continuing to serve our traditional markets. And it's a plan for net zero, not absolute zero. And that means offsets are an important part of that plan. The recognition, for instance, that Australia has 90 million hectares of productive agricultural land, which is a very significant carbon sink and can be a more significant carbon sink.
There are five principles driving the plan. Technology, not taxes. Choices, not mandates. We respect customer choice. We respect the choices of Australians, and they've made the choices. We've seen a dramatic uptake of household solar, for instance, in Australia, world leading stuff, but we also respect the choices of our export customers. Those choices will change over time, but it's not for us to say to them what they should buy. It's for us to serve them and adapt our products as they ask for those products to change. It means driving down the costs of a portfolio of technologies, getting those low emissions technologies to cost competitiveness. This is a plan about reducing the cost of low emissions technologies, not raising the cost of traditional energy sources and in sync with that, the fourth principle is to keep our affordable, reliable energy advantage that we've had as a nation for many, many years, and our technology goals are all about supporting that. We are as a country accountable for progress, and there is no country that has provided quarterly emissions updates by sector, by gas, over an extended period of time as Australia has, and that transparency will continue. If you look at where the plan delivers the reductions in emissions we've already achieved over 20 per cent, as I said, the technology investment roadmap, the priority technologies in that roadmap that I outlined with some additions I'll come to in a moment, back in September last year will drive down emissions by 40 per cent.
Global technology trends, this is technologies where we're not shaping them, but we will use them to drive down emissions by another 15 per cent. Offsets provide the opportunity to further reduce emissions by 10 to 20 per cent, and then we're relying on additional technology breakthroughs, some of which we can see now that are likely to provide that final 15 per cent. If you compare our approach with other approaches to this, the traditional approach is to set a target to model the carbon tax required to meet that target and then impose a mechanism usually with a three or four letter acronym to impose that cost on all Australians. That's about raising the cost of traditional energy sources and traditional technologies. Our approach is quite different. We're looking at the customer and technology trends shaping those trends to our advantage. And on the back of that, ensuring we have a portfolio of technologies that can deliver the outcome we want to deliver, which is net zero by 2050. Now this is not new for Australians or for people all over the world. The march of technology is an extraordinary one, and it has solved problem after problem for us over an extended period of time. If you move to the next slide, you'll see some wonderful illustrations if you look at the cost of transistors over time. We've seen dramatic reductions over decade after decade, and as a result, once those costs get to a certain point, you see explosive growth, non-linear explosive growth of the technology. We've seen exactly that same pattern with solar. Solar costs have consistently since the early 70s come down at four per cent or more a year. Every year. Year on year. We've seen them coming down, coming down, coming down. For that first 30 years from the early 70s to the early 2000s, one gigawatt was adopted. The next 10 years we saw 100 gigawatts. The last 10 years through to 2022, we're expecting to see a thousand gigawatts.
So that's how low emissions technologies advance. We're seeing similar reductions in costs in other technologies. And one example of which we have is obviously a priority technology in the technology investment roadmap is clean hydrogen, where we've set a goal of under $2 per kilogram. And as we get to that cost competitiveness, that roadmap goal, we know, we'll see explosive growth in the deployment of clean hydrogen. We, as Australia, have an opportunity to be a world leader in the adoption of blue and green hydrogen. Now the core levers in the plan are investment in that portfolio of technologies, and if we go to the next page, you'll see in addition to that, we're providing incentives, not penalties, through the emission reduction mechanism that we set up a number of years ago. But we're also seeing rapid growth in private demand for credits, for abatement credits. And with that, we see great potential for the use of offsets, whether it's in soil carbon, land sequestration, carbon capture and storage and high integrity offsets with our neighbours here in the Asia Pacific enabling that investment in infrastructure, information and standards on that information to inform customer choice and regular reviews that the PM has talked about.
I'll skip over the next slide, which takes that into further detail, but that's in your plan. But central to this is the $20 billion investment the government is making in that technology portfolio. We are confident that that will deliver an additional $60 to $100 billion of state government and private sector investment in research, deployment and demonstration and commercialisation. At the heart of the plan is getting to the goals in technology investment roadmap. And if we move to the next page, you'll see those goals getting the cost of hydrogen under $2 a kilogram. Energy storage to under long duration energy storage to under $100 a megawatt hour. Steel, aluminium carbon capture and storage soil carbon, we have added for this year and additional technology goal, which is ultra low cost solar below $15 per megawatt hour. This is a technology where Australia has played a leadership role for many, many years. We can continue to into the future and that goal will be crucial not only to Australia meeting its goals, our goals, but for other countries around the world. By applying those technologies across various sectors, we can see how emissions will come down through choice through customers choosing those technologies. And you see on the next page that the various technologies I've just outlined across different sectors electricity, transport, industry, agriculture and the land sector drives down emissions between now and 2050 based on the goals and the timeframes in that previous slide. And that puts Australia in a position to lead and shape not just our own emissions reduction, but emissions reductions for others in our customers around the world and at the same time, strengthen our economy.
This is the right plan for Australia. To summarise the outcomes from it, which you'll see in the plan. Australians $2,000 better off on average in 2050 compared with no Australian action. A gross national income which is 1.6 per cent higher. 62,000 new regional jobs in mining and heavy industry, and additional jobs over and above that in other sectors. No taxes or legislated targets or mechanisms. We won't be raising the price of electricity. Indeed, those technology goals put downward pressure on, and we certainly won't be putting industries, regions or jobs at risk.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when you, when you look at this plan and you, and the performance to this point, you make the argument that the economy's grown, exports have grown. How do you explain the Nationals position then, in that context, and doesn't the fact that the Deputy Prime Minister, he doesn't believe this, he told his party room he doesn't believe it, doesn't that undermine the very credibility of your plan?
PRIME MINISTER: This plan is 100 per cent supported by our Government, 100 per cent supported by our Government. It was resolved by Cabinet last night. What we've gone through as a Coalition and over over many weeks, but indeed over a longer period of time than that, is to bring us to this point where we recognise that what is happening around the world, we can't just let it happen to us. You know, in this debate, there are those who will say we'll be ruined if we don't and we will be ruined if we do. And what's important for Australia is we set that middle course, and that's what my Government’s doing. And it's a Coalition Government, and the plan has the full support of our Coalition partners. How do I know that? Because I know the difficult path they went on to get to this point. They have given their commitment in the Cabinet, as part of a Coalition. For 75 years, our Coalition has stood together and it's endured many things over that period of time, and I'm so pleased that our Coalition has proved strong in dealing with one of the most difficult issues, and what that should reassure Australians about, when it comes to us doing this is a Coalition - you all knew my view and the Liberal Party's view - what this says about the Coalition is we're united on getting this done because we agree together as a Coalition that this is the right plan for Australia. There is an alternative plan, which is not our plan. Well, to be fair, there isn't, because they haven't said what it is yet under the Labor Party. They've got a target without a plan. They've got not even a target for 2030, let alone a plan for 2050. They have a plan to legislate people, to mandate people. That's not our plan. Last time they did something about this in government, they taxed people. So, there is an alternative. It's not our alternative. And the Coalition is rock solid on pursuing this plan because this protects jobs, it protects livelihoods, and it protects a way of life for rural and regional Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has described Australia committing to net zero emissions by 2050 as heroic. Is it heroic or is it just the right thing to do? And the 62,000 new regional mining and heavy industry jobs, will that be facilitated by any particular carve outs to continue to allow diesel usage in heavy machinery? Where will those mining jobs particularly be?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I welcome the comments of my good friend, Prime Minister Johnson, and I wish him well for leading the COP26. One of the things that I think goes to the strength of relationship between Australia and the UK, between Boris and I, is Boris understands Australia. He understands that this is, this is a different challenge for Australia than to other countries. And, so, he understands the significance of this, and he and I have discussed it on many occasions and at length. And, so, he understands that this is an important decision for Australia in making our contribution and doing the right thing for our country first. And he understands we're making this decision in our national interest. And and he welcomes it. So, I appreciate what what Boris has said, but in answer to your question, no, it's the right thing to do. It's the right plan for Australia.
Now, on the other matters, I'll let Angus add add to that, but this is a whole of economy plan. We want everyone in our economy to participate in this plan, because what is happening around the world with the global economy, with the world's response to climate change, of course, that has impacts in Australia, and particularly in rural and regional areas. Of course it does. And between now and the next election, we’ll be outlining a series of further investments and things that will continue to strengthen our regions to ensure that they're successful, that they are successful as we move forward, not just in this area, but in so many other areas. But it is important that they're all participating in that - the agricultural sector, the resources sector, the transport sector, sectors, the manufacturing sector. I mean, a million Australians back in manufacturing jobs. Under Labor, they lost one in eight manufacturing jobs. We've restored those jobs. The Modern Manufacturing Initiative that the Minister is responsible for, this is about leveraging all of these plans - whether it's our skills agenda, our manufacturing agenda, our research and science agenda - it’s about pulling all of that together in a whole of government, whole of economy approach - our Ag2030 plan, our critical minerals plan. In fact, what we're doing with the Quad and what we're doing, I'll be sitting down with the ASEAN Australia Summit this week. We'll be talking about this. This is all about getting the whole country, realising the benefits, and dealing with the challenges. But Angus.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Well, there’s very significant job potential in the priority technologies we've chosen. We've chosen those for a reason, whether it's in the steel and iron ore supply chain, or the bauxite alumina aluminium supply chain, or indeed critical minerals that are supplying a number of those supply chains, whether it's lithium or nickel or copper. These are great opportunities for Australia. The key for us is to chase them. And that's exactly what we're doing as a Government - working with the private sector to do this. And we see enormous potential there. And as a Government, we are going to support those industries to create those jobs as best as we possibly can. And I'll tell you what, those jobs are there for the taking.
JOURNALIST: Perhaps for either Minister Taylor or yourself. Just on the technology roadmap - that 15 per cent of emissions reductions to be achieved by ASEAN developed technologies, are you prepared to hazard a guess as to what may, you know, be the frontrunners in that category? And secondly, secondly, when you announced this roadmap last year, I think you were forecast about $50 billion in co-investment. Today you’re saying 60 to 100. Can you explain is that because of the inclusion of ultra low cost solar, or is it something else?
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: So, the first thing I'd say is we are seeing more interest and co-investment from the private sector than we originally anticipated. So, we were conservative. If you look at what the CFC and ARENA is now seeing with co-investment, it's higher than we had originally anticipated. In answer to your other question, I'd just clarify what you said there, Phil. This is not technologies we don't necessarily know about. It may well be technologies that we know quite a lot about but have not yet got to the point where we can make them priority technologies. We can see a pathway to take the cost of hydrogen down to under $2 a kilogram. There's other technologies that are not yet at that point. Now, some examples, some examples of that would be low emissions cement. We know cement globally is is responsible for a significant significant emissions. It's a tough pathway. We know some of the things we can do there. There's technologies emerging that can help with that, and we're investing in some of those. Feed supplements is another one. Again, early days, we’ve still got a long way to go on this. But, so, there's a number of these technologies we're aware of, they were laid out in our Technology Investment Roadmap last year, and we'll continue to invest in those.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will Australia be updating its nationally determined contribution to include the net zero emissions by 2050 target?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
JOURNALIST: Good. Thank you. And on the 30 to 35 per cent projection for reduction of emissions by 2030, is that based on the Technology Investment Roadmap target being met? And, if that's the case, why not adopt them as an official target?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’ll let Angus particularly deal with the technicalities of of the, of the projection, and they will also be included in our NDCs that are taken forward. That's what we expect to achieve. Our target will remain as it is, because that's the commitment I gave to the Australian people. It's as simple as that. That's what I said our target would be in this term. That's the target for 2030. I said it would be 26 to 28 per cent. I said we'd meet and beat it. It was a, it was a floor, not a ceiling, and it it enabled, I think, the ambition that we have had over the course of this term to ensure that we're we’re we're at overachieving on that target. I remember during the last election campaign, those of you who joined us on the trail, I mean, you were saying we wouldn't meet it, that this wouldn't be achieved, and our opponents were saying, oh, that won't be able to be done. Impossible. Guess what? They said that about our 2020 targets as well, and they said they wouldn't be achieved. We achieved them. We're going to achieve this one. In fact, we're going to exceed it. But what is important is that I act consistent with the mandate I had from the Australian people. They rejected a 45 per cent target at the last election. They endorsed a meet and beat target of 26 to 28 per cent, which is what we've done. But Angus, on ...
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Just to answer that other other question, yes, this includes the early benefits of the Technology Investment Roadmap through to 2030.
JOURNALIST: Can we get a projection about that?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you go to the election seeking a new mandate for a 20, new 2030 target? You won’t? Ok. And just on modelling, you were very tough on Bill Shorten for not releasing modelling on his 2030 target the last election ...
PRIME MINISTER: It would be hard for him to release modelling he didn't have.
JOURNALIST: Well, there’s no modelling here either. We see some outcome …
PRIME MINISTER: No, there is modelling here, and yes, it'll be released in due course. Today's about the plan. We'll be releasing modelling at another time.
JOURNALIST: Just on 2030, Pacific neighbours have said there'll be catastrophe if Australia doesn’t set an example …
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry I can’t quite hear you. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: Pacific neighbours have said there will be a catastrophe if Australia doesn't set an example and commit to harder 2030 cuts. What do you say to those neighbouring countries now that you've appeased the National Party and left their futures effectively under threat in low lying areas?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I actually just don't accept the premise of your question at all. I think you're wrong. What we've done is produced the right plan for Australia, and I think it's the right plan for our region. I think, I know our regional partners - I was talking to the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea on the weekend - I know they will strongly welcome the fact that Australia has now committed to net zero emissions by 2050. That was one of the key items of discussion we had at the last time we were able to gather together at a Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Retreat, and I gave an undertaking at that meeting that we would consider that issue carefully. And we have and we have confirmed that that is now our position. And they will welcome strongly the fact that we believe we will be able to achieve a 35 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030. That is something we actually think we are going to achieve. As I said, the actions of Australia speak louder than the words of others. There will be lots of words in Glasgow, but I'll be able to point to the actions of Australia and the achievements of Australia, and I think that's very important. The credibility of Australia's position is confirmed by our record. We've cut it already by 20 per cent and grown our economy by 45 per cent. New Zealand, Canada, United States, other countries - they can't speak to that. And there'll be other countries that turn up in Glasgow and they'll say they have targets and they’ll say they have ambitions. But you won't find the same plan. You won't find the same detailed plan that we're releasing here today. What you need, I always said that we would not commit to this unless I said we could have a plan to achieve it. And that's what we're delivering today. Riles.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the last six prime ministers who held press conferences announcing climate policies either lost subsequent elections or were dumped by their own parties. What gives you the confidence that you'll be the first to argue through a climate policy and survive?
PRIME MINISTER: I've brought our Government together on this. Our Government is committed to this. Our Government has come from difficult places, had hard discussions, but we've worked through it together, and we've come to this position. We've respected each other. We've listened to each other. We've constructed over a long period of time a careful plan that is conscious of the impacts and the opportunities, and enables Australians to keep doing what they're doing and and do even more, by encouraging them through the measures that we've got. We've set out clear principles which we will honour. You will have noticed this about how our Government operates - when we set out our economic response to COVID, I first set out the principles by which we would do that, and we're doing the same thing here. Those principles will guide all of our decisions. Technology, not taxes. Choices, not mandates. Ensuring we have a portfolio of technologies that get us there at the end of the day. To ensure that we keep the costs down and have the balance between reliability and affordability with emissions reduction. And, most importantly, to go back, the question was asked about our Pacific partners - a credibility on transparency and the authenticity of the of the of the credits and of the emissions reduction reporting that exists. Australia, as Angus said, has set clear marks on this. And one of the things that we raised at the Quad recently when I was in the United States, and I've discussed regularly with the ASEAN partners and will indeed this week, as well as those in the Pacific, is there will be, of course, an appetite around the world for high integrity credits, high integrity credits. Now, Australia will be an obvious place for that. There is no country that you can rely more on the integrity of any credits coming from any country than Australia. We are premium quality, top of the line, best in the in class when it comes to these high integrity credits. Now, we want to work with our Pacific Island nation partners, with our ASEAN friends, and those throughout the Indo-Pacific, working with the United States and particularly Japan, working with India, to ensure that we can lift the integrity of these credits, because I think that's been a real problem with the whole credit scheme. I think it's been, I think it's really undermined confidence. And, you know, it's not about the if or when, it's about the how, and the world has to start focusing on the how, and our Australian way focuses on the how. And I think that's the leadership that the world debate on this actually needs. The world has to focus on the how.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when do we see the details of your peace settlement with Barnaby Joyce on climate change? And secondly, if I could ask a question of the Minister, just on the, your graph says that you have a 91 to 97 per cent reduction in emissions in the electricity sector. For the common person, does that mean that by 2050 that electricity production in Australia will be zero emissions?
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: No. It'll be close, but it won't be all the way there. Well, so you've got to balance up a grid, and the grid has to have some dispatchable generation. The bulk energy requirement will be coming from zero emission sources, but dispatchability remains a very, very important issue.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] that's gas, but no coal.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: Well, you know, I'm not going to tell you what the exact composition is of the sources of dispatchability. But gas is clearly going to be part of the mix in providing that dispatchability. And that's an important part of making sure we've got the balance right. The last piece of emissions reduction in every sector and in every economy is always the hardest and proves to be the most expensive if you don't go about it the right way. And that's why offsets are such an important part of our plan.
PRIME MINISTER: And in relation to your other question, there is only one plan and the policies of the Government are the policies of the whole Government. And what has been important in ensuring that we're able to come to agreement on this is a couple of things. First one is to ensure that we have a proper mechanism through the Productivity Commission to ensure that the goal of this policy, which is not just to reduce emissions, but to ensure the socioeconomic health of our country and particularly our rural and regional areas, that that is something that we will continue to scrutinise every five years. First one done by the end of '23. Secondly, to ensure that our policies and our plans can include and ensure the activities of all of our sectors, particularly the agricultural sector, are recognised and are included and are able to be pursued. In addition, it's important that we're cutting the red tape when it comes to ensuring that we can get the projects that need to happen around this country can happen around this country. And that is something we're already pursuing in the legislative programme in the Senate right now. We have the first tranche of legislation in the Senate right now. And it's also about ensuring that we are investing in the regions, so they can take advantage of these opportunities. Because we understand that the impacts of the world's response has their impacts in Australia. That is understood. All of our policies will come out before the next election. In particular, there will be a budget next year, is our intention. But either way, all of our policies.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER: We'll make decisions about that closer to that time. But my point about that is all of our policies, our investments in the regions, additional investments across a whole range of areas, they will be outlined as they have been outlined over these many years since the last election. So it will all be out there for everyone to see about what we're investing in, how we're investing in it. Because at the end of the day, now that we're past the "by when" and the "if", and now that we're into the "how", what this is a real choice of now, is the economic plan of the Government, the Liberals and the Nationals, to steer Australia through what will be a challenging time with the global response to climate change and how we intend to realise those opportunities, that economic plan to secure Australia's future through this time, or the economic plan, if they come up with one, of the Labor Party. And so at the election, there will be a clear choice on who do people trust with the right economic plan to see Australia through this. That's what it's all about at the end of the day. If you want to protect lives and livelihoods, as we have through COVID, if you want to protect livelihoods and the way of life of Australians, particularly in rural and regional areas, then you want a plan that has been developed by people, like in the Liberals and the Nationals who haven't just willy nilly signed up to this on a whim. That haven't just committed to a target without a plan and have chased the cheers of those for whatever purpose. You want a party and parties that have actually considered this deeply and have wrestled with it. And you've seen us wrestle with it. I think that is a badge of authenticity on this plan that demonstrates just how hard we have worked and wrestled with the difficult issues that Australians wrestle with too. Cutting emissions, protecting jobs and livelihoods. You've got to balance that, and that's what we've done. Kath.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, just a bit of housekeeping first before I get to the detailed question. Did you say a moment ago you would release the modelling?
PRIME MINISTER: Eventually, yes.
JOURNALIST: Eventually meaning when?
PRIME MINISTER: Some time, we're focussing on the plan today, there'll be another time when we'll release the modelling.
JOURNALIST: And projections, are we seeing the projections?
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: The projections are out today, you just saw them.
PRIME MINISTER: The outcomes of them is actually, you've got it in the document.
JOURNALIST: And can I just ask then, on 30 to 35 Angus, what is that band? I don't understand.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: So 35 is including the technology investment roadmap, the 30 is the traditional approach.
JOURNALIST: [Inaudible] sorry one more, one more, sorry to be greedy. Just if I understand the maths in this plan in terms of the abatement path to 2050, up to 50 per cent of it is offsets, technological breakthroughs that aren't specified and global technology trends that also aren't specified. Now PM, a minute ago you said quite rightly, we're on to the "how" now rather than the "why", but there's an enormous chunk of this plan where the "how" is entirely unclear.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: To pick up on that, we've clearly specified the sources of offsets. We're getting significant offsets now in native vegetation and what farmers are doing with their land. We're starting to see very significant offsets emerging on soil carbon. We've got 90 million hectares of productive agricultural land in this country. It is already a carbon sink. It can be a much bigger one and you'll see in the plan detail on where we think those opportunities are. They are very, very significant. Carbon capture and storage offers a big opportunity as well. Again, you'll see in the plan some of the areas where we see great potential for that, particularly through the production of hydrogen. So we've been very clear about where we think there's offsets are going to come from and there's potential as well, as the Prime Minister said, to get credits in our region, working with our Pacific neighbours, high integrity credits and helping them with those high integrity credits. The technologies which we haven't prioritised that we know are developing around the world are very well specified in the technology investment roadmap. Low emissions vehicles are central to that. And the transport sector is not one where we're leading on the supply chains, but we can certainly adopt those technologies and provide inputs to them like lithium. And so we do understand well how those technologies are evolving. So there is a large chunk of what you described there that is very well specified.
PRIME MINISTER: I might add to that. This is exactly the point we made, as Greg Hunt reminded us, when it came to 2020. We made the same point. I mean, if we're going to sit here and think we know everything that's going to happen between now and 2050, well, of course that's, I mean, you're not suggesting that. I don't think anyone else is suggesting that. I mean, if we don't think there's been a rapid development in technology on handheld devices in the last 10 years, then we must have been, someone must have been living on a different planet to the rest of us. That rate of technological advance is a given. It is actually a given in the modern world. And we've seen it in our own lives. We've seen it in the way that it's revolutionised the economy globally. And to not think that that is going to play a role over the next 30 years, that would be, I think, the more surprising assumption. Not the assumption that says that here are a suite of technologies which account for 40 per cent under our technology investment roadmap, a further 15 per cent that are established global technology trends. Established. And then assuming on top of that, that 15 per cent will come from the evolution and the momentum that is generated by those earlier technology developments, that is what has happened time immemorial, time immemorial. That is a very safe, it's probably one of the safest assumptions you can make, that the rapid escalation of technology will continue to drive these costs down. Anyone who'd walk into any JB Hi-Fi store anywhere in the country today and when they walked in there five years ago, will know the change in the price of what they were buying today to what it was five years ago. And the increase in its capacity and its capabilities and all of those things. That is the world we know. This is a plan for the world that we know and where it's heading.
JOURNALIST: PM, the cost is already $20 billion from what's been announced. What's the cost of this entire plan in terms of budget outlays when you look at all the things you need to do, not just those you're funding already, but those you'll need to fund?
PRIME MINISTER: Well they're already set out, David, in multiple Budgets. Because the plan draws together everything from our Modern Manufacturing Fund, we've got $300 million in carbon capture, use and storage, we've got $2 billion for the critical minerals projects, we've got $464 million for the clean hydrogen industrial hubs, we've got $1 billion in the Recycling Modernisation Fund. There's $550 million in the modern manufacturing strategy, there's $3.5 billion in the national water grid, $1.4 billion actually in Building Better Regions Fund. There's almost $2 billion in the Great Barrier Reef long term sustainability plan. There's the Ag2030 goal, there's the $5 billion Drought Fund. There's $6.4 billion into skills and training. And so it goes on. I mean, the Budget, the Budget is about achieving this plan and particularly on this plan, there is $20 billion, pretty much all of which gets spent in rural and regional areas to achieve the low emissions energy targets which are set out in this plan to achieving net zero by 2050. But what all of that does is supercharge everything else we're already doing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, your new forecast gets you to 35 per cent reduction. It's not clear to me what accounts for that improvement on your old 26 to 28 per cent. Could you explain that? And how much of it is because New South Wales has upgraded its own 2030 net target? And the second question is, your forecast suggests that agriculture will contribute up to 36 per cent to your net zero by 2050. Does that mean that they haven't been carved out of having to do some of the heavy lifting?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, as I said at the start, this is a whole of economy plan.
THE HON. ANGUS TAYLOR MP, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY, ENERGY AND EMISSIONS REDUCTION: So just answering that first question, well, actually I'll go to the second one first, the agricultural one. Look, agriculture has enormous potential to provide offsets, and I mentioned that earlier from Katherine's question. And that is a critical piece of this. We see it as a way to abate, particularly those very hard areas where you've got the highest cost abatement. So when you get to the end, the last piece in any industry is always the hardest piece. The last piece in any economy is always the hardest piece. And that's why those offsets that we can get from agriculture are so important. In relation to your question about the historical achievement and where we sit on the 35 per cent, there's been three factors that have really driven that. The first is the rapid uptake of renewables, particularly solar, in recent years. So we're world leaders on solar. One in four houses. No other country in the world is at that level. We've seen extraordinary investments, world-beating investments in renewables increasingly dominated by solar in the last couple of years, and that has played an important role. Energy efficiency has played an important role, the role of business and households in driving energy efficiency, using new and emerging technologies. And the third piece is changes in land use. And of course, the role that farmers have played in that has made a very significant contribution.
PRIME MINISTER: We'll finish up with the Courier Mail because [inaudible].
JOURNALIST: What do you say to those regional Queenslanders who in 2019 found themselves voting for the Coalition for the first time on the back of its criticism of Labor's policy and the support for coal? And is there room for the Collinsville coal-fired power station, is there room for the Collinsville coal fired power station under your net zero plan?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what I'll say is we've kept the faith. We said we wouldn't have a 45 per cent emissions reduction target for 2030. That was the wrong plan for Australia. It is still the wrong plan for Australia. And let me tell you why. And none other than Bill Gates has expressed his view, as have many others. And that is, if you seek to mandate and force to 2030, you run the risk of diverting resources from these important longer term technologies, which have much longer lead times that will be essential and critical to meeting your 2050 objectives. What we've said about where we believe we'll be at 2030 at 35 per cent down, including the technology investment roadmap outcomes, is that path. It is not a linear path. It is not a straight line from here to net zero in 2050. That's not what the curve looks like. In fact, we're already 20 percent down the way. We're not starting at the start. We're already down the path. Australians are already doing this, and the technology path that will take us to 2050 will have a curve on it. It is not a straight line. And so we want to ensure that all the resources that we are putting into this as part of our plan are designed on achieving that and being able to do it without having to tax people, to mandate people, without seeing the lights go out, without seeing the purchase of low integrity credits, if there are credits at all. But ensuring that the actions that we're taking and the things that we're doing are fair dinkum. That they're real and they actually make a difference. And you know what, I'm looking forward to discussing this with others overseas because I think the Australian way shows a way for other countries to follow. You know, the challenges that we face here in Australia, particularly with the nature of our economy, are not that dissimilar to those being faced in Indonesia or in Vietnam or in India or places like that or indeed, China. And you know, if you really want to deal with this problem, it's not good enough to just tax people in developed countries and think that fixes the problem. Because I can tell you, China's emissions will keep going up. John Kerry said this himself in one of his first press conferences. He said America could reduce their emissions to zero and if China's emissions kept going up, we don't solve the problem. So we want to solve the problem. If you want to solve the problem, then you need scaled, affordable, low emissions technologies, running industries, creating jobs, not just here in Australia, but in Indonesia, Vietnam, China and India and other countries. And if you don't do that, that won't change. I think that's a clear message that developing countries have been sent. That won't change. We need to demonstrate and work with partners, as we indeed are with India in particular, with our technology partnership that we're able to bring together. And Angus' fine work there to ensure that we should be concluding that very shortly with Narendra. So that is the way forward on this. Technology is the way forward. Now, on the other matter that you raised, the feasibility study is not due back until the end of June, but any investments that people wish to make, well, they have to meet the necessary planning and other regulatory approvals for them to go ahead, and they have to make sense to them commercially. And if they stack up, they stack up.
JOURNALIST: Including a coal fired power station?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, to the extent that they're able to be developed in Australia and they stack up and they comply with the environmental laws that exist in states and territories and receive the necessary approvals. I mean, legal investments in this country are still legal. This is my point. What we're seeking to do is enable people to do the things they want to do because they want to achieve this. Australians do want to achieve this. Australian businesses want to achieve this. Australian industry want to achieve this. Why? Because they know what's going on. There is, of course, a very significant environmental and important environmental objective in what we're doing. But there is also a very strong economic imperative for our country. There will be significant investment that will find its way into these technologies over the next 30 years, and I'm not going to put a blockage on that. What I'm doing today is removing any blockage to that and saying we're going to do this. And if you want to do this with us, then we're the place you want to do it. Because Australia, particularly when it comes to hydrogen, is seen as the best, if not the best, the best, I would argue we are, opportunity to develop that technology and that is what will get us there. So thank you very much. There'll be other opportunities down the track, but I appreciate your attention today.