Interview with Andy Park, ABC Radio National Drive

ANDY PARK: Joining me is Chris Bowen, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Welcome back to drive, Minister.

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks, Andy, good afternoon mate.

ANDY PARK: This, as Mr Albanese said, is not about retreating to old protectionism, but it is pretty ambitious. How will it work?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, it is ambitious because the key to our economic prosperity in this part of the 21st Century is actually competing in a very competitive race to be part of the supply chain for the energy revolution, for the clean energy revolution.

And we come to this with very significant comparative advantages. We are in many senses the luckiest country in the world when it comes to renewable energy, we have more sunlight hits our country than any other country on the planet, we have above average wind onshore and offshore.

But we need to turn that opportunity into reality in a situation where nations are providing incentives, the most famous is the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States, it's not the only one; Canada has had a response as well of $80 billion Canadian; in Japan there's an Economic Security Promotion Act, Europe has a new green deal, and the European Economic Security Strategy, so, and they're just a few examples, I could run through many more, and we need to compete in that context.

Now we don't need to compete dollar for dollar, because we have other advantages, we have a lot of room for renewable energy, we have a highly skilled workforce, which is traditionally focused on energy and energy creation. So, we come at this with many advantages.

But we have let our manufacturing capacity go over recent decades, to some degree, particularly in relation to renewable energy and the things that make it. So we used to make solar panels in Australia, for example, in Homebush, in Sydney. That closed several decades ago. We put 60 million solar panels on our roofs in the last 10 years, 1 per cent of them have been made in Australia. And the modern solar panel is an Australian invention, invented at the University of New South Wales through the technology which is in the vast majority of solar panels around the world. But we haven't captured the opportunity for manufacturing.

ANDY PARK: So how do we fire up the manufacturing capacity through this plan? I mean are you going to build factories directly, or is it to provide--  

CHRIS BOWEN: Oh, no, the Government won't be doing that, we wouldn't be very good at that. But we will do, I mean there's some things we've already announced and there are other things that we will announce in the budget, in and around the budget. And the Prime Minister's announced today that we will encapsulate that in the Future Made in Australia Act to bring that together.

But to give you a favour, a couple of weeks ago we announced Solar SunShot, which is a support package for solar panel and solar cell and associated infrastructure to be made in Australia.

Now this is key, for example, and that will be a program where we support through a production credit for per item produced after a competitive process Australian manufacturing, as I said, solar modules, solar cells, solar panels.

We have a lot of the raw materials in Australia, we have the technology, it's an Australian invention, but we haven't translated that.

Now as I said, we have massive opportunities. We lead the world in rooftop solar, but we haven't led the world in rooftop solar manufacture. We have in design. I mean the vast majority of solar panels made in China, where we get 90 per cent of our solar panels from, are using an Australian invention.

Now the renewable energy economy is very different in some senses to the old economy, that actually the economics of making things are close to where the raw materials are, and we have nine out of the 10 minerals necessary for batteries, for example, in Australia in great abundance. It is different and leads toward the decision to making more things in Australia, but it has to be supported by a government framework.

Solar SunShot is one example. Another is Hydrogen Headstart that we announced in our last budget, which is also support for manufacturing in a very similar way, and that's going very well. I've announced a short list of bidders for that, and I'll announce the final winners at the middle of this year roughly.

So, we have produced some down payments, if you like, in response to the Inflation Reduction Act and our Future Made in Australia plan. But what the Prime Minister was really saying today is there's more to come.

ANDY PARK: When you say we need to, and as Mr Albanese said as well, we need to compete, it's not just for investment dollars, it's also for skilled workers, and they're pretty hard to come by, particularly in these new industries, so how are we going to ensure that we don't see a drain or resources drain in competing with our allies?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I mean in some senses, Andy, it's a problem, a good problem to have, a very good problem to have to be able to have, you know, skills shortages that you need to fill, but still a problem. For example, we need 32,000 new electricians between now and 2030. That's a lot. That's a lot. That's a good opportunity for young people in particular, and people considering a career change towards an electrical trade, for example, and we want to see as many of those positions filled as possible by young Australians and others taking apprentices.

It's a centrepiece of the Skills Accord that Brendan O'Connor agreed with the States and Territories to really refocus our training system on some of these great opportunities. Business and governments need to work together to identify those shortages and ensure that we are doing everything possible to fill them domestically.

Yes, and again, whether it's people with labour shortages or the supply chain with, you know, very stiff competition for things like cables, and all the things which go into the manufacturing process, we are in a competitive race.

But this is part of the reason why we're doing what we're doing. It is to build more domestic sovereign capability. It is a problem to be so reliant on imports for so much which is integral to our energy security, to our sovereign capacity across the board. And 99 per cent of our solar panels come in from overseas, 90 per cent from one country. I could run you through many more examples, not about just solar panels.

ANDY PARK: When you talk about sovereignty and the need for sovereignty, one part of this will be securing greater sovereignty over resources and our critical minerals. What do you mean by this; how will you do it?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, not just   well, I mean not just over our critical minerals, but processing more of them here. I mean of course they're our critical minerals, right, so they belong to us, but at the moment they are dug and shipped out.

We want to see more processing here, that's good for jobs, it's good for a more complex economy. We want a more complex economy, that's the key to really economic success in our times, but also better for emissions, frankly, because if you process the minerals here, you're not shipping them at   they're very heavy when you ship them, when they're unprocessed. You refine them down and you ship them or ideally turn them into batteries here in Australia.

I just earlier today, just this morning, was at Energy Renaissance in Tomago in the Hunter Valley, an Australian manufacturer of batteries, talking to them about their expansion plans. They currently are a great company, they've got great plans to make more battery cells in Australia, but they need that framework, that policy which the Prime Minister, Ed Husic, Jim Chalmers and I have been working on with Madeleine King in relation to critical minerals.

And as I said, we have more to say. We've already announced a Critical Minerals Financing Facility, we've already announced Hydrogen Headstart and Solar SunShot, and there are plans that are well developed that we'll have more to say, and we'll be encapsulating all of that and more in the Future Made in Australia Act.

ANDY PARK: In your climate change part of your portfolio, I just want to ask about these reports from marine biologists saying that we're seeing the worst coral bleaching on record in the Great Barrier Reef. Some say that the coral is in fact dying. The Government obviously has its targets for net zero, but are you concerned we're not working fast enough? I mean we really are on the brink of losing the reef; that's what marine biologists told me as recently as last hour.

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, again, I could run you through many, many other examples of the need for urgency, and that's why we are moving quickly. We have now 68 months to 2030.

Now we started this process in 2022. It would have been better if we'd started in, you know, 2013 or 2016, or 2019. But we started in 2022. That leaves you eight years, and now six years for a very significant emissions reduction from Australia's context.

But this really just also underlines the point. I reject the argument that because we're 1 per cent of emissions what we do doesn't count; that's nonsense. But I would put it a different way; our even bigger opportunities to help the rest of the world decarbonise. I mean that's where we can have an impact on the Reef and so many other things in a much greater capacity to become that renewable energy superpower, to help countries in our region, like Singapore, decarbonise. They don't have the room for big renewable energy, they need our help.

But to help also say Germany, the industrial powerhouse of Europe. We have a very developed partnership with them on green hydrogen, and the Hydrogen Headstart and Hydrogen Hubs policy is key to helping them decarbonise. That's the key. I mean they can create some green hydrogen, but they can't generate anywhere near enough for their needs. We can, and we want to be, and I believe we are their preferred partner of choice.

That's our big contribution, whether it be the Reef or all the other terrible consequences of global warming, that's where we can really come into our own and under our Government, we will.

ANDY PARK: Just before I let you go, Minister, the US President has said he's considering Australia's request to release Julian Assange. Has your Government spoken with the US again about this? What's the latest there?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes. Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong have been assiduously working, both, you know, there's public statements, and of course, as you'd expect, a lot of private correspondence between governments.

I mean regardless of what you think about what Julian Assange did, regardless of whether you think he's a hero or what he did was wrong, he has paid his price; he has done his time. And our government’s view is that enough is enough, and it's time for him to be released.

We've made that view clear publicly, we voted that way in Parliament. As you'd expect, the Prime Minister's made that view clear to the Administration, I think that's reflected in the President's statements today, and we hope that this sorry saga comes to an end very soon.

ANDY PARK: We'll have to leave it there. Chris Bowen is the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Thanks for your time this afternoon.

CHRIS BOWEN: Always a pleasure, Andy, good on you.