Interview with Melinda James, ABC Illawarra

MELINDA JAMES: I’m joined now by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. A very good morning to you, Minister. Thanks so much for joining us.

CHRIS BOWEN: My pleasure, Melinda. Good morning to you.

MELINDA JAMES: Can you explain to us what this process is about? A lot of people are trying to get their heads stuck into the process where they’re planning on writing to you as you consider what the offshore wind zone could look like. What’s this parallel process that’s going on at the moment?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, and I can completely understand why people would be saying, “Well, hang on a second, what’s going on here? With this particular story this morning?” But, really, we’ve got two processes. So, as you know, we’re consulting about whether and how to put an offshore wind zone off the Illawarra. That process has been underway for some time and we’re consulting about that, and that consultation ends on the 15th of November. It was going to end on the 16th of October, but Alison Byrnes, who’s doing a fantastic job, asked me to extend that consultation further to make sure everybody gets a good say. So that has happened and that consultation ends on the 15th of November. And then I’ll consider, you know, all the issues that have been raised and go through all the submissions and work through the next steps.

Now, an offshore wind farm can only go in if I declare a zone. It can only go in in – if I issue a feasibility licence and then a commercial licence and if it gets environmental approvals. Now, this environmental approval is a separate process run, as you said, by Minister Plibersek, quite arms-length from me. I have no role in that. So basically it would have to satisfy two ministers in different processes. But even if it got environmental approval it could not proceed unless it’s inside the zone I eventually declare, unless it gets a feasibility licence and a commercial licence and, indeed, if it complies with any conditions I put on. So I can put conditions on when I declare a zone. So, for example, when I declared the Hunter zone I put conditions on about the height of turbines et cetera.

Now, it’s very important – I’m not saying, I’m not pre-empting my own decision and I’m certainly not pre-empting Minister Plibersek’s decision because she has certain obligations under law which she has to comply with and she always does comply with. But, really, my message to the people of the Illawarra this morning is this is not being rushed. Just because one company has chosen to put in an application it does not mean that my decision is any quicker or any different. I will still consider all the submissions that go in and then there’ll be a long process after that of feasibility and commercial licences where people also get to have a say.

MELINDA JAMES: Okay. So it’s not as if the federal government has called for tenders or anything like that?

CHRIS BOWEN: Certainly not.

MELINDA JAMES: BlueFloat have said that they have self-referred. Why would they do that now when they are not even clear on and haven’t heard about the stipulations that you might place on a zone, for example, where, how far out to sea, how tall the turbines can be, limits that you might impose on the zone. Why would they do this off their own bat so soon?

CHRIS BOWEN: A bit hard for me to say, Melinda, because it’s a matter for them. They’ve taken this decision. Obviously there’s other people interested in this.

MELINDA JAMES: Were you aware that they were going to do this?

CHRIS BOWEN: No.

MELINDA JAMES: No?

CHRIS BOWEN: No. And I don’t talk to them during this process. It’s all quite proper and arm’s length. They can do their thing. It’s a bit like, you know, if you decide you might want to build a house in an area where the council is considering whether to zone it for housing, you can prepare your application and put it in. But whether the council proceeds with the rezoning or what conditions they put on, you’re taking a risk. If you go to the time and expense and effort of declaring – of preparing an application you’re taking a risk that that money may or may not be wasted at the end of the day because, you know, where they’re proposing may or may not be inside the zone that I eventually declare. If it’s not, sorry, bad luck to them. They’ve wasted their money.

MELINDA JAMES: Back to the drawing board for them?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, they’re entitled to do this, don’t get me wrong. They can apply for whatever they like. But that does not mean the process that I have underway changes one iota.

As I said – look, offshore wind is important. There are very genuine issues that are being raised. There’s also, you know, concerns which have been based on misinformation and disinformation. We sift all those through. We work with the community to come up with a good outcome. Certainly if I declare a zone and then called for expressions of interest, when I decide who to give a feasibility licence to and then ultimately who to give a commercial licence to I look at, sure, how many megawatts they’ll generate of energy because that’s important for the Illawarra. I want to see more energy generated for BlueScope's future and for the great industrial future of the Illawarra. That’s why we’re looking at the Illawarra basically – to support those jobs of the future for the Illawarra. But I also look at community benefit and local content and who’s engaged best with the community, who’s got the best local content plan, who’s going to create the most local jobs, who’s got the best environmental plans.

Minister Plibersek has an entirely separate process where she has to work through just strictly the environmental concerns – have they met all the concerns that have been raised or not.

MELINDA JAMES: And can any company from anywhere apply for a feasibility licence from you once the zone is declared?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, they can certainly apply. So, for example, in Gippsland, which is a much, much bigger zone than we’re looking at in the Illawarra, you know, much bigger area, we received over 30 applications. I’ll soon be announcing, you know, who’s going through to the next steps. It, you know, won’t be all of them obviously. It will be the better applications which make it through to the next steps. A similar process would apply to the Illawarra. But that is some way down the track. And, as I said, anybody can apply – indeed, Melinda, as we’ve said, anybody can apply for an environmental approval. It does not mean you receive that approval. There’s a very rigorous process to go through.

MELINDA JAMES: Okay. So it might all be a waste of time. You might put limits on the height of towers. You might say – because it seems like – I don’t know if you’ve been surprised by the growing noise around offshore wind. It’s taken a while for people to get their heads around what’s happening, and I know, for example, the Hunter zone, there are people calling for you to rescind your decision because people claim they weren’t fully aware of what was being – what was being planned. Are you – what’s your response to the growing – seemingly growing opposition to this and the concerns that are being raised by the community?

CHRIS BOWEN: Look, I think, Melinda, when you’re starting an industry from scratch – and we are starting a new Australian industry from scratch, from nothing. There’s offshore wind right around the world. It’s very important for industrial jobs in Europe and America and increasingly in Asia. So we are one of the last countries to come to this. But it's new for Australia. And you're going to get people with concerns. You're going to get people very excited about the future, and there's a lot of jobs to be created for the Illawarra in this path, both the traditional industries like BlueScope and industries of the future like hydrogen, Hysata, and other really exciting Illawarra firms. So I’m very optimistic about the future and the opportunities offshore wind can create for the Illawarra, an area I know well and love. But also there are legitimate issues that people have. When you’ve got something new, people have got genuine concerns and issues. That’s why we’ve put 150,000 leaflets in letterboxes. That’s why we’ve had six consultation sessions. That’s why at Alison Byrnes’s request I’ve extended the consultation for another month to make sure we hear those views.

As I said, some of those concerns are very genuine and well-founded and, you know, I’ll take into account. I’ve seen other misinformation about the impact on, you know, rescue vessels, of electronic seismic waves or something. I mean, that’s – you know, so but I understand that people are going to raise questions and concerns. Some will be, you know, issues that I need to take into account, and we certainly do that very genuinely. Because we want to bring the community with us. Now, there are people who are strong supporters of offshore wind as well who quietly put in submissions.

And in the Hunter there’s mixed views as well. Yes, it’s very controversial in Port Stephens. There’s strong support in other areas of the Hunter. But, again, expressions of interest will soon close for the Hunter and I’ll work through those and I’ll have more to say about the next steps for the Hunter soon as well.

MELINDA JAMES: We’re very close to being out of time – my apologies. But I’m just wondering, a lot of questions – this question gets asked again and again and again: why not off the coast of Sydney?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, because the way of answering that is: why Illawarra? Because will create jobs for the Illawarra in the future. And the Illawarra has a strong energy grid. There’s lots of transmission around Illawarra to support BlueScope and the other great industries. So really this is about the Illawarra’s economic future. Increasingly, consumers and investors around the world are going to demand decarbonised industry. You know, if BlueScope and others can’t provide green steel and decarbonised steel in the future frankly the future is very limited. I want the Illawarra to have a bright industrial future. That means providing sources of renewable energy for the Illawarra.

Now, offshore wind has certain advantages – obviously there’s a lot of room. Obviously it’s windier off the coast. Obviously it’s windier into the night, which provides that more constant energy supply for big industrial users as well as residential users. I mean, this will power houses in the Illawarra, but it will also power industries of the future, some of which already exist and some of which are only just getting going. So that’s why Illawarra. I mean, as I said, the Illawarra zone is much, much smaller than, say, Gippsland or Bass Strait zones, which will help power all of Tasmania and all of Australia. This is a much smaller zone which is really about the economic future of the Illawarra.

MELINDA JAMES: Minister Bowen, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

CHRIS BOWEN: Always a pleasure. Look forward to chatting again maybe when I move to the next steps.

MELINDA JAMES: Yeah, well, we’ll actually await talking to you then. So that’s Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, speaking to me there.