Interview with Sally Sara, ABC Radio National Breakfast

SALLY SARA: Well, Chris Bowen is the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and joins me now. Minister, welcome back to Breakfast.

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks, Sally. Thanks for having us on.

SALLY SARA: We just heard your colleagues say that nothing is off the table. What options are you considering around Tomago?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, look, we've been in discussions with Rio and the New South Wales Government for some time. It's no secret that these conversations have been underway. I'm not going to negotiate through you, Sally, but we've made clear we are willing, have been willing all the way through to talk to Rio about what might be possible. And that offer remains. Yesterday, the Tomago management, primarily owned by Rio, announced that they would be consulting with their workers about the future. Very clearly, that's deeply concerning. But very clearly, as they said yesterday, they have not made a final decision. That means nothing should be left on the table to see if there is a sensible arrangement that can be reached.

SALLY SARA: Pat Conroy was using the term constructive partner. Have you found Tomago Aluminium and Rio Tinto to be constructive partners on this issue?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, obviously we would have liked an arrangement to have been entered into by now, but that hasn't been possible. But we'll continue to engage constructively. I'm not here to engage in blame. Pat is right that Tomago does have responsibilities to the community that has supported it for the last 40 years. But we're not interested in a blame game here. We're interested in sitting down with constructive and willing partners in the best interests of the workers and the best interests of a strong industrial pipeline of projects for Australia.

SALLY SARA: In your view, has Rio Tinto been investing enough capital for Tomago Aluminium to have a long-term future?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, look, it's a very old plant. You know, it is more than 40 years old, which is, you know, in the terms of these things, it's not cutting-edge international technology. But again, I'm not here to start pointing fingers and saying they should have done this or should have done that. I'm here to say, as Tomago Management said yesterday, we fully acknowledge energy prices are a huge issue, 40 per cent of the cost of the operation. They've made clear, and to quote them; "there's uncertainty about when renewable projects will be available of the scale we need."

So, they're not saying they need less renewables, they're saying they need more renewables. We agree with that. There's a choice before the Parliament, the Australian people and these things. One side says more renewables, the other side says less. Tomago's saying we needed more. We agree, but that doesn't solve the immediate challenge today and tomorrow and next month of the discussions with Tomago.

SALLY SARA: Tomago says there's significant uncertainty about when renewable projects will be available at the scale that it needs. Is that a vote of no confidence in how the energy transition is being managed right now?

CHRIS BOWEN: That's the quote I just read to you, Sally. And I agree, we need more renewable projects and we are making progress. I mean, last month was the first month in Australian history where we got more electricity from renewables than coal in our main grid. That's no small thing and it's the result of a lot of hard work. And if you look at AEMO's connection scorecard just released over the last couple of days, you know, 56.6 gigawatts of generation and storage through 275 projects in the pipeline, 82 per cent of the NEM generated capacity. That's what that equates to. Or they say 23.2 gigawatts of early-stage projects that are finalising contracts are under construction. That's up 43 per cent on last year.

So we are making really good progress, but we do have more to do. You know, as I've said, it is not inevitable or easy or straightforward, but we are making good progress, and I'm determined to keep that progress going.

SALLY SARA: You're listening to Radio National Breakfast. My guest is the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen. What are your principles when deciding which private enterprises deserve taxpayer-funded support?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Tim Ayres has made that clear as the Industry Minister. It goes to strategic importance, regional importance and the long-term viability. You know, sometimes a facility can be temporarily facing challenges, but you can see that in the long term, when they get through those challenges, they will be viable. So it's about those, I think primarily those three things, and you know, these matters are considered carefully the Cabinet, the Industry Minister leads the conversation and we all provide appropriate input. But you are right, there does need to be a principled approach and that's certainly the approach we've taken, and we've shown in the instances in recent weeks, that where there's willing partners and where those strategic interests are served, then we will take the appropriate action.

SALLY SARA: On the EPBC, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, there's been a lot of discussions about fast-tracking elements of these reforms. Can you reach the rollout of renewables needed without the fast-tracking provision?

CHRIS BOWEN: It'll be a lot easier with the EPBC Act fixed. There's no question about that that and that's why it's important that Parliament – one of the reasons, it's important that the Parliament comes together to support Minister Watt in these important reforms. And, you know, you could say similar about housing. We have a big agenda, and it would be easier and better to reach our agenda, to reach our targets, if we had a planning system fit for purpose. That is not automatic approvals, but it is fast consideration, fast yes or no. Some projects are getting through the system quickly. Minister Watt and Minister Plibersek have both done an excellent job of approving renewables within the constraints that they have under the law.

Now, only 20 per cent of Australia's renewable projects come to the Commonwealth for approval under the planning system, but that 20 per cent is very important. So I do want to see further progress on the EPBC Act. Murray's doing a sterling job of trying to engineer that through the Parliament, but he needs a pathway. We do not have the majority support in the Senate. That means we need other parties to come together in a constructive way. I have some quiet confidence that we can do that, but there's a long way to go yet.

SALLY SARA: Just finally, on the revamped website for the Bureau of Meteorology we've had state premiers, some suggesting that the new format could put lives at risk in disaster situations. Your ministerial colleague Murray Watt has hauled the Bureau in for a please explain, but the Bureau says it's received overwhelmingly positive feedback over 18 months of consultation. What's gone wrong here?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I think Minister Watt's made clear that it's not gone to his satisfaction as the responsible minister. The Bureau – to be honest, I've seen the reports. The Bureau clearly has work to do in that it has lost community confidence in the new website. Minister Watt has made his expectations clear. It's a good minister doing his job.

SALLY SARA: Chris Bowen, thank you.

CHRIS BOWEN: Good on you.