Press conference with Anja Hajduk, State Secretary of Germany in Brisbane, QLD

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, today is a great day for Australia, a great day for Germany, a great day for Australia's hydrogen future. Two announcements today. Firstly, I want to welcome Anja Hajduk, the State Secretary of the Republic of Germany, to Australia. A very welcome guest, a very honoured guest, and Germany and Australia are key partners, and today we're taking our partnership to a new level. Today, Anja and I have signed Australia's participation in the H2Global initiative. H2Global initiative is Germany investing in Australian hydrogen, and matched by the Australian government. $660 million Australian Joint Partnership, which will see projects being able to bid in for support from the Australian and German governments. Now, these projects will develop green hydrogen and green hydrogen-related projects. They'll inevitably be in Australia's regions, most notably in Queensland, but spread around Australia as we become, and seek to become, Germany's indispensable partner when it comes to green hydrogen.

Germany is the industrial powerhouse of Europe, and Germany knows it needs to decarbonise as the industrial powerhouse of Europe, and we're here to help. And green hydrogen is the way Germany is choosing to decarbonise, but as Anja herself has said, it can only make 50 per cent maybe of the green hydrogen you need, we can make the rest and help you. So, this partnership will see the development of Australian green hydrogen. The Albanese government believes Australia's green hydrogen future is strong and so does the Scholz government, which is indicated by this partnership. There are some who say the industry is dead, they're wrong. The industry is thriving and has a great future. We've also signed a broader climate partnership of cooperation today, an elevated partnership which builds on the work we're doing, and also today I'm releasing Australia's new National Hydrogen Strategy, agreed with the states and territories unanimously. Ministers for Climate Change and Energy, Labor, Liberal and Green, are coming together to sign off on this Strategy via the framework, the certainty investment, the investment certainty for Australia's renewable energy investors and green hydrogen investors going forward. So, a very good day, good day for Queensland, good day for Australia, good day for Germany. Anja, I'm going to invite you to say a few words and then we'll take questions.

ANJA HAJDUK: Thank you. Thank you very much, Chris, for welcoming us to Brisbane and for the excellent cooperation that we share with your government. Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck sends his regards and regrets that he wasn't able to follow the invitation to attend the APAC Hydrogen Summit himself. Australia is a key partner, as you mentioned, for Germany in our shared pursuit of climate neutrality, advancing the energy transition and driving the growth of the hydrogen industry. With the energy and climate partnership that we are expanding today, we are looking forward to deepening our successful collaboration over the past years and work even more closely in the future. Focus areas of this partnership are hydrogen, energy efficiency and the net zero transition, climate action and international climate cooperation as well as energy security. Within this partnership, we utilise H2Global as an instrument to support industry in both Australia and Germany with a market ramp-up of renewable hydrogen. I'm extremely pleased that the interest in collaboration was underlined by a German business delegation that has travelled to Gladstone this week and has attended the APAC Hydrogen Summit. Australia and Germany, we are like-minded nations that can and should seize opportunities to contribute to achieving our climate targets and decarbonise our industry. So, I'm very, very happy that we have, that we could have signed these negotiations and finished these negotiations today. So, many thanks to you, Chris, we are key partners and we will stay key partners. Thanks.

CHRIS BOWEN: Danke schön. Questions?

JOURNALIST: For the Germany counterpart. Just asking, currently in Germany, how much is hydrogen, how much hydrogen do you use and how much are you expecting to need by 2030 from Australia?

ANJA HAJDUK: So, the most important thing, what I have mentioned in my keynote yesterday, is that hydrogen is of course, a very, very important question of the future energy supply. And Germany, as a strong industrial place in Europe, has the demand of imports round about 50 to 70 per cent in future, we have to import and cannot make on ourselves, and therefore this partnership is so important. So, I cannot tell you today what is the part of, the Australian part of the import, but we strongly rely on the hydrogen power of Australian future.

JOURNALIST: And just a few questions for you, Minister. It's mentioned that this partnership will rely on auctions between the two countries. What exactly does that mean?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, what it means is that potential projects in Australia will bid in for support, and they'll need to have a good bid. And then the Australian and German governments will collaborate on determining which projects we want to support and we will go through the bids, work out what presents the best value for money, the best opportunities for the development of Australian industry, and they'll receive the ongoing support through the contracts review for its regime. So, that's what the auction looks like, it's really an application process. Best-quality bids get the support from the governments.

JOURNALIST: And this is the first time we've sort of had a partnership at this level?

CHRIS BOWEN: At this level. Australia and Germany have - have partnerships together through the HySupply and HyGATE initiatives. The German government has supported Australian green hydrogen in Townsville and Illawarra, but this is much bigger. This is a brand new, much bigger partnership.

JOURNALIST: And is there any green hydrogen being produced at a commercial scale in Australia at the moment?

CHRIS BOWEN: Not at a commercial scale yet. This is why we're working hard to bring it. There are good projects, there's one in my electorate in Horsley Park. Green hydrogen electrolyser has already been built in Gladstone. I've been there twice and seen the production, so it's already happening, but we're not there yet. That's why we have to work together to make it a strong commercial reality around the world.

ANJA HAJDUK: May I add, as I mentioned, the business delegation went to Gladstone two days ago with off-taker, with an off-taker mentality. So, that is important for you, that you can start here, and that was very, very important that company leaders from Germany came to visit Australia to make it happen.

JOURNALIST: Is it possible to scale an industry to produce a million tonnes in nearly half a decade for Australia?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes, and let's be frank, Australia's done this before. We did this with the LNG industry. You know, it's been done before. Billions of dollars of investment to develop an LNG industry. So, with private sector and governments working together, it can be done. It's not easy, and with any big change like this, you're going to have the odd setback, the odd change in program times. But with a pipeline of more than $200 billion of investment, with a quarter of it already operating or under construction, this is, this is a reality.

JOURNALIST: When you mentioned those setbacks, there have been delays in the industry for quite some time. Is that going to be a problem going forward?

CHRIS BOWEN: No. I mean, as I said, you've got one or two projects which have been delayed. There'll be projects which don't proceed, which people have planned on, and then when they look at it closely, it doesn't work. That's how you build an industry. Not everything that everyone thinks of at all times happens, but the vast bulk of it does. With the $200 billion pipeline of investment, Australia is the green hydrogen capital of the world. We have competitors, but we have the potential to be the capital. And it's happening now, it just needs more nurturing and a nurturing environment from the governments. That's what the Queensland government's doing, the Australian government's doing, the German government's doing.

JOURNALIST: Do you see a closer proximity? Like, obviously, this deal is incredible, but is there possible partnerships in the works for countries closer to proximity to Australia?

CHRIS BOWEN: Oh look, we have ongoing discussions. Every country takes a different approach, obviously key partners there are Japan and South Korea. I've had discussions with them. They are interested in a hydrogen future, they're also looking at their options across the board. We will continue to work with those countries. Today is about Germany, and the thing about hydrogen is you don't need to be neighbours. When you make the hydrogen, put it on a ship, it's not that expensive to get it to Europe. That means the economics work. Australia and Germany aren't neighbours. We're the best of friends.

JOURNALIST: And just a really quick one, off topic. Chocolate manufacturers Nestle and Cadbury say energy costs jumped by 30 per cent and gas even higher, which they have had to pass on to customers. Does this show your energy policy is sort of hurting Australians?

CHRIS BOWEN: No, it shows the challenge in a global energy market with energy prices up in every country in the world, energy prices are up, the impact of various global factors. But it shows also the need to keep going with the plan to get more renewables, the cheapest form of energy in the system, backed by storage, backed by transmission, backed by gas peaking. That's the right play for Australia.

JOURNALIST: How do you see the future of the hydrogen industry next five or ten years?

CHRIS BOWEN: Future of the hydrogen industry? Strong, bright, great for Australia, great jobs for Australia's regions, great partnerships with countries around the world, most particularly our friends in Germany. We want to be the indispensable partner for Germany. We want to be indispensable to the green hydrogen supply chain, and I believe we will. Okay, thank you.