Press conference with Anne Stanley MP, Western Sydney

ANNE STANLEY: Welcome, everybody, to the seat of Werriwa, and particularly the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Minister Bowen, to announce this cost-saving policy for us today. And it’s going to be wonderful for all of the people who live in our part of the world, but particularly in Western Sydney. So thank you all for joining us. Minister, would you like to say something?

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks, Anne. It’s great to be here in your wonderful community and also with Tu Le, the Labor candidate for Fowler. Well, what’s good for the planet is good for your pocket. And one in three Australians are thinking about an electric vehicle as their next car. But there are still challenges. One of the challenges is the upfront cost. Families making the decision, wanting to reduce their running costs, but obviously concerned about the upfront cost of an EV. And our government is, of course, focused laser like on cost of living pressures on families doing it tough, particularly those on low and middle incomes.

So today we’re announcing a new scheme to help families with an income below $100,000 a year and essential workers – healthcare workers, first responders – to have the choice of an EV as their next purchase. In partnership between the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Commonwealth Bank, this program will be available for Australians with an income below $100,000 or essential frontline workers even with an income above $100,000 of low interest finance – 5.4 percent finance for an electric vehicle with a loan up to $55,000.

Now, increasingly we are seeing more and more cars available, electric cars available for less than $55,000. It used to be the case that that wasn’t – they weren’t available. But increasingly we’re seeing them come into the market, and we’re going to see even more with our new vehicle efficiency standards which come into force on the 1st of January providing Australians with more choice. It’s all about choices – choices for the planet, choices for the pocket.

I was talking to Salik, a nurse from Liverpool Hospital, just before who’s here with us today, who bought his BYD electric vehicle a bit more than 12 months ago, and he was telling me about the cost savings each and every year. His car will pay for itself because electricity is cheaper for him to run than his old petrol car, and that’s what it’s all about. People like Salik who want to make a contribution to reducing emissions but just as importantly want to make a contribution to improving their own finances. And this provides, as I said, like a laser, an opportunity for low and middle-income earners, for essential workers to have more choice when they’re coming to choose their next car.

And it accompanies our new vehicle efficiency standards, our rollout of Driving the Nation to get more fast charging across the country so people know that there’ll be a fast charger there when and if they need it, if they get an electric vehicle. But this is an important step forward.

So I want to thank the Commonwealth Bank for their partnership, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. I’m go to ask Matt Hobbs from the Motor Traders Association to say a few words. Then we’ll take questions, and Salik is also happy to talk about his experience as a nurse from Western Sydney with his electric vehicle, a choice we want to make available to more people.

So Matt and over to questions.

MATT HOBBS: Thank you very much, Minister. Well, it’s a great day today. We really welcome this announcement because we’ve got the fuel efficiency standard coming in on the 1st of January, and this is the carrot that helps get people into cars and buying them. But, really importantly, it’s not just about new cars; it’s used cars as well. So we’re really excited to be working with government on policies that are both carrot and stick to make the transformation for fuel efficient cars move at a greater rate than it has in the past.

So, Minister, thank you very much for the announcement. We look forward to working with you and the government in the future in relation to more policies in relation to fixing cars and getting consumers into cars.

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks very much, Matt. We have journos on the phones. I might take questions on this announcement first and then matters of the day. So over to you.

JOURNALIST: Hi, Ben Westcott from Bloomberg here. Just on this announcement, it’s with the Commonwealth Bank at this stage. Have you seen interest from other banks to replicate this announcement or is it only CommBank?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, this announcement is with the Commonwealth Bank, but, of course, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is rolling out a range of initiatives with various financial service providers, including under our Home Energy Upgrade Fund. We’ve announced several of those. I might give you a little hint – we’ve more coming quite soon. But this is the announcement we’re making today, and this has been the focus of the CEFC’s work at this point.

Other questions on this?

JOURNALIST: Minister, Peter Dutton was announcing his nuclear policy, he was critical of the government target on EVs, saying it’s impossible to reach these sorts of numbers that you have planned for. Is this the sort of policy that you would consider would encourage, you know, growth of Australians to take up EVs?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, let me make a couple of points in response to that. Firstly, every time Peter Dutton opens his mouth about energy he underlines that he doesn’t understand what he’s talking about. He said in making that announcement in a rather weird justification of nuclear power that you can’t charge a battery and a car at the same time. Well, I notice on social media plenty of people with home batteries and electric vehicles pointing out that that is just fundamentally untrue. He just doesn’t get it.

In relation to their modelling, the way they have pretended that nuclear is cheaper is by pretending we’ll need 40 percent less energy by 2050. Now, here’s the hit – big surprise – if you reduce your energy output by 40 percent, yes, you can reduce your costs. That is not – that is not a way to cheaper energy; that’s a way to less electricity. And to justify that they say, “Oh, Australians might not buy as many EVs.”

Well, we believe in choice for Australians. We believe one in three Australians are thinking about an EV as their next car. But it’s not just about EVs. To justify his fantasy Peter Dutton and Ted O’Brien have assumed less heavy industry, they’ve assumed no data centres, no artificial intelligence operations in Australia. I mean, this is a highly risky proposition, this assumption that Australia will need 40 percent less energy than the Australian Energy Market Operator predicts that we might.

We want more choices for Australians. We want more heavy industry, more jobs, more manufacturing and a Future Made in Australia. We want an economy that’s based on strength. They, by their own admission with their modelling, want an economy that is weaker and poorer.

Anything else?

JOURNALIST: Not on EVs, if we can?

CHRIS BOWEN: On EVs?

JOURNALIST: Not on EVs.

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, anything more on this, and then we can move on? Okay, I’ll take it as a wrap on this.

JOURNALIST: I have one more just very quickly.

CHRIS BOWEN: Sure, you’re right.

JOURNALIST: With the election of the Trump administration in the US there’s going to be a lot of distortions to the international EV market, probably a lot of incentives [indistinct] due to the [indistinct] for EVs in Australia?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I mean, other countries will make their choices. Some countries are putting tariffs on. Australia is not. So far as I’m concerned we want Australians to have more choices of cheaper cars. And we want – we trust Australians to make the choices they want to with their next vehicle, whether it’s a more efficient petrol car or a hybrid or an electric car. I was chatting to BYD just a moment ago, the new Shark hybrid ute, an impressive ute, 5,000 sales at this point. They’ve been on sale for a little while. People who say that there’s no choices for utes are wrong. We’ll see what other countries do. Our policies are that we focus on the needs of Australians, and that is more choices of cheaper to run, better cars.

Okay, matters of the day. Over to you.

JOURNALIST: Minister Burke has approved a new ministerial direction to change the way international students are processed. Is this a lever to enforce those international student caps without legislation?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes, and I’ll let Minister Burke and Minister Clare, of course, to make any further detailed comments, but the government tried to legislate a more sensible approach to international education. The Opposition, who pretends to care about immigration numbers, voted against that. So, of course, ministers and the government have to consider other ways of getting it done. A ministerial direction is another way of getting this done.

JOURNALIST: How badly do we have to rein in international student numbers?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, there’s a balance to be struck. We believe in a strong international education sector. It’s good for the economy. It’s good for the individuals. It’s good for Australia’s long-term geopolitical interests. But we also believe in a carefully managed immigration system, including temporary immigration. International education is a big part of that. Minister Burke has had to do this to get that system under control, as Australians would expect. Minister Burke has acted appropriately. Peter Dutton has acted inappropriately by pretending to care about immigration numbers and then voting with the Greens to stop the government’s legislative agenda.

JOURNALIST: Minister Bowen, Clare Armstong from Newscorp. You raised cost and feasibility concerns costs about nuclear energy yesterday. There’s been an ALP instagram interview, video, rather, posted attacking nuclear energy featuring Dr Margaret Beavis an anti war health advocate who was also a past Greens candidate in Victoria. She warned no level of radiation is safe and there are cancer risks and heart attack. She’s also previously been against AUKUS. Has the government been presented with evidence of these health claims? And if not, is this just scaremongering health campaign Australians will be getting from Labor at the next election?

CHRIS BOWEN: I think I'll take that as a leading question, Clare. We are up for a debate on nuclear and all its elements. Now, you’re right – Peter Dutton released his costings last year, and they’ve fallen apart. They’ve fallen apart in less than a week because they are false costings. They make wrong assumptions, they are an exercise to try and make nuclear look cheaper when it’s not. And he has been exposed for that, and every serious energy economist in the country has called that out. And, of course, we will continue to focus on that. We’re also up for a conversation about nuclear. Nuclear – one of the reasons nuclear is so expensive is because the regulations to make it safe have to be so exhaustive. So if Mr Dutton is sensitive and doesn’t want to talk about nuclear, he’s slogan used to be it’s time to talk nuclear, we’re happy to. He’s not.

JOURNALIST: But can I ask have you had more evidence of health –

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Dr Beavis is a medical doctor, and she’s expressed a view, and that’s part of the debate. The matter of health and various forms of energy is a matter of public record.

Any others – yes?

JOURNALIST: Sorry, yes, this is Isabel from the ABC again. Just if I can on the Bali story, two men have been linked to the bombings have been released from Guantanamo Bay. Is that a concern with the recent [indistinct] and does that damage our relationship with the US?

CHRIS BOWEN: No, I wouldn’t regard it as damaging the relationship with the US. Countries make decisions about these matters. I’m not going to comment on the details of the matter. We obviously have a strong working relationship with the United States, and that will continue.

JOURNALIST: Clare from Newscorp again on another issue. On the weekend we had the Australian hospitalised and Fiji opening again after the alcohol posioning and Smartraveller updated their advice saying Australians should look out for drink spiking and also methanol. Fijian authorities are a bit upset that we [indistinct] that country and [indistinct] found methanol as part of this case. I guess what’s your response in terms of the message for Australians about visiting in places like Fiji and Thailand?

CHRIS BOWEN: It’s not just about Fiji. I think it is a reminder, plus the tragic events that happened in recent weeks where young Australians who’ve been travelling in the region. It’s a reminder to everyone. If any good can come out of these terrible incidents to be careful, particularly when overseas. Particularly young people, you know, having a great time, travelling, gap year, backpacking, whatever it may be. But it can be a dangerous world out there.

Now, our Smartraveller advice will always be based on the best interests of Australians. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will always give their very best advice to Australians. Now, that will sometimes be a little bit controversial, but that’s the right approach to take. Fiji are very key partners and friends of Australia, but the Smartraveller advice will always be based on the best evidence and advice as to what Australians need to look out for when enjoying themselves overseas.