Press conference in Kwinana, Western Australia

MINISTER FOR RESOURCES MADELEINE KING: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the centre of the industrialised world – Kwinana. I’m Madeleine King, the federal Resources Minister and minister for Northern Australia but also the federal member for the electorate of Brand, which takes in the Kwinana industrial area here today.

I am really proud to be here as we are in the shadow of the decommissioning of the Kwinana coal-fired power station behind us now, where we have Kwinana’s batteries factory run by Synergy. It’s a really important part of Western Australia’s decarbonisation journey and, therefore, a really important part of the national story.

I’m really proud to be here today with re-elected Premier Roger Cook, one of my local constituents in Kwinana; Energy Minister, of course, Chris Bowen, from the Federal Government; and Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the member for Fremantle, Josh Wilson. And a particular welcome to Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson – I’ve got my notes here because she’s got a lot of responsibilities – she’s the Minister for Energy, Decarbonisation, Manufacturing, Skills and TAFE in the WA government, and all of those things hit home right here in Kwinana. So, I know Minister Sanderson will now be a regular visitor to the Premier and my hometowns.

So we’ve got some really important announcements here today to do with the batteries and clean energy and the transition for Australia and Western Australia. And with that, I’ll hand over to Minister Bowen. Thank you again very much.

MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AD ENERGY CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks very much, Madeleine. It’s wonderful to be here with Madeleine and Josh and the Premier. Congratulations. And with Amber-Jade, who I met with this morning, already our first meeting as energy ministers, and we are both raring to go to make sure that Western Australia continues to be absolutely central to Australia’s decarbonisation journey and, indeed, a future made in Western Australia and a future made in Australia.

And today we’re making three big announcements for Western Australia. Three announcements which, each of them in their own right are a significant step forward for Western Australian jobs, Western Australian investments and Western Australian carbon reduction.

Firstly, I’m pleased to announce the results of the first Capacity Investment Scheme tender for Western Australia. The capacity investment scheme, a Commonwealth underwriting scheme which, will ensure we get to 82 per cent renewables across Australia, of course, has a special role to play in Western Australia with the separate market, separate grid and will support the efforts of the Western Australian Government.

And Western Australia is one of the world-leading jurisdictions when it comes to big batteries. Here we are at one, and, of course, we’ve been to Collie on several occasions seeing the progress there. Today I’m announcing that the federal government will support four new big batteries in Western Australia at Boddington, at Merredin, at Muchea and at Waroona.

Now, these will support 654 megawatts of capacity. To put that in perspective, we asked for 500 megawatts. Such was the strength of the bid from Western Australian companies that we’ve been able to support 654 megawatts. And this will support 600,000 Western Australian homes for 4 hours.

Now, this is absolutely vital for ensuring reliability of our energy system as we undertake renewable transformation. Importantly, these projects will be scheduled for 2027. Western Australia needs more electricity now – not in 2037 and the 2040s when nuclear plans may or may not actually become a reality – but now. And that’s what we’re getting on with.

And also I just want to say that one of our key assessment criteria is not just energy and value for money but included in value for money, community benefit. And I’m delighted that the communities that will host these batteries will see strong community benefits from the four projects – $145 million in community benefit funding; $712 million in local content; and a $63.5 million boost to local employment in Western Australian economies.

So, of course, we want to see local content across Australia, and more Australian content in the broad. And, of course, local community benefit, community benefit funds supporting local communities. And that’s important.

The second announcement I’m making today is that Western Australia will be home to Australia’s first green hydrogen initiative supported by our very important Hydrogen Headstart program. Hydrogen - green hydrogen, is really the only game in town when it comes to ultimately supporting the Australian and international industries as they move in the longer term to get off gas.

And Australia is one of the few places in the world which can be home to a serious green hydrogen industry. Now, there are some people who celebrate or luxuriate in the difficulties in setting up the green hydrogen industry. It is tough. The economics do need work. This is early stages. There will be setbacks and delays. But that doesn’t make it unimportant – it makes it more important that governments work together to make these projects a reality.

So the projects from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners in Murchison will receive up to $814 million in Hydrogen Headstart support. Importantly, we’ve designed Hydrogen Headstart to support success. So that money will only flow when they are producing. But it enables them to make that important investment decision.

Now, this is a project of Western Australian significance, Australian significance and, frankly, global significance as well – 3,600 construction jobs, 600 ongoing jobs. I’ve heard the Premier say once or twice he supports a future made in Western Australia. This is what it looks like. This is what it means in reality.

And this stage 1 of this project will create 900,000 tonnes of green ammonia which, to put it in context, is equivalent to roughly half the ammonia we produce in Australia from fossil fuels today. Just this one project in green hydrogen replacing half the ammonia from fossil fuels that are produced today.

And, as I said, this is actually a globally significant project as well with 3,600 tonnes a day of green hydrogen. To put it in context, at the moment around the world there are a hundred thousand tonnes of green hydrogen being produced. So this will be noticed not just in Western Australia; this will be noticed by governments and investors around the world, this project. It really confirms Western Australia on the global map when it comes to green hydrogen.

The final announcement – I’m almost there; there’s so much to announce – is that the Albanese Labor government will be supporting Simcoa, Australia’s only silicon producer, in their efforts to decarbonise. And we are funding $39.8 million to see them remove coal from the production of silicon at their facility here in Western Australia. This will reduce their emissions by 89 per cent. It’s the equivalent of taking 30,000 cars off the road. And it will, importantly, ensure security for those jobs because as consumers and investors around the world demand the CD carbonisation plants that are going to continue to invest and buy from companies, companies like Simcoa need to be able to show the world that they are decarbonising.

So this locks in those jobs, 220 jobs there at Simcoa. So this is a good announcement. We need silicon for this transition. It’s vital for solar panels. We want to see a future made in Australia for solar panels, and we want to see Australian silicon being used in that. And we want to see the silicon decarbonised. So I’m delighted that we’re supporting Simcoa in that investment to see their emissions come down by 89 per cent and take coal out.

So that’s probably enough from me for the moment. I’m going to hand to the Premier and then we’ll be back to take questions.

PREMIER ROGER COOK: Thank you very much, Chris. It’s great to be here once again at Kwinana Big Battery. This is the site of where we are really putting rubber on the road when it comes to our clean energy transition. And today represents a giant step forward in our commitment to the transition. This funding from the government under its Capacity Investment Scheme and its Hydrogen Headstart program are absolutely vital as part of Western Australia’s Made in WA plan, but also in terms of our green energy future.

This represents the single biggest step that we will take to ensuring that Western Australia moves forward as part of our community energy transition. What it would do is enable us to be out of coal by 2030. That means that not only will we be the first state in Australia to be completely out of coal; we will be the only state by 2030 to be out of coal. And this is part of our very important mission to ensure that we decarbonise the Western Australian economy, but by becoming a renewable energy powerhouse, particularly through the Murchison project, we will help the economies of the South East Asian region to decarbonise as well.

We are so excited by this announcement today. It represents the next important stage. As you know, we’ve already developed stage 1 and 2 of the Kwinana Big Battery. We’ve got the Collie Big Battery being constructed at the moment with the first stage of that commissioning to take place [indistinct] this year. All around Western Australia at the moment you see green energy projects coming into shape. You see energy storage projects coming onstream. And I’m particularly excited with this announcement around the support for new solar production facilities which will ensure that we continue to build up the resilience of our renewable energy-fuelled stock.

It means cleaner, affordable and reliable energy for WA households and businesses. It means that when people switch on the lights during the day or in the evening they know that they are part of a clean energy revolution which is taking over the world and which Western Australia is a leader of.

This project is massive. This – the first stage alone of the Murchison project, as the minister has just outlined, represents a half of all of Australia’s fossil fuel ammonia production. So that means we are starting to move towards that opportunity to export our ammonia, which is an important next step for a lot of countries that use modern coal-fired power stations because they’ll be able to blend that ammonia into their existing coal-fired power facilities and reduce their emissions immediately. And this is Western Australia not only decarbonising our economy; it’s decarbonising the economies of the rest of the world.

As we know, WA is powering the nation when it comes to our economy. The clean energy transition is an important part of that. And this will create not only thousands of jobs today, it will provide and secure the jobs of the future. So this is continuing to make sure that we’ve got great Western Australian jobs, a resilient economy and we are undertaking our clean energy transition and becoming a renewable energy powerhouse.

I’ll now hand you over to the new Energy Minister, Amber-Jade Sanderson.

WA MINISTER FOR ENERGY AMBER-JADE SANDERSON: Thank you, Premier. Thank you, Minister Bowen. It is very exciting to be here in Kwinana and very much welcoming these announcements by the federal government. We know that it is a partnership that to decarbonise our industry, to decarbonise [indistinct] state and Commonwealth governments have to work together. We’re working together with industry. This is a clear indication and demonstration that the federal government is prepared to do the heavy lifting when it comes to investing into these emerging technologies.

The Murchison investment, particularly green hydrogen, is going to be a significant game changer for green hydrogen around the country, not just in Western Australia. Green hydrogen is an emerging industry and emerging industries need government support. And that’s exactly what the federal government is doing with this industry and will help really supercharge our efforts to decarbonise our economy.

The battery storage facility here is essential to harnessing all of that extra solar power that we generate in Western Australia. Western Australians have taken up solar power with gusto. We have significant amounts in Western Australia and we need to be able to harness that, and that’s what this does.

The announcement around Simcoa is also significant for our manufacturers. The irony is that those parts that are required to produce solar panels are also really heavy emitters in the manufacturing phase. So this is going to ensure that the supply chain for our renewable energies is also decarbonised. Really important announcements. Massive investment from the Commonwealth. That is exactly how we need to work together to decarbonise what is heavy industry and a resources industry economy, with a partnership and investment. And I very much welcome that from the Commonwealth.

I will hand over to you, Minister Bowen, for questions.

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks very much, Amber-Jade. I’m going to take easy questions and the Premier is taking the hard questions. Over to you.

JOURNALIST: You mentioned the difficulties scaling up green hydrogen. Is it just reality that, therefore, it’s hard to put a time line on it and, you know, a target date for scaling up?

CHRIS BOWEN: So we have a National Hydrogen Plan, which has been agreed between the Commonwealth and all the states and territories which does have a – it lays out a roadmap, and actually the indications are that that roadmap is, by and large, consistent with had National Hydrogen Plan, the investment that we’re seeing. Yes, you’re going to have the odd setback, you’re going to have some delays, but still it’s consistent with what’s laid out in the National Hydrogen Plan.

As I said, this is based on success. So we’re scheduling this to start work in 2026-2027 in terms of the next steps. But, as I said at the outset, if you’re serious about helping decarbonise industry, then you’re serious about green hydrogen. I mean, when I talk to my international counterparts – the German minister, for example – the 1, 2 and 3 top items they want to talk about is how Australia is going with green hydrogen, because they want to buy it. And we want to sell it to them. And so this investment is important. I am looking forward to going to Geraldton in a minute to look at the next steps. But this is a good day, a good step forward for Western Australian green hydrogen.

JOURNALIST: Does there need to be a plan B? Is there a plan B if green hydrogen just can’t work, because the science isn’t worked out.

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, the science is worked out.

JOURNALIST: The economics of the science isn’t [indistinct] you’ve said that --

CHRIS BOWEN: The science is very clear. The commercial work has more to do.

JOURNALIST: Yeah.

CHRIS BOWEN: That’s why – that’s why – we’re doing Hydrogen Headstart. That’s why we’re doing the hydrogen tax incentives, because as others have said, when you’ve got an industry starting out from scratch and it’s got great potential benefit for the country, it’s perfectly not just appropriate but vital for governments to lean in and help industry make that a reality.

So that is what we’re doing. And we’re going to keep working on it. Others – by others I mean Peter Dutton – luxuriates when something is hard to do. You know, celebrates when a project is delayed. We say, “Okay, we’ll just get on with it and work together to make these jobs and investment a reality.”

JOURNALIST: What is happening with those other – I think there were those original six Hydrogen Headstart projects - programs. You must be disappointed that some of them [indistinct] may have [indistinct] pulled out?

CHRIS BOWEN: No, it’s not – they haven’t pulled out, but we’ve got a shortlist of six --

JOURNALIST: They’re saying they’re going to be –

CHRIS BOWEN: If you let me finish, I’ll answer the question. We’ve got a shortlist of six. I’m announcing the first successful project today. I’m not making further announcements about other projects, successful or unsuccessful. We are in ongoing discussions with other bidders. But today Murchison is the first cab off the rank that has received our support, been through all the very rigorous process. We don’t do this lightly. The government, the ARENA board puts these projects through very significant paces to ensure it’s going to stack up.

What I am in a position to do is to say Murchison today stacks up and it will get our support. We’ll continue to work with the other projects. Some will work and some won’t. Some will proceed. It’s a shortlist of six. It’s not a final list, right? So it won’t be six final projects. It won’t be zero, it won’t be one. I have further announcements on other days.

JOURNALIST: Is the government open minded to other outside programs and projects coming into that program?

CHRIS BOWEN: So, well, this is round 1 of Hydrogen Headstart. We’re about to launch round 2. So the projects that weren’t successful in round 1 can bid into round 2. Obviously I’d encourage them to sharpen their pencils and put in better bids for round 2 to make sure they make the grade. That’s how a competitive process works – people put in good bids. It might be a great bid. It might not be a the best bid the government has received, so, therefore, we have round 2 to let people have another crack.

JOURNALIST: Do you have a time line on –

CHRIS BOWEN: I’ll go here and then here.

JOURNALIST: Do you have a time line on delivering the four new big batteries?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, yeah – 2027.

JOURNALIST: Just briefly about the election – I’m sorry to bring it up again; I must have asked it a trillion times – but did you believe that you have actually achieved of cutting – your promise of cutting electricity bills by more than $200? The federal election is right - How do you explain the fact that [indistinct] keep running [indistinct] right answer?

CHRIS BOWEN: I’m not in the habit of explaining what the Liberal Party is doing, because that would be a very hard job. They’re – they have no consistency, no internal logic to the positions they take. I mean, look at gas, for example. They’re out there saying, you know, they have a gas policy. Well, they don’t. What we’ve done is deliver. You know, yesterday was the East Coast Gas Statement of Opportunities. We showed that the gas shortages that were going to be as early as this year are now delayed to 2028-2029 because of strong government action, because of the work that Minister King has done, because of the work we’ve all done in the Gas Code of Conduct, for example, which has seen 600 petajoules brought into the system. So that’s what real policy hard work means.

Now, again, it can be a difficult circumstance with global energy prices, which we’ve always acknowledged. You know, modelling in 2021 and 2020 said one thing; we’ve been dealing with different international circumstances since. But the fundamental truth hasn’t changed – more renewable energy means cheaper energy. More renewable energy means more reliable energy.

There hasn’t been a day in the last two years where I and state ministers haven’t been dealing with a coal-fired power station breaking down somewhere in our grid. That’s not reliable. And you can see how much renewable energy we have on a day like today. With the right storage – which is what we’re doing today – we’re going to keep going. We’re going to stay the course. Mr Dutton doesn’t actually really have a policy or a plan. All he’s got is cheap talking points which don’t make any sense.

JOURNALIST: Will you deliver that reduction?

CHRIS BOWEN: We’re not making claims that we can’t back up. But we are saying we’re going to keep going with the plan of reducing more cheap, reliable energy. Mr Dutton will cap renewable energy at 54 per cent. For the last quarter of last year it was 46. He wants to stop at 54. That means basically stopping projects that are – have reached final investment decision today. That is not the right plan for Australia.

So I look forward to that at the next election. You’re asking about the election – fair enough. It will be a real contest. On our side, we believe climate change is real. There are enough climate deniers in 2025 in the federal Liberal and National party to stop climate action. Their plan will see 2 billion tonnes more of carbon, 2 billion tonnes more of carbon, as they keep coal in the grid for longer while they wait for a nuclear fantasy to come online. That’s the key difference. Australian people have a real choice at this election when it comes to climate and energy – a party of government which believes in climate change, believes it’s real and believes action is necessary and also to reduce prices and to see more of the cheaper, more reliable energy in the grid, or the party that doesn’t really believe in climate change, has a nuclear fantasy which costs $600 billion, takes decades to build and will see 2 million more tonnes of carbon in the air and lead to a more unreliable energy system with blackouts. That’s the choice.

JOURNALIST: Minister, I understand several offshore wind developers have pulled out of the federal government’s WA project. Do you have any insight into that? Does that disappoint you? Do you know why that –

CHRIS BOWEN: That’s not the case. I’m pleased to confirm we’ve received four bids for the offshore wind zone off Bunbury. Four is a good number. They are all current and live and performing. I haven’t made a decision about which bid or bids we will support yet. There’s a process that I’m well advanced on but not finalised.

I’m pleased with the level of interest. Four bids is a good number of bids. It shows strong interest in Western Australian offshore wind. Offshore wind, I understand it’s, you know, not without some controversies and there’s people with genuine concerns, which we work through. Hence I reduced the area to take into account the concerns. I worked closely with Don Punch and listened to his concerns that he was raising on behalf of the community. There’s also disinformation out there about offshore wind.

But four bids shows strength, and this is vital. Because the Western Australian heavy industry and economy is growing so fast, so rapidly, Western Australia needs more electricity, and it needs a lot more by 2040. And offshore wind will play a vital role in helping Western Australia create that.

JOURNALIST: Oceanex has pulled out of the plan to build [indistinct] project here in Western Australia. And I understand it [Indistinct] easier to consolidate those projects on the east coast there. There’s increasing doubts over the viability of offshore wind particularly in Western Australia here. Even the WA Premier has said it’s far from a priority here in Western Australia given the additional costs and the problems that come with it. We’ve got lots of space for solar and onshore wind. Like, are you ready to admit particularly here in WA that it’s just a bit of a pipe dream?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I’ve just announced we’ve had four bids. Oceanex didn’t bid. Four other people did. You know –

JOURNALIST: They pulled out.

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, four other very serious international firms are bidding to operate offshore wind in Western Australia. Not all four will get support; there’s not room for all four. I will decide which bid or bids provide the best option for Western Australia 

JOURNALIST: What do you think when you see the WA Premier say it’s far from a priority? Well, Premier, do you want to say –

ROGER COOK: Yeah, sure.

JOURNALIST: You’ve said that it’s so far down the track for priorities for WA, like, what do you have to say to Minister Bowen who’s pushing it?

ROGER COOK: Well, fundamentally this is an offshore wind farm, so it comes under the purview of the Commonwealth. I’ve got no opposition to offshore wind. I think it’s going to be an important part of our overall energy mix. But Western Australia has large tracts of land which, from a Western Australian government point of view, we will – as the regulatory authority associated with that land obviously will be focused on that. But we’ve got absolutely no objection to offshore wind farms, and they’re going to be an important part of what we do. We know that offshore wind an – wind-powered generation has much more reliable fuel  profile, and so from that perspective we know that it’s going to be an important part of building our resilience for the grid.

We had a consultation process in terms of the proposed offshore wind area. That consultation was then responded to by the Commonwealth for a smaller area offshore. That’s an appropriate response to that consultation. I’m excited that the minister has today confirmed that there are four bids in there because that’s going to be an important part of what we do as part of decarbonising our industry in the South West.

Don’t forget, this power is going to come from offshore directly to the South West grid. We don’t have to share it with anyone – it’s going to be WA electricity. And that’s going to be an important part of continuing to build our renewable energy resource base.

Do you want to come back?

JOURNALIST: Is that a priority? Would you say that offshore wind is a bigger priority for some land-based options?

ROGER COOK: Well, I’m just trying to clarify what you mean by a priority. Because we are the ones – we are the regulatory authority in terms of land-based wind generation. So the approvals and things like that. The Commonwealth undertake the approval processes in relation to offshore wind.

JOURNALIST: What do you see coming online first?

ROGER COOK: Well, it’s self-evident. The engineering around an onshore wind-powered generation project is much more simple than an offshore wind-powered generation project. So we expect to see a proliferation, a proliferation of onshore wind and solar projects taking shape over the next five to 10 years.

The announcement today around the Murchison project - can we please be really clear - this is a significant – significant – project. And I’ve been talking to you all over a period of time around our building out of our green energy corridor into the Mid West. I’ve been talking to you about the incredible potential of wind and solar-powered generation in the Mid West and what it will do in terms of hydrogen production, green ammonia production but also in terms of feeding into the South West grid. So this is an exciting announcement today. It’s a massive, giant step forward as part of our green energy, clean energy transition.

JOURNALIST: Premier –

ROGER COOK: Do you want to chat to Chris? He’s only here for a few hours.

JOURNALIST: Minister, both yourself and the Premier have both sort of spruiked emissions reduction of this project you’ve announced today and some others. Do you think it’s time for WA to set its own emissions target?

CHRIS BOWEN: I work with all the states and all their ambitions. I support every state minister in the work that they’re doing. I support Labor and Liberal ministers, frankly, in the work that they’re doing. Our Energy Ministers Council works very well together. I don’t tell states how to do their job. States, in matters that they’re responsible for, when a state minister comes forward with an issue or a problem, I do my best to help them. And I don’t lecture from Canberra about what the right fit is for any particular state. Perth is different to Brisbane. Western Australia is different to New South Wales. Everyone is dealing with different circumstances. Western Australia – I’ll be very frank – Western Australia is a hard state to decarbonise when you’ve got the great swathes of area of the Pilbara to cover when you’ve got the heavy industry there. We’re working together. We’ve committed $3 billion to Rewiring the Nation for Western Australia. That’s not a small amount of money. The projects we’re announcing today will help with that decarbonisation journey. How the Western Australian government plays out its plans is entirely a matter for the Premier and the minister. I will support them in those plans.

JOURNALIST: It must make it harder to navigate reaching your targets, though, if the state government doesn’t have any targets?

CHRIS BOWEN: Not really, because I’ve got – you know, there’s states with different targets across the country. You know, Victoria has a different target to New South Wales in different circumstances. I deal with it. That’s how the federation is meant to work. The Commonwealth plays an overall role, a coordinating role, a role for things we’re constitutionally responsible for. We’re responsible for different parts of the journey, but we’re all on the same journey. We’re all driving towards zero – net zero economy. That’s what we’re doing. And different states will have different paths to get there because of different circumstances. I don’t lecture them about that from Canberra. We get on with it.

JOURNALIST: How were the four sites chosen for the big batteries?

CHRIS BOWEN: A tender process. We had 27 bids. A tender process went through in great detail through AMEO services. Best value for money, including, as I said, community benefit. We make no apologies for saying we want communities that host to benefit. That’s one of the criteria. And then we announced the successful projects out of that very exhaustive tender. That’s why it takes a while to [indistinct].

JOURNALIST: Just to clarify, was it operational by 2027 or construction to start?

CHRIS BOWEN: What we are – we want construction to start virtually immediately and to be producing by 2027.

JOURNALIST: With that technology moving so quickly, is there any danger for communities and companies getting in now?

CHRIS BOWEN: You mean battery technology?

JOURNALIST: Yeah.

CHRIS BOWEN: No. Look, I don’t see it that way. I see it more optimistically. The Premier and I were chatting before about how fast this is moving. You know, you remember all the big controversy about the South Australian battery back in 2016, how it was one of the biggest batteries in the world at that point. It’s now one of the smallest batteries in Australia. Now, that’s how fast this moves. I don’t see that as a bad thing. I see that as a good thing. And the Premier was telling me when the Collie battery was going to be one of the biggest in the world, now it’s even the biggest battery in Collie. That’s strength. That’s a positive thing. We don’t sit around saying, “Oh, this is all moving too fast.” We say, “It’s moving fast. Let’s get in. Let’s get on with it.” Let’s not delay to the 2040s and wait for a technology that’s expensive and slow to build.

JOURNALIST: Minister, would you like to see a decision on the North West Shelf expansion before the election?

CHRIS BOWEN: Minister King might want to add to this remark, but you’re referring, of course, in relation to Mr Dutton’s announcement. This just shows why he’s not fit to be Prime Minister, this bloke. He just doesn’t get it. He’s learned nothing from the disaster of the Morrison government. I remember PEP11, Minister King will remember PEP11, where Scott Morrison so stuffed up the process it was overturned in the court, and this government had to come and fix it up because they showed an apprehended bias in announcing a decision before proper process. That’s what Peter Dutton did yesterday. He has ripped up – he would show he would rip up proper process as Prime Minister all for a political announcement. And he's endangering the process as a result, whether it’s an approval or a disapproval. He’s endangering by playing politics with it. It just shows that he’s not fit for the job. Madeleine?

MADELEINE KING: There’s no doubt the North West Shelf is a really important project for the development of Western Australia and then for the whole country. But what Western Australians expect and, of course, all Australians expect is good government and good government processes. And what we are seeing now when the decision came to the federal sphere in December is the department and Minister Plibersek going through those proper processes. And for Peter Dutton to come out in the last couple of days with his statements is moronic, thoughtless and, frankly, just stupid.

Furthermore, it’s reckless. It endangers any future decision that might be made in relation to this North West Shelf expansion because, as Minister Bowen says, it introduces an idea of apprehended bias that he has made a decision before he’s looked at the evidence. And that is, quite frankly, the worse thing a minister can do or a government can seek to do. And that’s what we will not do. Minister Plibersek and her department will go through what is an extraordinary amount of documentation accumulated over a long time for a really significant project. And it will be done thoughtfully, respectfully and in accordance with the law. That’s all Minister Plibersek is doing.

JOURNALIST: Is there any concern, Minister, that if Labor aren’t seen to kind of match that commitment to fast track approval, you guys can be accused of being anti gas by the Coalition and will bleed votes here in WA?

MADELEINE KING: Well, not at all. Last year I released the future gas strategy, which was the first time any government in this country set out the role gas will play in our transition to net zero and how it will assist our regional neighbours to transition to net zero by 2050. So, you know, clearly, we have gone through an extensive, open consultation process about how that can happen and the role gas will play.

This – I think as I said before, Australians expect proper processes, as well they should, no matter what they think about whether it be gas or any other kind of project. These processes are efficient and, in fact, we have sped up – we have doubled the amount of projects that have gone through. We’ve also halved the time of these approval processes because we’ve invested in the public service to actually do the work whereas under the Scott Morrison government they cut the public service and Peter Dutton wants to do that again. That’s only going to slow down approvals.

So I reject any assertion that the federal government does not support gas. We’ve really clearly laid out the role it plays in our economy, both the Western Australian one but, of course, right around the country.

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct].

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, you’ve had a pretty good go, so any final burning questions?

JOURNALIST: No, thank you.

ROGER COOK: Look, can I just say it’s great to have Chris Bowen here. It’s a really good example of how you have state and federal governments working together on an issue of national significance. Compare this to a situation where you would see a Liberal government at the federal level. It would be a disaster – a disaster for our environment and a disaster for our economy, particularly if you look at the nuclear power fantasy that Peter Dutton has been prosecuting. Quite frankly, they represent a risk to the Western Australian economy, the Western Australian environment and WA jobs. Any questions?

JOURNALIST: What do these announcements today mean for reliability? I think, like, at every big battery announcement people hear that it supplies 600 homes for 4 hours. They wonder what happens in hour 5. What assurance can you give them?

ROGER COOK: Yeah, so that’s one of the reasons why gas will continue to play an important role in building our electricity grid. But, as you see the proliferation of energy storage projects taking place right across the South West grid, you understand how they play an ongoing role in terms of longer term discharge over the course of the evening. And during the election campaign, we announced our important $150 million investment in a vanadium battery out at Kalgoorlie. Now, vanadium as opposed to these lithium ion-based battery systems are very long discharge – about 8 hours. So they, too, will play an important role to ensure that while the sun doesn’t shine, the wind doesn’t blow, particularly in the course of the evening, that you have this ongoing discharge of energy which has been stored up over the course of the day.

JOURNALIST: But it’s not ongoing after 4 hours.

ROGER COOK: Well, see, it is. So what you’ve have, for instance, is the Kwinana Big Battery discharging the first 4 hours. Now, as that starts to run down then you bring another battery back on. So it’s a matter of orchestrating all these energy storage projects to ensure that you’ve got consistent supply throughout the course of the day.

JOURNALIST: Will there be enough by 2030 to take over from coal and ensure that continuity of supply?

ROGER COOK: Look, we are very confident that we'll have energy stability in our South West grid by 2030 to ensure that we can get out of coal. Because there’s two reasons for that: one, because Western Australia has a reliable source of gas, which is important [Indistinct] fuel in terms of renewable electricity systems. But, two, because we are confident of the number of renewable projects that are either in planning, construction and commissioning phases today. And, of course, you’ll see the building out of our whole transition system to ensure that not only will WA households benefit from the energy transition but companies can decarbonise their industrial processes. And you can see the decarbonisation of the overall Western Australian economy.

But there’s more work to be done. We understand that. And we’ll continue to do that. But you’re already starting to see as part of our program coal-fired power stations being switched off today. We switched off one in September last year. Ultimately it will be retired permanently in April, next month. And that program will continue.

JOURNALIST: The Greens would like your government to back date the rebate and the low interest loan scheme for home batteries. Is that something you’ll consider?

ROGER COOK: Look, we addressed this issue during the election campaign. And as I said, we have two ambitions: one, that we can bring this program on sooner than the 1st of July if that, if that is possible. And, two, to continue to work with the industry to understand their pressures at the moment while they wait for the scheme to get up. But let’s be honest here – the industry is about to enjoy the biggest injection of revenue and commercial activity they’ve ever seen. And they are about to be on the cusp of an extraordinary period of growth as WA households take advantage of our household battery scheme and really enjoy the benefits not only of rooftop solar but of home-based battery storage. And, therefore, they also get around about a $1500 per year bonus or cut to their electricity.

JOURNALIST: On the batteries scheme –

ROGER COOK: Yeah, sure.

JOURNALIST:  Is that like a bit of an attempt to move towards weaning off the public for ongoing energy subsidies? Is that a [indistinct]?

ROGER COOK: No, not at all. I want to be really clear in relation to this – everyone tends to write off rooftop solar. What we know is at the moment the proliferation of rooftop solar in WA households represents the equivalent of two new small gas-fired power stations a year. It is a significant grid-scale project in its own right.

But the opportunity to plug a lot of WA households into our South West grid through either stand-alone battery power – battery storage or battery storage which is integrated into the grid itself represents a significant opportunity to continue to build out the stability, the reliability and resilience of our south west grid.

Of course, what it does as well is it gives Western Australian households an opportunity to back themselves, to make sure that they enjoy immediate saving in terms of their electricity bills but also to be part of the great clean energy revolution which is taking over our state.

JOURNALIST: Premier, what do you make of the front page of Crush yesterday? Was it funny?

ROGER COOK: I didn’t see the front page of Crush. I remember when I was in high school and university I used to think it was the funniest thing in the world. Perhaps I’m getting a bit old and jaded; nowadays I find the jokes maybe a little bit young for me. But I understand there was a comment in relation to the Prime Minister or the President of Israel Netanyahu yesterday which caused offence. I understand that the student guild of WA have decided to issue a public apology]. That is the appropriate response.

JOURNALIST: Is satire too dangerous a proposition nowadays?

ROGER COOK: Well, what we do know is that political satire has its place in the world. We do know that when it lands in the middle of a time of heightened anxiety and tensions that is when it often falls flat. Maybe it fell flat yesterday.

JOURNALIST: Premier, you talked about the benefits for households and consumers with the transition and increasing renewables. What about Synergex? It’s obviously going through some difficult financial times. What are the implications for Synergex?

ROGER COOK: Look, Synergex is a government trading enterprise. They’re responsibility for undertaking their activities on a commercial basis unless the government decides otherwise. Now, our overall energy grid is significantly subsidised by the government. That includes our tariffs to ensure that people living in regional WA claim the same tariffs as people living in the metropolitan area. It includes making sure that the overall impact of power prices does not negatively impact households and businesses. So they’ll continue to be subsidised in the normal manner of things.

JOURNALIST: The WAEC is still counting. You know, I think Albany and Warren-Blackwood today, Churchlands was resolved yesterday. But it’s really left the opposition, in particular, in limbo. I mean, is it frustrating?

ROGER COOK: Well, look, we’re all frustrated by the speed of the count and we’re all anticipating the outcome of the election. We want to get those votes counted as quickly as possible. And WAEC are doing their best and we very much look forward to seeing the results so we can get on. I mean, the swearing in of the government took place yesterday. That would ordinarily have been last Wednesday. You know, so we’re all a bit frustrated by that, but we’re very much looking forward to seeing the results resolved over the coming days and weeks.

JOURNALIST: Christine Tonkin conceded last night. Are you expecting Basil Zempilas to be the new Liberal leader?

ROGER COOK: Well, that’s a question for the Liberal Party, and I’ll leave it up to them to make that decision. Christine did a great job. I think you all wrote her off. I think a lot of people wrote her off, and we all saw how Basil Zempilas’s campaign fell flat –

JOURNALIST: Premier, did you –

ROGER COOK:  – one because of the arrogance of the Liberal Party and how they treated the people of Churchlands and, two, because of the great work that Christine Tonkin did as a local member.

JOURNALIST: Did you write Christine Tonkin off, Premier? We didn’t see you have any appearances with her during the campaign or anything of that sort. It was quite close in the end. Did you miss it there?

ROGER COOK: No, I actually launched her campaign. We were involved in the Churchlands campaign. And, you know, when I was there what I saw right across the room were a whole range of community activists and people involved in the Churchlands community supporting Christine because they know what a great job she did for them to continue to make Churchlands a great place to live.

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] renewables, quickly, sorry.

ROGER COOK: Yes.

JOURNALIST: You said you’ll be working with industry, but also kind of said they’re about to get a big injection. Is that your way – polite way – to say suck it up until these rebates come out?

ROGER COOK: No, it’s about saying, look, we understand that they’re struggle at the moment because there’ll be a period of time until our household battery scheme comes into play. But then we obviously know that they’ll be very busy and they’ll need workers, they’ll need people to continue to demand that will come from our household battery [indistinct].

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] customers met with yourself and Tony Buti yesterday. What is your government going to do for that group?

ROGER COOK: Well, in the very first instance I undertook to write to the Commonwealth and ASIC directly to ascertain the solvency of Inspired Homes. We hear that Inspired Homes continues to delay and push away a whole range of deadlines, some of them deadlines that were imposed by the courts. So we really have to ask a serious question around capacity of Inspired Homes to build the houses. Now, we’re assured by Inspired Homes that they are solvent. So, if that’s the case, I urge them and I’m saying again – please, finish those people’s homes. They’ve signed contracts with you in good faith, some as far back as September 2020. Please, finish those homes. Get them done, let these people get on with their lives and put a roof over their heads.

JOURNALIST: Have you had comments from them? Have you spoken directly with them?

ROGER COOK: No, I haven’t spoken directly.

JOURNALIST: I’ve got two more. I’ll be as quick as I can. New population figures out today, up 1.7 per cent nationally but 2.5 per cent in WA. Is this sustainable?

ROGER COOK: Look, we know that people want to come and live in Western Australia. It’s because we’ve got an amazing economy. You know, this is an incredible place to live and we want to welcome people to WA to be part of this great WA family and the great economic engine room and powerhouse that we are. But that obviously puts pressure on housing. It puts pressure on schools. It puts pressure on hospitals as people come here and enjoy the benefits of living in our great community. That’s why we’ve invested so heavily in infrastructure, in services to continue to make WA the greatest state in Australia to live. I love saying that in front of the news.

JOURNALIST: Last one. Not as happy a question, apologies – but a 14-year-old kid got off scot-free for assaulting a police officer. Isn’t that the point of mandatory sentencing? And it also was the point behind your election promise for a tougher sentencing of social media boasting. That was an example that was used during the campaign, that case. When will those laws come online, and does the courts need to get on board?

ROGER COOK: We’ll bring those laws in as soon as possible. But can I just say that I was disgusted by the activities of those young people and the fact that they would assault a police officer, as the Police Commissioner said, an assault on a police officer is an assault on our society. They stand up for the values of social and community safety. If you attack a copper, you are attacking everyone. And so I welcome the decision by the commissioner, Police Commissioner, to work with the Director of Public Prosecutions to see if we can appeal that particular sentence. It seems light. I don’t think it meets the pub test, and I don’t think it meets community expectations.

JOURNALIST: Is it a worry for you at a time when you’re trying to recruit more officers from overseas, interstate that you have an incident like this that’s so high profile, so shocking and there are no consequences in our court system?

ROGER COOK: Well, we know that the police department at the moment is looking at a very large number of applications for people coming to work with them [indistinct]. They know that it’s a great police force, a very perspective one and that the police force can provide them with all manner of experiences, both career and in life. So it’s a great job. It’s an amazing career, but it’s a tough job. It’s a tough job. They work on the frontline every day of the week. Sometimes it’s a very confronting and dangerous situations that they meet.