Press conference in Smithfield, Sydney

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, thanks for coming out, everyone. It's been eight days since Peter Dutton released his nuclear policy. And it's clearer than ever what a massive risk nuclear energy provides for Australia's energy future and Mr Dutton's policy in particular. Over the last eight days, it's been clear that the modelling and details that he and Mr O'Brien have produced have fallen apart at every single examination. Energy experts and economists have been clear in their views that the work underpinning Mr Dutton's nuclear scheme is just not up to scratch. And that provides a risk because they are assuming that Australia will need less electricity in the future. They're assuming that Australia's economy will be smaller. They're assuming that Australian heavy industry will leave. And that provides a massive risk to energy reliability because we'll be relying on unreliable coal-fired power for longer and it provides a risk to the Australian economy.

And when he released the policy, Mr Dutton asked for bipartisanship, which was always a bit of a joke, but it's particularly a joke when you consider that he hasn't even been able to deliver his own party. He wants bipartisanship. He can't even get his own party to support it. The Queensland Government has made clear they don't want their two nuclear reactors. The Northern Territory administration has made clear that they're not interested. And yesterday we saw Matt Canavan. I have plenty of disagreements with Matt Canavan, but he sometimes calls it as it is. And yesterday he made it clear that this was a political fix from the Liberal Party. It was only about politics and it had not a sensible role to play in fixing Australia's energy needs. We had four gigawatts of dispatchable power leave the grid when Mr Dutton was in office and only 1 gigawatt come on. This Labor government has been fixing that. We've had more renewable energy connected this year than any other year in Australian history. And that's a good thing.

So, Mr Dutton apparently is releasing his reshuffle tomorrow. When he's up and about tomorrow, he would do well to answer some key questions that he's failed to answer about his nuclear policy. Given nuclear is the most expensive form of energy available, can he actually guarantee it will reduce energy prices? Will he stop lying about the modelling, which actually makes no claims about energy prices, even though he claims a 44 per cent reduction? What will he say to the one in three Australians who have rooftop solar, given that his modeller, Mr Price, has admitted during the week that the modelling is based on nuclear being forced into the grid ie. forcing solar out. In relation to the seven sites, what is the cost of the compulsory acquisition? Given the owners of those sites have said they're not interested, what cost will that be and is that factored into their costs? And will he close down the new renewable energy jobs that are being created there as we speak? These are just some of the questions that he has to answer. Given the international delays that we have seen right around the world. What's his plan B? If nuclear takes longer than he indicates it will, which is almost certainly the case, it's too late, as he indicates it, but if it's even later, then what will be his Plan B? So, these are key questions.

Matt Canavan was right when he said that this is just a political fix and it goes to the underlying energy chaos in the Coalition. You've got Keith Pitt resigning in protest. You've got Barnaby Joyce undermining David Littleproud. It's very clear the alternative junior coalition partner, does not believe in net zero. Net zero is the very basic principle of climate change. If you don't believe in net zero, you can't have a plan to get there. It just is a reminder as to why Peter Dutton would be a worse Prime Minister than Scott Morrison. He wants to take Australia backwards, wants to take Australia back to the Morrison era. But even worse, that's the alternative that he's proposing. He has very serious questions to answer because this scheme has fallen apart every day since it's been released. Happy to take questions on the phone.

JOURNALIST: Thank you. Can I just ask Minister, are you aware if any Australians have been injured in Germany?

CHRIS BOWEN: Obviously, the scenes out of Germany have been deeply distressing, as any terrorist attack on innocent people is. The Australian Embassy is actively working to establish whether any Australians have been involved. At this point, as I speak at the moment, there is no evidence that any Australian has been injured or involved in this attack in any way. But of course, the embassy will continue to reach out to any Australians who might have been in the vicinity in the normal way that Australian embassies deal with these matters when these terrible, terrible events occur.

JOURNALIST: Just on nuclear as well. The Opposition has accused you of scaremongering, with particular that video of Dr Margaret Davies on Instagram. Is it your argument that nuclear power does pose a health risk to Australia?

CHRIS BOWEN: Every form of energy comes with a risk, and obviously the risk in nuclear energy is very substantial. And the way you reduce that risk, as has happened around the world, is by-- Just let that bike go past. The way you reduce that risk is by spending millions and millions of dollars. And that's how nuclear is made safer. And every dollar spent goes on the taxpayer under Mr Dutton's plan. So, our argument is that nuclear is risky because of its expense and its delay, and part of that expense is the millions of dollars that have to be spent making it safer.

JOURNALIST: If you're not really arguing then that it's unsafe, why are you posting videos?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, we're happy to have a debate. Mr Dutton said it was time to talk nuclear. He hasn't been talking nuclear much anymore. When you release a policy, you've got to be up for a debate, and you've got to be up for various points of view being put about it. The point of view that I'm putting very strongly is that part of the problem of nuclear is to make it safer. And it's been very unsafe over the years. But to make it safer as has occurred, it costs hundreds of millions of dollars. What else we got?

JOURNALIST: Minister, it's Chloe Bouras from Channel 10. I'd just like to get your reflections on the announcement out of Malaysia that the search for MH370 will continue.

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, obviously this was a tragic event and the families of the 239 people on board, including the seven Australians, their grief would have been made even worse by the fact that it has always been an utter mystery what happened to this aeroplane. So, of course, we welcome any steps to try and get to the bottom of it after these 10 years that have passed. We haven't been asked for any assistance, but of course, Australian authorities had done a substantial amount of work and that information will be available to the Malaysian government. We welcome these steps. If it provides any information at all, that'll be a comfort to the families and will solve one of the world's great mysteries.

JOURNALIST: And if Australia is asked for assistance, is the government prepared to send funding or resources to aid in this?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, obviously, any request for assistance will be taken very, very seriously by the Australian government. We haven't received any, and Australian officials have already done a lot of work. And that information will be made available to the new investigators. We'll see how this investigation unfurls. Malaysia and Australia are very, very good friends. If Malaysia asks, Australia will take that very, very seriously indeed. Of course.

JOURNALIST: On Vanuatu, is the government expecting to send more RAAF flights to collect Australians over there?

CHRIS BOWEN: So, it's good news that overnight another 141. I'll just wait for this fire truck to go past now. It's good news that overnight another 141 Australians returned. That brings a total to 429 Australians have been returned. I understand there's two more flights imminent to Vanuatu. They take humanitarian relief to Vanuatu and bring Australians home. So, it has a double benefit. We'll continue to monitor the situation. The Australian Government will continue for as long as there are Australians in need of evacuation and for as long as humanitarian assistance is required. Again, Australia and Vanuatu are key partners and we've provided a lot of assistance so far. We've got a lot of Australians home. That work will continue for as long as it needs to.

JOURNALIST: And I might just check on nuclear. Obviously, Senator Canavan made comments including that he does want nuclear power plants to be opened, but that has to be part of a broader mix, including coal. So, could I just ask you to be really specific on what parts of his- of that interview you agree with?

CHRIS BOWEN: I agree with him pointing out that this is a political fix. He says it's a political fix to deal with the coalition's political problems because it's low emissions. But he points out it's not the cheapest. Now, he then goes on, of course, in his normal way to argue for coal, which I disagree with. But his fundamental point that he was making is that this is a political fix, not a policy fix for Australia's energy future.

JOURNALIST: Thank you, Minister. That's all from me.

CHRIS BOWEN: Okay. We all in, all done? Okay, great. Thanks, guys.