Press conference at the South Coast, NSW

CHRIS BOWEN: Half a million kilograms of carbon every year, more than $100,000 in electricity savings for the people of this council – that’s what we’re delivering today. I know how important this swimming pool is and is aquatic centre is for this community. It is obviously a much-loved, long-lasting facility. I also know how much the people of this community want to see emissions come down, and that’s what we’re delivering today.

So, under our Community Energy Upgrades Fund, I’m very pleased to have announced and awarded half a million dollars to Wingecarribee council to replace the gas boiler heaters in this swimming pool with electric heat pumps. That will see half a million kilograms of carbon every year emitted from this swimming pool gone and, of course, it will reduce the energy costs of council going forward, which is good news for ratepayers. So, what’s good for the planet is good for your pocket and that is true for households. It is true for countries, and it is true for local governments. This is a very important partnership between the Albanese Government and local governments across Australia.

As a former mayor myself, I know that councils have great ideas but often don’t have the cash accompany those great ideas. Councils know what the best way of dealing with global problems is locally and so we’ve asked the council to put their best shot, their best ideas to reduce their emissions and their bills and they’re come forward in great numbers under our Community Energy Upgrades Fund. Right across the country, swimming pools being decarbonised, libraries with solar panels going on their roof, council chambers decarbonising, electric vehicle chargers going in. Your council chose this project and we have decided to back it.

So, this is a good day for Wingecarribee. I want to thank Carol and her team for their support. I want to thank the entire Wingecarribee community. This is a good thing. Now the council can get on with the job. I’ve written the cheque. Now the council can get on with the job of getting this done but to deal with climate change we need to be all in. Whole of government effort, whole of government’s effort, whole of society effort. Federal Government can’t do it alone. State governments can’t do it alone. Local governments certainly can’t do it alone but together we can get it done and that’s what we’re doing here today.

So, great announcement. I’m very pleased to be here to make this announcement support Wingecarribee’s decarbonisation efforts, to support the reduction in electricity bills. I will ask Carol to say a few words and then the mayor and then I’ll take easy questions and the mayor will take hard questions – 

CAROL BERRY: Thank you. It’s such a pleasure to be here today. This is a wonderful community facility, so we are so pleased to be able to make this contribution in terms of reducing carbon emissions but also saving the council over $170,000 per year. So, as the minister said, this is good for the economy. It’s also good for the environment and a wonderful outcome for the Wingecarribee Council, so thank you.

JESSE FITZPATRICK: Yes, my absolute favourite part is the $171,000 saving year in an environment that’s getting ever increasingly harder to support global infrastructure. We have duplication in this area of pools. Bringing the cost down is paramount and we are going to return that cost back to the ratepayers, so we are very grateful for the opportunity.

CHRIS BOWEN: Okay, let’s start. All right. Here we go. Questions.

JOURNALIST: So, can you explain when you switch from gas to electric, where is the electricity coming from? Is it solar so is it zero-carbon electricity?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, when you’ve got heat pumps, they use a tiny amount of electricity. They take the – they find heat wherever it is, even on a cold day, and convert it to heating the water. I’ve got a heat pump at home for my own hot water. It’s smaller than this swimming pool’s heat pump. It reduces your electricity bill substantially. When you’re converting from gas, the savings are even greater. So, the heat pump technology is powered by electricity, but it’s the most efficient form of heating of anything you can find. It is used for home heating in Europe where it’s much more common, but it’s used for work heating here in Australia and I think a very important part of the decarbonisation.

JOURNALIST: So, they’re just getting the electricity out of the grid here? They’re not getting it off solar panels off the roof?

CHRIS BOWEN: I’m not sure what the solar panel situation is here, but either way. The Mayor might want to give us an update on the solar panels.  

JESSE FITZPATRICK: I do believe that we’ve currently got enough solar panels and we’re putting back to the grid. Now we can concentrate that back into our heat pumps and essentially it will be zero [indistinct].

JOURNALIST: So, it’s effectively carbon-free electricity that’s running these heat pumps?

JESSE FITZPATRICK: That or very close to that. Essentially, yes

JOURNALIST: And how many aquatic centres do you have?

JESSE FITZPATRICK: No, we do--we have a model of outdoor pools only [indistinct] but this is the first sort of indoor one. We are currently discussing – as I was saying before, there’s an incredible pressure on us to provide pool infrastructure in the community and we’re in discussions now about the future of our aquatics. So, it will be a big part of the conversation for sure.

CHRIS BOWEN: I should have before, just another bite of the cherry, also announced today I am launching round 2 of this program. This is round 1, which Wingecarribee has benefited under round 1. Second round of $50 million is now open for other councils to get into. This was massively oversubscribed, so Wingecarribee has done well. Lots of councils missed out. Round 2 will enable those councils to have a second go and indeed councils who didn’t win to see the good work, the good sorts of project that councils like Wingecarribee have got, to give it their best shot. So, I’m also launching round 2 of this program, $50 million dollars, as of today.

JOURNALIST: Offshore wind question. So BlueFloat, the BlueFloat bid for the declared Illawarra offshore wind zone. Are we able to say where it’s up to, whether they’ll withdraw or whether the whole thing is being deferred until after the election?

CHRIS BOWEN: There’s a process well underway. I will be making further announcements extremely soon. I won’t make an announcement today, but it’s a process well underway. I take these things very seriously. I work through them all very carefully. I’ve always given credit to the previous government for writing the bill, so the Morrison government wrote the Offshore Wind Act. I have implemented that very carefully. The Illawarra zone has become highly politicised, which is not a great thing, because it was bipartisan – offshore wind was bipartisan. The Morrison government didn’t have a great climate record but at least managed to legislate offshore wind and then I’ve been implementing that.

But they have said that they will rip up zones. That’s created considerable angst in the offshore wind community. Offshore wind is energy rich and its jobs rich and I want to create jobs for the people of the Illawarra, and offshore wind has that massive potential.

Now, what we’ve seen is Peter Dutton, Ted O’Brien and, frankly, Andrew Constance politicise this matter in a disgraceful way. I once had some respect for Andrew Constance. I saw him. I was in the middle of the bushfires on the South Coast at the time. I saw him. I saw what he did. I always give credit where it’s due on the other side. I have deep respect for his role. He said at the time this was caused by climate change and he would dedicate the rest of his life to dealing with climate change. Well, some dedication. Some dedication because the other night in Gilmore he’s there saying, “We’ll leave the Paris accord.” I mean, that dedication didn’t last long. He had to drop any pretence of values he had to make his way in Peter Dutton’s team. That has caused real angst in the renewable energy community. Andrew Constance can hang his head in shame, as can Peter Dutton.

JOURNALIST: What he said was 2035 – 

CHRIS BOWEN: He said Paris accord off the table. He said Paris accord –

JOURNALIST: [Indistinct] – 

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, and you know what – 

JOURNALIST: It’s part of the 2050.

CHRIS BOWEN: No, it’s not, in this sense: to be a member of the Paris accord you must have a 2035 target. It’s not a negotiable. It’s not an option. Right? When you sign a Paris accord it’s not just, you know, “I like Paris.” You’re committing to having a 2030 target, a 2035 target, you’re committing to each target being better than the last one. That’s what’s in the Paris accord. When he says that’s off the table, he’s saying they’ll leave Paris.

JOURNALIST: Then Labor will release its 2035 target this year?

CHRIS BOWEN: After I receive advice from the Climate Change Authority according to law, yes.

JOURNALIST: Before or after the election?

CHRIS BOWEN: I have no idea when the election will be, but I expect – look, the Climate Change Authority has made it very clear that they need more time. What more is crystal clear is it is unlawful for me to announce a target without advice from the Climate Change Authority. The Climate Change Authority has made clear they need more time to work through the implications, particularly of the election of the Trump administration, but other international developments. I will be complying with the law. And that will take some time. So, to answer your question, it will take some time.

JOURNALIST: You did mention about the uncertainty, the debate, I mean obviously in the electorate of Gilmore and in this electorate that we’re in today there is a strong anti-wind campaign going on. Do you think that has scared off investors?

CHRIS BOWEN: There’s a strong anti-wind campaign. There’s a strong pro wind campaign. I mean, the community does have strong views both ways. I’ve heard from both sides about that. And that’s understandable, to a degree, when you’re developing industry from scratch. Offshore wind has existed since 1992, but not here. Not here. So, this is new for Australia. And so, whenever you’re doing something new, you get genuine questions which need to be worked through. Hence, we reduced the size of the Illawarra zone after that community feedback.

You will also get, as well as those very genuine community concerns, which we take on board and listen to, you also get misinformation and disinformation. People who never cared about a whale in their life all of a sudden care about whale life. Yes, I’m thinking of Peter Dutton who has never mentioned the word whale in his time in Federal Parliament but now he’s an environmental warrior and, you know, might as well be on the Rainbow Warrior if you listen to his rhetoric.

So, that is disinformation. Whales coexist with offshore wind right around the world. They’re smart animals. They coexist with the oil and gas rigs too. I don’t hear Peter Dutton saying they should be pulled out. So, this is disgraceful disinformation by Peter Dutton. We will work with communities on genuine concerns, and we will counter disinformation at every turn.

JOURNALIST: All right. One final one. In light of the intense interest in Peter Dutton’s property portfolio, are politicians like yourself making declarations about how many houses you own and that sort of thing?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, of course. We all follow – there’s a declaration regime, which Carol will have to follow if she’s elected. I make this point. Ministers don’t own shares. No shares to declare because Anthony Albanese has shown leadership and banned his ministers from owning shares. You’ve got to decide if you’re going to be a leading politician, a Minister making decisions about the company or you’re going to be a share trader. Which one are you going to be? Now, this is pretty dodgy on Peter Dutton’s behalf. He’s got serious questions to answer. Or as my son would say, sketchy. “Sketchy, dad.” Dodgy or sketchy, take your pick, Peter Dutton has got serious questions to answer and if he had nothing to hide, he’d answer them about when exactly he bought shares, how much he paid and why he didn’t.

Okay. That’s a wrap. Excellent.