Interview with Leon Delaney, 2CC 1206 AM

LEON DELANEY: Well, it’s 7 past 5, and consultation is now open for the Federal Government’s National Energy Performance Strategy. What does that mean? Let’s find out. Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Senator Jenny McAllister, thanks for joining us today. 

JENNY McALLISTER: Yeah, pleasure, Leon. 

LEON DELANEY: So, what is this National Energy Performance Strategy? 

JENNY McALLISTER:: Well, we want to make every watt count. Right now, energy that’s purchased by Australian consumers literally leaks out of homes and businesses. And that’s essentially the consequence of inefficient appliances or older buildings not working as well as they could. We know that households and businesses are under a lot of pressure, and we want to empower Australians to take control over their own energy use. 

This is something that countries we’d normally like to compare ourselves to do a lot of work on. But, like many things in the energy space, for the last nine years under the Liberals not a lot happened. So, we’re kicking off a process to hear from all of the experts out there and, frankly, a whole lot of ordinary people as well, to tell us what they think we can do better in this area. 

LEON DELANEY: Okay. Yeah, consultation means you want to hear from everybody. But I’m still in the dark – what exactly is the strategy? What are the contents? What are the points of the plan? 

JENNY McALLISTER: Exactly. That’s a good question. So, we know that there are significant gains to be made in improving the energy efficiency and the energy performance of appliances and buildings in a whole lot of different areas. So, at home, at work and if you work in a big industrial facility, in the plant and equipment that you use at work. So, we are looking for information from people right across the economy and the community about what the Federal Government can do to support energy improvements in those areas. 

A lot of States and Territories already do a lot of work, so we’ll work closely with them. We don’t want to get in their way or get under their feet. But we need some national leadership in this area. 

LEON DELANEY: Okay. So, it’s about the efficiency at the consumers’ end of the equation. What about at the retailers’ end of the equation? What is the government doing about cutting the cost of electricity when those prices are just going up and up and up for most Australians? 

JENNY McALLISTER: You’re right that there’s a lot of pressure on Australian power prices at the moment. And that’s a consequence of two things: there’s an illegal war in Ukraine launched by Putin, but there’s also a decade where we had 22 energy policies from the Liberals and none of them landed. And that’s left the energy market in a pretty perilous situation. And the Prime Minister has made it very clear that he is looking for solutions. 

So, he’s asked the Ministers to come together and to work up options that might help households and businesses by lowering those wholesale energy costs. 

LEON DELANEY: There’s a lot of pressure on the government at the moment to directly intervene in the market in some way to either introduce price caps or some other mechanism to contain the increasing cost of electricity. Are all options on the table or is there anything you’re going to rule out? 

JENNY McALLISTER: I’m certainly not going to rule things out. But I think the Prime Minister’s made it pretty clear that all sensible options should be on the table. And so, ministers and officials are busily working through the options that might be available. I think the important thing here is that the energy system is a complex system and we need to make sure that any steps that we take have the consequences that we expect. And it’s important to work through this carefully. 

LEON DELANEY: Okay. Now, obviously there have already been discussions with the big gas producers and question marks about whether we ought to have a gas reservation policy. There’s a lot of issues to canvass here, but having had so many discussions with the gas producers already, the question has been raised – why hasn’t the government already done more to ask those producers to curb their costs? 

JENNY McALLISTER: We’ve said we’d like to do this collaboratively. But, plainly, the pressure on gas prices and electricity prices is causing a lot of problems for industry and for households. And as the Treasurer has made really clear, it’s also an important driver of inflation. So, there’s a lot of reasons for us to tackle this problem. But it’s not a simple problem to tackle. 

We’d prefer to do it collaboratively with the gas suppliers. And, you know, my colleagues I know are talking to them very regularly. But we are working up options that we think will be effective and sustainable. 

LEON DELANEY: So, what sort of time frame do you think we should expect a meaningful reduction in electricity prices as the result of some of these policy options that might be implemented? 

JENNY McALLISTER: Look, Minister Bowen has talked about the timing quite a bit. You know, I think he emphasises that we need to get this right. So, we’re working through it methodically. We’ll take as long as we need to get a robust answer. And once that’s happened, we won’t delay any longer. 

But, you know, as I say, these aren’t simple things. It’s really important that we actually have a policy response, not just a political response because it was treating this as a political football by the last Liberal Government that got us all into so much trouble, and we’re determined not to repeat those mistakes. 

LEON DELANEY: You’ve made the point that increasing electricity costs are contributing to inflation. Obviously, if the government intervenes to contain those costs isn’t that a simple and easy way to help rein in inflation? 

JENNY McALLISTER: It’s one of the factors colleagues are thinking about, I know. 

LEON DELANEY: We’re going to the brief answers now. All right. The Greens have repeated their call for a tax on the windfall profits of coal and gas companies, and that revenue could then be used to pay for a subsidy to cap household electricity costs. Is that a practical solution? 

JENNY McALLISTER: Look, I think it’s probably pretty important that I don’t get into the business of ruling things in or out or making comment on particular measures or proposals. I think the Prime Minister’s made it clear that all the sensible options should be on the table. And there is a process going on through the cabinet to work through those. 

LEON DELANEY: Okay. Although that wasn’t a question asking you to rule it in or out – it was literally I said is that a practical solution? 

JENNY McALLISTER: Well, I think the consequence of making comment on the virtues or otherwise of solutions starts to lead us down that path. 

LEON DELANEY: Okay then. So let’s get back to our National Energy Performance Strategy. The consultation has opened. When does it close? 

JENNY McALLISTER: It closes in early February. And we’re hoping to be able to deliver something in the second half of the year. We’ll be looking at all of the submissions as they come in and also talking with a lot of those stakeholders that have a lot to contribute. 

One of the first meetings I had, when I was sworn in as a Minister, was with a really interesting group including ACOSS, AIG –the industry group – and the Energy Efficiency Council, and the Property Council, I should say – all of whom thought that there was a lot we could do here. And it’s actually a really good thing when you get an alliance of organisations sort of across business and community organisations looking for action. I’m really keen to work with all those willing partners out there who think that we can do better, and I think we can. 

LEON DELANEY: Okay, but, of course, taking that as a guide for our time frame, we’re not really entitled to expect any kind of price relief before Christmas? 

JENNY McALLISTER: This is a long-term strategy. This is work, but it would have been good to start a decade ago. But that not having happened, the best time to start is now. And we’re getting on with it. 

LEON DELANEY: Indeed. So, if anybody has something to say and they want to contribute to the consultation process, how do they do that? 

JENNY McALLISTER: Check out the Department of Climate Change website. The consultation paper is up there and we would love to hear from you. 

LEON DELANEY: Sensational. Thanks very much for chatting today. 

JENNY McALLISTER: Thanks, Leon. 

LEON DELANEY: Thank you, Senator Jenny McAllister, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy.