Interview with Matthew Doran, ABC Afternoon Briefing
MATTHEW DORAN: Speaking of summits, Pacific nations are pleading for extra support at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, particularly around the issue of a loss and damage fund, which would contribute to costs that developing countries are already incurring, as a result of climate change-fuelled weather.
Jenny McAllister is the Assistant Climate Change and Energy Minister, and she joined me a short time ago.
Jenny McAllister, welcome to Afternoon Briefing. The eyes of the world seem to be on the COP summit in Egypt at the moment, and I know your ministerial colleague Pat Conroy is over there representing the side as we speak.
There’s been a lot of discussion around this sort of liability for climate change or the sort of support that developed nations should be offering poorer nations to get through and deal with the ravages of climate change. In principle, is that something that Australia is supportive of?
JENNY McALLISTER: Well, the issue of loss and damage is an issue of longstanding significance for our Pacific neighbours, and it was very important to them that it be placed on the agenda for discussion. They are exposed in ways that I think all of your viewers would understand to extreme climatic events that are causing them very significant challenges, and it’s one of the reasons that they are so focused on climate change as a global issue.
They wanted to see it discussed on the agenda, and we are absolutely determined to support our Pacific family, elevate their voices and support them in getting this issue on to the agenda for discussion.
MATTHEW DORAN: It is a difficult discussion to have, though, I guess, isn’t it? Because you’re effectively opening up a discussion around sort of apportioning blame here for what we’re seeing.
JENNY McALLISTER: The COP agenda actually makes it quite clear that it’s not a question of liability. I think one way for us to think about it is that we are already engaged with our Pacific neighbours in supporting them on these issues. They’re looking for a global discussion about how it might be best handled, and we’re happy to work through the issues that they raise.
One of my jobs – I’ll be going over to the COP on Saturday – one of my jobs and something I’m very much looking forward to is really focus on meeting and discussing these issues with Pacific counterparts.
MATTHEW DORAN: There obviously would need to be a fair amount of willingness from a number of large countries here, not just Australia, and you’re saying you support having this discussion. What do you think of other developed economies? Are you getting a sense that they’re keen to have a chat about this, too?
JENNY McALLISTER: Look, this is a discussion that is going to take place over a number of years. I think there was broad and general support for seeing it elevated onto the agenda. But we’re at the beginning of quite a long discussion, and I think the way that we approach this issue and the way that we think about our shared obligations to look after each other will develop in that period.
MATTHEW DORAN: How crucial are these talks compared to, say, the Glasgow summit talks last year when there was so much focus on the former government coming forward with updated targets? It didn’t do so, but that was not only a question for the Australian Government but also for other countries as well. How does this summit fit into that broader puzzle, do you think?
JENNY McALLISTER: Look, these summits in general are an incredibly important opportunity for the international community to come together, evaluate how we’re going and what the next steps are that we might take. You’re right that some conferences have big agenda items locked in where we need to sort of take a quite significant decision, and there’s usually a lot of work that goes into those conferences in the lead up.
This conference, as others have pointed out, is an implementation COP, people are looking at how we’re going in implementing the arrangements at Glasgow. The really positive thing from my perspective is that Australia is back at the table. We have updated our contribution since the Glasgow meeting and all of the feedback I’m receiving is that that decision to re-engage, to be part of the international community, to update our own domestic commitments is being really warmly welcomed by the people that we’re meeting and talking with over there.
MATTHEW DORAN: Turning to a slightly different topic, you’ve opened consultation on the National Energy Performance Strategy. We love these sort of titles on Afternoon Briefing. What is it?
JENNY McALLISTER: Well, we want to make sure that every watt counts. Australians buy a lot of energy that literally leaks out of their home and businesses either because the buildings aren’t performing as they might or because they have appliances that are slightly inefficient. Our peer countries often have national strategies to actually drive performance in this area, to make homes and businesses more efficient, more comfortable, more affordable. For the last decade there’s been very little work done on this at a national level – good work done by the state and territories, but no national leadership. And we’re starting the process of setting up a national strategy to drive energy performance.
MATTHEW DORAN: Is it things like insulation in properties, you know, double glazing, triple glazing to sort of keep cooling and heating inside? That’s the sort of areas you’re looking at?
JENNY McALLISTER: Yes, so we are asking for feedback about what are the best ways that the Commonwealth might assist. We’re looking for feedback about commercial properties, about households, but also about industries, heavy industry, what they might do to use energy more efficiently there and how the Commonwealth might support that.
The thing is that there are really important things we can do. We’ve already upgraded the National Construction Code so from next year the National Construction Code will require new builds to be built to a 7-star standard rather than a 6-standard. These things have the opportunity to make households – houses much more comfortable to live in but also just a lot more affordable to run. I visited a 10-star home actually and they are really, really pleasant buildings to be in.
MATTHEW DORAN: I didn’t even know a 10-star building existed.
JENNY McALLISTER: Exactly. Well, there’s one in Adelaide, and I visited it.
MATTHEW DORAN: There you go. On this issue of power bills, clearly this is a debate not only happening with regards to these sort of energy performance strategies but also more broadly this discussion around intervention in the energy market, those forecast high power prices that we saw in the budget. How soon do you think we are going to see details of some sort of market intervention here?
JENNY McALLISTER: Look, the Prime Minister has made it clear that he’s asked his ministers to work on options to address this. You know, the cause of this, of course, is twofold – it’s the illegal invasion in Ukraine and also, of course, a decade where the Coalition really failed to deliver energy policy at all and it’s left our market in a really difficult position.
The government is working through options that could alleviate the wholesale price impacts. We need to work through those in a careful and considered way, to think about all of the opportunities and all of the consequences of any of the interventions that might be proposed. I think there’s a desire to do that thoroughly, not to rush it. But, of course, to bring it forward as soon as we’re confident that we have a measure that will work.
MATTHEW DORAN: Jenny McAllister, thanks for your time.
JENNY McALLISTER: My pleasure.