ABC News Breakfast interview with Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek

SUBJECTS: STATE OF THE CLIMATE REPORT; ELECTRIC VEHICLES; SECURE JOBS, BETTER PAY BILL.

MICHAEL ROWLAND, HOST: Let’s go back to the new climate change report that suggests Australia is experiencing more extreme weather, longer fire seasons, rising sea levels and more coral bleaching. The Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek joins us now from Parliament House in Canberra. Minister, sadly, none of this is new to Australians. What was the most sobering thing for you as minister to come out of this report?

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: As you say Michael, this isn’t new, and this report is one of a series done by the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO over a number of years. It confirms sadly what we know, which is that temperatures in Australia on land and in the seas are rising and that's having the impact of more extreme weather events. This report shows that the dryer periods are longer, hotter and dryer. When it does rain, it rains much more heavily and we are seeing the impact of that across the eastern states at the moment in very tragic ways. It shows that bushfire seasons will be hotter and dryer. I guess the importance of reports like this is it is a call to action and that is why our government has acted to legislate stronger carbon pollution reduction ambitions. That’s why we have set aside a billion dollars for a disaster ready fund as well. It reminds us too that we need to prepare for the worst. You already have governments talking about changing land use in the future, how to better prepare our emergency services, how to better prepare our health system for these extreme events.

ROWLAND: You say it is a call to action given the severity of the outcomes this report points to, is it a call perhaps for greater action for the government raising its greenhouse gas reduction emission targets perhaps for the next term if you're re-elected?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: We have already committed to a 43 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 and zero net emissions by 2050 and have legislated that which is very important. We have also said we will get to 82 per cent renewable energy in our grid by 2030. We have joined with the international community - I think this is really important, at the most recent COP meeting in Egypt our Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen was fighting off calls from other countries to weaken those international targets on temperature rises to move away from that 1.5 degree maximum that countries agreed to in Glasgow to water that down. We have managed to join with like-minded countries to stop that watering down but it will take global action. We need to do our share here in Australia.

ROWLAND: One way of cutting greenhouse gas emissions is taking more petrol powered cars off the road. Let's talk about that deal the government struck with the Greens and David Pocock in the Senate to remove the fringe benefits tax on EVs making it cheaper for individuals and companies. Do you hope that will spur an increase in electric vehicle sales? The market here has been lagging behind so many other countries.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Absolutely we have been lagging behind other countries. We took a policy to the election saying we
will make it easier and cheaper to buy an electric vehicle in Australia as well as removing some of the taxes on electric vehicles, we are also investing in vehicle charging right across Australia. I think that's really important. Lots of Australians say they want to buy an electric vehicle. Cost has been one barrier and the vast distances that we drive in Australia has been another barrier. So we are trying to address both those fronts.

ROWLAND: Okay I want to talk about the industrial relations bill, negotiations are continuing but the fundamental aim, according to the government, for the bill's passage is to get real wages moving, that’s wages keeping pace with the inflation rate. The Reserve Bank Governor last night told a business dinner "If we all buy into the idea that wages have to go up to compensate people for inflation, it will be painful, so best avoid that". What do you say to that?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I say to the people who have missed out on wage increases in Australia over the last decade are the lowest paid workers and that is just not fair. You look at people who are working in industries like aged care, early childhood education and care, disabled services and working in shops, retail, fast food. These are the people who have struggled in recent years. We have got an industrial relations system that has let them down. We want to change that, we want to make sure that when people work hard they see an increase in their pay that helps them make ends meet.

ROWLAND: Mr Lowe also in his speech talked about the period we are all facing with rising interest rates, high prices, lots of stress around kitchen tables but he thinks there is a silver lining if we get through this wild ride because inflation will come down and he reckons "It can be relatively painless". Critics could accuse the RBA Governor of being tone deaf. What do you say?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I am not going to make comments about the Reserve Bank Governor but it hasn't been painless. It has been a very difficult time for families. The cost of everything is going up. Their wages haven't kept pace. We know the reason wages didn't keep pace under the previous government was they said low wages were a deliberate design feature of their economic architecture and just recently when the Shadow Treasurer was asked whether he supported the industrial relations changes recently, he said no because they will see wages go up. In contrast, on our side, the government wants to see wage increases, particularly for those low paid workers who have missed out. They have seen the impacts of price rises and they are coping with higher mortgages and higher rental costs as well. We know life has been tough and we want to make it easier by giving them a pay rise when they work hard.

ROWLAND: Tanya Plibersek, appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for joining us.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Thank you.