Sunrise interview with Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek

SUBJECTS: WATER INFRASTRUCTURE; ENDANGERED ANIMALS; QUEEN ELIZABETH II

DAVID KOCH, HOST: Now, the Labor Government is facing calls to use billions of promised dollars for dam projects to instead fund conservation efforts. 

NATALIE BARR, HOST: Independent Senator David Pocock and environment groups want the October Budget to reallocate the money put aside for six major dam projects to help address Australia’s extinction crisis that’s seeing 100s of our unique flora and fauna go extinct, and the koala added to the list of endangered animals this year.

KOCH: Joining us now, Labor’s Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Good morning to you both. Tanya, is this something Labor is considering; and, if not, where are you going to find the money to address the issue?

TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: Well, it is really important that we see additional investment in the environment because the previous government really did cut environment funding. We do have an extinction crisis. The State of the Environment Report told us so. That’s why Labor during the election campaign committed $1.2 billion to fixing up the Great Barrier Reef and close to a quarter of a billion dollars on threatened species. We are the mammal extinction capital of the world and we do have to act. 
But we don’t have to do it at the expense of water infrastructure. We know there’s plenty of water around in regional New South Wales at the moment. We’ve got flooding again in some parts of New South Wales, but as sure where we are in flood at the moment, we will be in drought in the years to come.
The problem with the Liberals and the Nationals, when they were in government for 10 years, they promised 100 dams; they finished only one of those 100 dams and that was one that Labor started. 
So, there was a lot of big talk from the Nationals about dams, but no actual dam construction. There was one project in Tasmania that was completed during the 10 years of their government and, of course, they’ve failed to deliver on the Murray–Darling Basin Plan as well. So, a lot of talk, not much action. 

BARR: So, Barnaby, you agreed to net zero, didn’t you, to get the dam money? So, do you now want it to be spent on wildlife? Is that where we’re at at the moment?

BARNABY JOYCE: Well, you can come around here at night, and I’ll show you enough wildlife. There’s no Extinction Rebellion going on at Danglemah. 
Look, first of all, what Tanya said was not correct. There was one dam, Charleston, I started in 2016 and I opened it in North Queensland. It’s there. There’s a whole range of water infrastructure, the expansion of Chaffey Dam. And yes, we have got money on the table for dams. Dams are assets on your balance sheet. And if you move the money to expenses on your profit and loss, you’re not helping the overall government spend. These assets are one-off, and they expand the economy and they’re vital. One of the dams, Paradise Dam, the Labor Party built, fell over, we need money on the table for that. The other dams like Hells Gate and Urannah Dam, these were priority projects for the Labor Party in Queensland. It would be surprising if they decide they don’t agree with their own State Governments and don’t build it. 
This is how we build the economy and make it stronger. And Dungowan Dam, well, what’s Tamworth going to do for water? There are so many people from Sydney moving up here. If you desalinate in Tamworth – sorry, if you water purify or recycle water, about 60 per cent of the water is what you’ve got and then you’ve got 40 per cent brine. Where do you put that? Back in the river? How’s that going to work? And water licences are only good if there’s water. Got to build a dam. That’s how you secure the jobs and secure people’s standards of living. Otherwise, you have rolling water restrictions.

KOCH: Yes, well, as Tanya said it looks as though Labor is going to continue that and get the money for flora and fauna from elsewhere. Both of you, it will be a momentous day tomorrow in the United Kingdom, today in Australia; what are your memories of the late Queen Elizabeth? Tanya, you met the Queen twice.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I did meet the Queen in 2006 and 2011, both times very briefly, of course, and she was very gracious on those visits to Australia. I’d have to say, my mum came with me on both of those occasions when we were invited to meet the Queen and she was super excited. Like a lot of women of her generation, my mother was a huge fan of the Queen and she’s experiencing a lot of sadness at the moment. I think there’s a lot of Australians who admired the Queen very deeply, her dedication to her work, her discipline, the fact that she made a commitment to serve the nation and she just kept doing it.

KOCH: Yep. 

BARR: Yeah, that is being repeated time and time again when we talk to people over here. Barnaby, how will you remember Her Majesty? 

JOYCE: A person who when I met her, she was so polite, so engaging and I thought: How many tens of thousands of times have you done this before and over 70 years and you never lost your marbles once on it? What an incredible life. She’s a beacon and a compass for people in political life, and politicians especially, of how to act with dignity and how that over time gets respect. She’s with her God. She was a person of strong faith. So, this is really a celebration for us and a remembrance by us because she lived a good and wholesome life and I’m absolutely certain she’s with her maker.

KOCH: Yeah, very nice memories. Thank you, you two.