Interview with Tracey Strong, ABC Hobart
TRACEY STRONG, HOST: The Federal Minister for Environment and Water, Murray Watt, is in Hobart today to visit our icebreaker and scientific research ship RSV Nuyina before it leaves on its latest voyage. The environment is always big news here in southern Tasmania, and big national news yesterday regarding the 2035 emissions reduction target. Minister Watt is in the studio with me now. Good morning.
MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: G’day, Tracey. Good to be with you.
TRACEY STRONG: Tell us about the next voyage to Antarctica for this ship.
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, it’s a very exciting day for Hobart, Tracey. I recognise how valued the Antarctic program is, particularly in Hobart, but right across Tasmania. And what we’re doing today is essentially farewelling the scientists and researchers who’ll be departing on the Nuyina for a really important voyage to Heard and McDonald Island. Those little islands are about 4000 kilometres south west of WA, so a long way from here. It will be a long voyage for them, but the voyage that they’re undertaking with six different teams of scientific researchers is partly about monitoring and surveillance for avian influenza, so bird flu, which we are, obviously, Australia is the only continent so far that has not got bird flu. But there has been some presence of it on other Antarctic islands, so these researchers will be checking out the situation on these islands. There's no confirmed presence of avian influenza on those islands, but of course, we want to get people down there to have a look. But also, it's the beginning of some further scientific research about the marine environment, the on-land environment. I must admit, I didn't know myself until preparing for this visit that Heard Island actually is the host of Australia's only active volcano. It's known as Big Ben. So there you go. We learn something every day. But of course -
TRACEY STRONG: Yes, thank you for the scientific lesson.
MURRAY WATT: Exactly. But, you know, these islands have spectacular beauty. They're World Heritage listed. They've got really important populations of seabirds, seals and other species. So gaining that extra understanding of the marine and land environment there is really important for us to understand the world that we live in.
TRACEY STRONG: Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt is with me. The big environmental news yesterday was the release of your government's new emissions reduction target of 62 to 70 per cent by 2035. There is a lot to digest, but in its advice, the Climate Change Authority said reaching even 62 per cent reductions will require enormous change. And one thing they suggest is stopping old growth logging. Is that what's going to happen?
MURRAY WATT: Look, it's not the Government's intention to stop old growth logging altogether. And in fact, the Prime Minister has made a previous commitment that we won't be ending it in Tasmania. But the reality is that the market is declining for old growth logging. As we speak, people are increasingly moving towards plantation timber. Our government has made a lot of investment in new plantations in recognition that we do need even more sustainable sources for paper, for other wood products. So it's not our intention to end native forestry altogether. But what you're referring to is the advice from the Climate Change Authority, which put forward a range of things that may be required in order to meet these targets.
They also talked about a much greater uptake of electric vehicles. They also talked about an even more rapid transition towards renewable energy. So I guess the issue is that there's a range of things that we are going to need and to pick from, if you like, in order to get there. These are ambitious targets, but we also think that they're achievable. And you will have seen that we've had people from the left and the right saying they're either not ambitious enough or they're too ambitious -
TRACEY STRONG: I think been called the Goldilocks solution.
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well, I think it probably gets it about right. And importantly, it is based on the advice from the Climate Change Authority, which is an independent body comprising scientific experts, industry participants, environmental experts as well. So the reality is that we need to undertake this transition because it's a really important economic opportunity for Tasmania and the country as a whole. You will have seen that even recently I've approved a number of new renewable energy projects here in Tasmania, and they are the gateway to more energy, more jobs, lower power prices, all the kind of things that we need to set up Tasmania's economy the future.
TRACEY STRONG: For mums and dads at home that are making their breakfast and packing the lunches, they want to know what it is going to mean for their day to day. So what will it mean for our bills, for our power, for example?
MURRAY WATT: Yeah, so what we've already seen, and this was reflected in the advice yesterday- so there's a group called the Australian Energy Market Commission, again, an independent body that advises on these sorts of issues. And what they've said is that if we continue a coordinated rollout of renewables, we can expect to see a 20 per cent decline in household power prices over the next decade. Again, that assumes that we keep on this path towards that renewable transition. You would be aware there are certain politicians in Australia who still want to argue about whether climate change is real, who still want to argue about whether we should get to net zero at all.
But the reality is that moving towards renewable power is without doubt the cheapest form of providing new energy in the future. Particularly on the mainland, one of the issues we've got is that a lot of the power is still supplied by coal-fired power stations. They are ageing, they are closing, and frankly, over the 10 years of the Coalition government, we didn't see the investment in new energy through renewables that we needed. We're now catching up with that and pushing on with it at pace, and this is doubt the cheapest way to pay for power bills.
TRACEY STRONG: It's 7:28 and we have the news at 7:30, so I'd just like to touch on salmon farming in Tasmania before we get to the news. The State Government has just announced a pause on expansions while they conduct a review of salmon operations in our waterways. This follows a fish kill early this year after a disease outbreak. Do you think that there should be more oversight of the salmon farming industry in Tasmania?
MURRAY WATT: Well, I certainly have noticed the statements from the Tasmanian Government and the review that they're undertaking. I'm not going to sort of lecture them about what they should do. But I do think it is important that we ensure that the salmon farming industry is sustainable for the future. Of course, our government, the Federal Labor Government, is supportive of the salmon industry and the jobs that it creates. But we also want to make sure that it's a sustainable industry for the long term. Of course, Tasmania is world-renowned for its pristine natural environment, and we want to keep it that way. But we do think that the industry can operate in a sustainable way, and we’ll of course pay close attention to the findings of that Tasmanian Government review.
TRACEY STRONG: We’re coming up to news time now. So you’ll be off to see the scientists after you leave here?
MURRAY WATT: Yes, straight off there now to have a look at this big boat that’s in your harbour at the moment. I’ve already run into a few people this morning and it seems to be the talk of the town, so really looking forward to getting on board and meeting some of these scientists myself.
TRACEY STRONG: Water and Environment Minister, Murray Watt.