Doorstop at Elwood Primary School, Melbourne

JOSH BURNS: Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to the absolutely special and magnificent Elwood Primary School behind me. It's one of the crown jewels of our local education system, and Elwood Primary is also a place where sustainability and environmental protection is at the forefront of everything that this school does. They've got a gardening project out the back where… from growing their own vegetables to learning how to produce fresh food in the classroom – it's all about the circular economy and making sure that the school is teaching young people about how to respect the environment and respect sustainability. And then, of course, the announcement today that the Minister will be talking about, which is showing how the school is a leader in environmental management and sustainability. We're really proud of this school. We're really proud to be here.

I'm joined by the Parliamentary Secretary for Education in the Victorian Government, my good friend Nina Taylor and neighbouring MP, we’re also joined by the Mayor of the City of Port Phillip, Louise Crawford – they're both champions for sustainability and better protection of our environment. And of course, all the way from the other side of the country, we're here with the Assistant Minister for Energy, Josh Wilson, who has been a champion for environmental management, lowering our emissions and transitioning our electricity grid from fossil fuels to renewables, and I'll hand over to Josh to talk more about why we're here.

JOSH WILSON: Thanks, Josh. Good morning, everyone. It is lovely to be here at Elwood Primary School, and today we're announcing that the National Built Environment Rating Scheme (NABERS) is being extended to cover schools. It's been a fantastic tool over a long period of time, helping our built environment to make the transition to more energy efficient circumstances, better energy performance, and there are lots of benefits from that. The first benefit, of course, is in terms of cost reductions. We know for both businesses and households and schools that when you get better energy performance, you lower your energy costs. But at the same time, those buildings become more liveable, they're cooler in hot weather and warmer in the cold months, and you make a contribution to tackling dangerous climate change by reducing emissions.

Elwood Primary School has been an exemplar. We are going to deliver to them their certificates today to show that this is a five-star rated school under the NABERS system – the National Built Environment Rating System – for both energy efficiency and for water. And just to give you an idea of what that rating system means, if you start off with an average school that might be rated three or four stars, and you're able to get up to five stars, every star increase in terms of energy performance under that rating system delivers about 25% in emissions reductions as a result of those energy efficiency and energy performance gains. So, it's been a fantastic rating system Australia wide.

The Albanese Government has invested $6 million to extend the rating system to cover new categories of buildings. We did retail about 6 weeks ago. We are now doing schools, and the reason we're doing that is because of the success that the program has delivered. If you take the office building category alone, there's been nearly $2 billion worth of energy efficiency cost savings and nearly 12 million tonnes worth of CO2 equivalent reductions just in the office building sector. So, this is something we want to extend and enable communities, households, businesses and organizations like schools, to improve what they're doing on energy performance and emissions reduction, because it makes for more liveable buildings, because it delivers cost savings, and it makes a big contribution as we go through this energy transformation in reducing our emissions and tackling dangerous climate change. I'll hand over to my Victorian colleague, Nina Taylor.

NINA TAYLOR: Our Victorian government is really proud that Victoria is a world leader in climate action. We have the ResourceSmart Schools program. We also have the Greener Government Building Schools program, and these programs are both helping schools to become so much more sustainable. Really proud of Elwood Primary School. Schools like Elwood are really leading the way in terms of providing that local action in reducing emissions and becoming so much more sustainable, whether it's to do with lighting, whether it's to do with all round energy, whether it's to do with the way they manage their waste and biodiversity. Elwood is absolutely nailing it, and that's why they're achieving award – the 5-star NABERS energy award, and the 5-star NABERS water award, both fantastic achievements, and we are really proud of them, and this is what happens in Victoria. Thank you.

WILSON: Happy to take some questions on the announcement first, and then a couple of general questions.

JOURNALIST: Is this the first school? How many schools are you going to do this for?

WILSON: The rating system is now available to schools. That's 10,000 schools Australia-wide. It's a voluntary rating system. So, it's up to schools and their communities as to whether they want to go and get a NABERS rating. That's been the case with other categories in the built environment. This is a leading exemplar, I guess, of sustainability here in Victoria. So, it was a natural choice to come and make the announcement here, and they've already got their 5-star ratings, both for energy efficiency and water efficiency as well.

JOURNALIST: And practically, do they get anything other than a certificate, which says, you know, well done. Here's 5 stars. I mean, do they get more funding to do more programs? What's the reward for actually pursuing this?

WILSON: Well, the reward is actually built into that kind of sustainability effort, as I said before. If you're able to achieve greater energy efficiency, you get direct cost benefits as a result, we know that at the household level, as much as we would see it in commercial buildings and organisations like schools. So, the benefit is both in terms of saving money, because your energy costs come down. It also makes for a more liveable environment when you improve ventilation, when you improve your heating and cooling systems, people will experience this in their own homes – using insulation or better ventilation in their own home, better solar orientation. You basically end up with a house that will be warmer in cold weather and cooler in hot weather. And that's something we want to see. We've supported that across the spectrum in terms of our energy performance investment through the budget, particularly the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative that's making sure that people who live in social housing have the benefits of changes that make their houses more liveable but reduce costs at a time of cost-of-living pressures.

JOURNALIST: Josh, do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions on another matter?

JOURNALIST: Can I quickly get one in on the CSIRO report? So, the report has come out this morning – GenCost – rejecting the Coalition's argument that nuclear could be cheaper and says that renewable energy is the cheapest energy source. Do you hope this is like a line in the sand on that issue?

WILSON: Well, I would hope so, but I'm not sure whether that that hope will be met by the kind of sensible response I think Australians would like to see from the Coalition. The work that the GenCost report represents from both AEMO and CSIRO is sort of the latest instalment in a series of reports that have been saying the same thing. It's the obvious thing. It's the truth, which is that nuclear energy is the most expensive form of new generation. If the Coalition had the opportunity to inflict it on the Australian community, it would mean on average, $1,200 in extra electricity charges per household, and $600 billion out of the Australian budget. $600 billion that couldn't be used to pay for schools, the social safety net, pensions, hospitals, etc. But it's not really news. I would love it if Ted O'Brien and Peter Dutton would wake up to the reality, which is that there's no future for nuclear in Australia because it costs so much, because it takes so long, because it's inflexible and uninsurable, and uncommercial and all those things. I'm not sure whether that's something anyone could expect to get in their Christmas stocking this year – common sense on energy policy from the Coalition.

JOURNALIST: Peter Dutton this morning, said that the Federal government actually supports nuclear energy, and it's just saying that they don't because of the Greens, pointing to the AUKUS deal. What do you make of that response?

WILSON: Well, Peter Dutton comes up with something new and bizarre every single day, and when it comes to this sort of nuclear fantasy, you can let your imagination run wild as far as what he might say next. So, we've been absolutely clear on this issue, as on most issues, in saying that that's not the future for Australia. The future for Australia is a clean energy transition, taking action on climate change, delivering on all our comparative advantages when it comes to renewable energy resources and entrepreneurship and innovation. What the CSIRO and AEMO show is the least cost path, which is 82% renewables by 2030 firmed by battery storage and other kinds of technologies to deliver the cheapest, most reliable, cleanest energy for Australians. Not to wait until some time in the 2040s for this dangerous, bizarre, eye-wateringly expensive fantasy that Peter Dutton wants to perpetrate on the Australian community.

JOURNALIST: Why do you think he’s waiting to release the costings?

JOSH WILSON: Well, you'd have to ask him. I think you people could guess, why would you wait to release something in the shadows of Christmas, unless you thought that it was going to be utterly ridiculous, unless you were concerned that it would show that everything you've said about nuclear has been a lie, that it's been a con, a trick to try to cover up the fact that this is the outfit for nine years that couldn't be bothered to have a national energy policy that saw energy generation in the Australian energy sector reduce. They haven't been able to have an energy plan in government. They don't have an energy plan in opposition. They've announced this nuclear fantasy six or seven months ago without a skerrick of factual information or detail. We wait to see what next kind of bizarre excuse they can come up with for trying to perpetrate this fraud on the Australian people.

JOURNALIST: Speaking of the new and bizarre things that Peter Dutton many have announced this morning. Are you across his plan for this national taskforce, and do you support that concept?

BURNS: Look, I've obviously seen a press release this morning, and I think my general rule on all of these things is that we need to be open-minded about what steps and what policies we can take at this time. Obviously, what happened last week on Friday was completely unacceptable. It’s sent shock waves throughout the community. People, I think, of all faiths, look at a synagogue being burnt down, and go: I don't want that happening to my community, and I don't want that happening to anyone in Australia or anywhere around the world. So, we've just got to be open-minded. We've got to work through these in a sensible way, not do it in a haphazard way, and actually support the community, and that's my focus right now.

JOURNALIST: A key part of his plan is on visas and being able to deport people easier if they're being antisemitic. Do you think that's actually the solution to this issue?

BURNS: Well, there's already powers to deport people or to cancel someone's visa. The Minister has that ability at the moment, and I would hope that anyone who is vilifying, discriminating or acting in a racist way in Australia, if they are here visiting, enjoying our country, then that will be looked at anyway, as a matter of course. I don't think that's particularly [inaudible].  

JOURNALIST: On that point, though Dutton says we have the laws to take action. What he says we lack is the political will. What's your response to that?

BURNS: Since last Friday, all I have done is spend as much time with my community, to listen to them, to engage them and support them and represent them to get things done. 

Yesterday, the Prime Minister made an announcement around increased security funding. That's a really important thing. It was turned around really quickly. But it doesn't end there. I wish it didn't have to come to security funding for the Jewish community - who wants that? [Inaudible] like that's the reality we have right now, that our schools and our synagogues have to be fortified. The work doesn't end there, because we also need to look to the medium and long term about how we return to that vibrant, multicultural Australia that respects people's ability to go about their day and practice their faith in peace and calm and in quiet. That's going to take time, but that is the political will that I've got to support my community – and in my conversations with the Prime Minister and all of my colleagues, that's what they want as well.  

JOURNALIST: Does that package though need to include armed guards? Apparently, it only includes unarmed guards. Some of the Jewish venues already have [inaudible], wouldn't it be helpful to have some money to fund that?

BURNS: Well, at the moment, schools and institutions are funding security works, guards and a whole range of different expenses. The funding that we've announced yesterday is one where that's really designed to reduce the cost for community organisations and to also look at what else can be done. I'm open to all suggestions. I'm open to working through these matters with not only community leadership, but also across government. I'm not here to turn down any particular requests of the Jewish community, and I'll continue to work across my [inaudible].

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]…a lot of what you were just talking about being open to suggestions, they were saying the time is over for that. They don't want talk, they want action now. So, do you think that you're actually getting that, or they're actually getting that action from your government?

BURNS: Within a matter of hours, $32 million was turned around by government. That is something that is really important, and there's more to be done, and we can't rest on just security funding, we have to look at all different aspects of how we combat racism, what are the places in which we are seeing a hotbed of racism or a hotbed of discrimination? The other thing I'm doing right now is leading an inquiry into antisemitism on our university campuses. This has been a place where Jewish kids are hiding their identity. They're choosing not to go to university. They're choosing to take off anything that would make them visibly Jewish because of fear, of intimidation or vilification. The special envoy into antisemitism, which was appointed by us and will work in long through the next election and into the future, has been working with universities around a definition on antisemitism, which would be really important in ensuring that universities have a benchmark to be able to determine what's happening on their campus, is it antisemitic, is it not. There is a lot of action going on right now.

JOURNALIST: Do they need a definition Josh?

BURNS: Absolutely, because there are lots of different aspects of campus life, what happens in lectures, what happens in classes, what happens in you know, the university grounds that a lot of people, frankly, have dismissed it as not being antisemitic, and that's why it's important to have a benchmark to be able to say these things are. And we want to protect freedom of speech, we want to protect freedom of academic thought. But there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and that's what I'm continuing to focus on.

JOURNALIST: Peter Dutton says that you’d lost your voice long ago on matters of antisemitism.

BURNS: I have actually just had a little throat tickle.

JOURNALIST: [inaudible]…figure of speech, I said to him that you have lost your voice on the weekend, but you were there standing with James Patterson, he still attacked you this morning putting you in the same class as Anthony Albanese – do you have a response to that?

BURNS: It has been my life, my world, my community, my office was attacked. I have spent every day working as hard as I can with my community and standing up for them. It doesn't serve the Jewish community with the arguing amongst ourselves. It doesn't serve the Jewish community to be fighting amongst the political class. Peter Dutton can say whatever he likes about me, I honestly couldn't care less. I'm interested in supporting my community. I'm interested in being a representative for them and to get things done for them so they can go about their lives and enjoy the multicultural Australia. That's what I'm focused on, because right now, the community is hurting, and we need to do more to ensure that they remain safe in this wonderful country. Thank you.