August 29, 2024
KENNY HEATLEY: Australia’s Energy Market Operator is asking major stakeholders in the energy market to have emergency electricity reserves and cut power to large users to reduce the risk of an energy shortfall and blackouts in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia during warmer months. Joining me now live is Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister, James Paterson. Good to see you again, James. AEMO argues it's critical that expected energy projects, including renewables and transmission lines, are delivered on time and in full. Do you have confidence that will happen?
JAMES PATERSON: Good morning Kenny. I wish I could say that I did, but really, let's pause for a second and just remark on how significant it is that in a rich country like Australia, we have the energy market operator warning us that blackouts are a possibility this summer and every summer from here onwards through to 2027 and beyond. That's an extraordinary thing. And it's because we have a government which has completely failed to manage the energy system, which is exacerbating the challenges in that market, which has an unachievable objective of reaching 82% renewables by 2030, when everyone in the industry now publicly, but also privately for some time, has been saying that's completely unachievable. It's unrealistic. We need reliable baseload energy in the system. We need that in the grid. Otherwise we're going to have blackouts and Australians are going to continue to pay the price.
HEATLEY: Australian taxpayers will foot the bill for a Pacific Island region wide police response force, paying $400 million over the next five years, and establish new police training centres across the region. Do you see this as a diplomatic win for Australia?
PATERSON: Look, this is a very important initiative, and the Opposition provides unqualified bipartisan support for that. It is in our national interest that we help our Pacific family and friends underpin their security and safety, and that we do so in a way consistent with the principles of the Pacific first. That Pacific island nations, including Australia, provide security for our region. So it's a very positive initiative. It actually continues initiatives that came about under the previous government as part of the Pacific Step Up deal. It's entirely consistent with those, and we support it strongly.
HEATLEY: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused a New Zealand journalist of unethical behaviour after he was caught in a hot mic scenario, asking a US diplomat to go halvies in the Pacific Police Response Force. What's your reaction to that?
PATERSON: Frankly, I thought it was pretty unedifying for the Prime Minister to blame a journalist for his own indiscretions. He's in a public place where there are journalists and diplomats and others. If he's having unguarded conversations, that's his responsibility, not the journalist's. And this is typical of him not wanting to take responsibility and looking to blame others. Why is he picking on some young New Zealand journalist, singling her out for just doing her job? He's engaging in a newsworthy conversation in a public arena. He can expect to be filmed, and it's up to him to provide the decorum that is required in that environment.
HEATLEY: Just on another issue, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan accused the Opposition leader of pulling at the fabric of the nation over Palestinian visas. Miss Allan said Peter Dutton's comments had made her deeply uncomfortable as she welcomed more Palestinian refugees to Victoria. What's your response to her fiery speech?
PATERSON: The only person we would be less likely to take advice from on national security and community safety than Tony Burke is Jacinta Allan. I mean, this is a premier who has presided over a youth crime crisis in Melbourne who weakened the bail laws, who was warned not to do that. And we now have a situation where young people are stealing cars in the middle of night, using machetes. Arrested the next day and released again on bail to go and re-offend against the community. What she was outlining in that speech is a proposal that we should effectively do no security screening at all, or checks at all, for anyone who claims to be a refugee and wants to come to this country. Well, it is a great thing for our country that Jacinta Allan is only in the Victorian Parliament and not the Federal Parliament, because that is a dangerously naive attitude to take towards national security. What we're calling for is proper security checks, not just handing out 3,000 tourist visas, as the Albanese government has done to people fleeing a war zone controlled by a terrorist organisation.
HEATLEY: James Paterson, appreciate your time. Thank you.
ENDS
