Tuesday, 16 September 2025

E&OE

Peter Stefanovic:

Well, joining us live now is the Shadow Industrial Relations Minister, Tim Wilson. Tim, it's good to have you with us on this Tuesday morning. So I guess it's all dependent on the Libs locking into net zero. Are the Libs going to do that?

Tim Wilson MP:

Well, everyone in the Coalition shares the same fundamental objective. We all believe that we want to make sure there's consistent energy policy driven by having net zero price increases. We want net zero outages. And I don't think people are stressed about us having emissions reduction, but we want to make sure that energy policy is driven by net zero price increases and net zero outages, the Labor Government is focused on having energy policy solely driven by net zero emissions and they don't care how much prices rise, they don t care how much there's unreliability in our electricity grid. We need to remember what the government promised us. They said under their policy that prices would go down, they've gone up. They said emissions would go down, they've gone up or now they're flatlined. They said that there wouldn't be problems around reliability and there are. So people are speaking their mind because there's a process because what we want is to make sure that we build a sustainable future for Australia.

Peter Stefanovic:

So you are going to sign up to net zero by 2050 or not?

Tim Wilson MP:

As I said, we're going through the process right now, but what we want to do is make sure we have energy policy that is focused on building the future of Australia. And at the moment, the government is focused on managing Australia's decline. And the Prime Minister can throw every bit of interference out there that he wants. Chris Bowen can throw out every bit of interference that he wants. The reality is they're not focused on building Australia's future. And it's very important to understand this. There's currently a fight and word on the street is Albo is about to sack Chris Bowen. And so Chris Bowen is constantly upping the stakes because he wants to put a maximum pressure to keep himself on the job. We're not gonna play their game. We're gonna focus on building Australia's future.

Peter Stefanovic:

So what's the right path for the government to be taking here? You might have just heard the Prime Minister talking to Kieran Gilbert who reminded folks that there is relief that's coming via energy rebates. There is the continuation of a record solar rollout in millions of homes across Australia now and more and more folks are picking up batteries. The government is continuing to say gas is a transitional tool that will be used going forward. So what would you add to that?

Tim Wilson MP:

Well, my view is we need to address the problem of baseload power. What we've got is state governments decommissioning existing energy generation, and we need something to replace it. Because it's not just about having energy for the grid, it's about people going on then and investing in things like manufacturing. Energy sovereignty matters. Making sure that people look at Australia as a place to invest to build jobs and economic opportunity matters. Because that's the basis that future generations can have confidence that they're gonna be able to get well-paid jobs to then go on and buy a home and provide for their families. So it's part of a bigger story. It's not just about having a little bit of cash to households is getting through the fact the government hasn't delivered on their policy of reduced prices. That's the only way they're covering for themselves.

Peter Stefanovic:

How do you reconcile your views on net zero with that report yesterday that came out?

Tim Wilson MP:

Well, I'm quite comfortable with my views. I mean, I just read the report, and I've got a copy of it right in front of me. There's 284 pages, and this is a section on future scenarios, "While advancements in climate models enable the projection of future hazards, projecting future risks remain challenging due to dynamic interactions between exposure, vulnerability, and response." Having studied climate science at a postgraduate level, that's a fair assessment of the dynamic ranges associated with it. We take proportionate policy positions. Addressing the science and making sure we're building Australia's future because it's part of a global challenge. Australia has a role to play, but even if we got emissions for Australia down to zero tomorrow, we're still exposed to the global challenge that other countries to take action too.

Peter Stefanovic:

No, that's true. One percent of global emissions. I'll shade over one percent of global emissions we are. And yeah, unless China and India and the US and Russia do more, then whatever we do doesn't matter.

Tim Wilson MP:

Every country.

Peter Stefanovic:

That’s right. So did you think parts of it went over the top?

Tim Wilson MP:

Well, I haven't gone through every single section of 284 pages, but as always, there's the science, then there's what politicians put out there, and they try and draw attention to themselves. And in Chris Bowen's case, he's trying to protect his job because the Prime Minister is... word on the street about to sack him, so he's trying to make himself the attention and raise the stakes. So I've no doubt Chris Bowen is inflaming the subject.

Peter Stefanovic:

Tim, just on that previous story that we had on social media, how confident are you that big tech companies will play ball with helping governments protect our kids?

Tim Wilson MP:

Marginal, to be honest. Big tech companies are always cautious about regulation and they look at Australia and they see us setting precedents. It's important to make sure that they're doing the right thing and obeying, of course, Australian law. But we also have to make sure that we're not overstepping the mark and creating rules and regulations which force all Australians into backdoor identity schemes. So that's part of the challenge for them and part of the challenge for government.

Peter Stefanovic:

Tim Wilson, live with us in Perth this morning, I know you've got an economic round table there involving small businesses, but I've run out of time on that note but you're there doing your thing and thank you for appearing with us this morning. We'll talk to you soon.

ENDS