E&OE TRANSCRIPT
SUBJECTS: IPCC report into climate; China’s stance on the war in Ukraine
PETER STEFANOVIC, HOST: Let's send it over to Canberra now. Joining us live is the NDIS and Government Services Minister Bill Shorten. Bill, good morning to you. So big screaming headline there from the UN overnight, it says humanity is on thin ice. What's the Government's response to that dire warning this morning?
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Well, the IPCC report is important, but I'm not sure it's telling us anything that the government hasn't already been thinking about for a while. I think there is a good challenge in it, though. It says that it is possible to keep global temperatures within an increase of 1.5 Celsius. And you know, this week what it shows is that the Parliament of Australia, after 14 years of wasted opportunity, has got the chance to take out 205 cubic million tonnes of carbon emissions. So, the challenge is there, I think the IPCC is a reminder of why we need to pass the important laws we've got in Parliament this week because together we can actually give a better, hand on a better future to our kids than the one we've currently got.
STEFANOVIC: The UN argues that G20 nations, which would include us, should be net zero by 2040 now, so that's advanced by ten years. Would you support such a move?
SHORTEN: Well, we've got our policy settings. I'm not going to change them here. But what I do know is that if we can pass the Safeguards Mechanism legislation, we can make sure that industry has certainty to invest going forward. But we can make the biggest sizeable bite into our carbon emissions that the country has seen in over a decade. The Australian people don't want us, you know, the Greens and Labor and the Liberals all finger pointing. They just want us to get on with business. They just want to get us on with the process of modifying our operations so that we can take real action on climate. I think this week could be very exciting and I think that the IPCC report just reminds us that we have an opportunity to not make the mistakes that happened in 2009 and not to squander the future.
STEFANOVIC: Just the idea of net zero by 2040, when so much of the technology isn't around yet to get us to 2050, I mean, is that just - it seems like that's going to be too hard?
SHORTEN: Well, we're not changing our policy. We've set our goals.
STEFANOVIC: Okay.
SHORTEN: We've got a pretty ambitious plan to increase the amount of renewable energy in the grid. We're getting on with it with our reinvestment in tired infrastructure, with what we're doing with the safeguards mechanism. I you know, this week Parliament could actually work for the people and that's what Australians want. And I'm optimistic that with Minister Bowen and our legislation we can get it through the Senate.
STEFANOVIC: Just a final one on the report here. I think it's where it runs into trouble, because it argues that developed nations have to do more, but China is continuing its rapid coal expansion. So, in that sense, does the report fall on deaf ears?
SHORTEN: Well, there's the things we can control and there's the things we can't control. We can hope that China shows the sort of leadership that the IPCC report says is necessary. But what we can control is the decisions that we make as a nation. So, in politics, I've found through experience you can worry about the things that you can affect, and that's where our head's at. What can we do in this country.
STEFANOVIC: And just because you're in government, I do want to ask you about that meeting between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin overnight. What did that say to you?
SHORTEN: Well, China is taking its place in the world. But if you want to take your place in the world, with it comes an obligation of responsibility. The United Nations has condemned the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We're seeing - I met a delegation of Ukrainian politicians who are out here explaining to us how hard the Ukrainian people are fighting. Putin, the Russians are taking kids out of Ukraine to Russia. There's a lot of war crimes going on. I think as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China shouldn't contradict its stated desire for peace. It should actually back it in and encourage Putin to withdraw the Russian invaders from Ukrainian soil.
STEFANOVIC: Yeah, and also saying that he's not going to visit Kyiv. He'll just give Vladimir Zelensky a phone call instead. Bill, appreciate that. Thank you. We'll talk to you again soon.