ABC Central Coast Breakfast with Scott Levi

Topics: Broadband connectivity, government investment in trade and apprenticeships, comments regarding Prime Minister Scott Morrison

SCOTT LEVI:

And the Minister for Employment, Workforce, and Small and Family Business, Stuart Robert, joins us on the line. Good morning.

MINISTER ROBERT:

Good to talk to you. Great to be here on the Central Coast, as always, although it's never forgotten. Never ever. I've been here many times.

SCOTT LEVI:

I know that. We're just running a story you may have missed this morning about all of the other LGAs that were flooded being given that $20,000 payment for people whose homes were ruined. And we've got dozens of homes on the Lower Hawkesbury in the Central Coast LGA and also Tuggerah Lakes. I'm sure the state government will rectify that oversight, but it has people a bit angry at the moment. So that's where I was referring to a state issue. This one not actually your fault, so don't worry. But yeah, that was a reference to that. But the idea that people can work from home more. I think we explored that during the lockdown. The ALP has promised Aussie families and businesses high quality, high speed internet, full fibre access to 1.5 million premises. Will the Coalition help out in improving internet access on the Central Coast, especially for business in regional areas like ours, where we have such a large commuter population?

MINISTER ROBERT:

When we came to power in 2013, if you remember there were, I think, 230-ish homes connected to what was then the NBN. I mean, that’s it. A couple hundred. Now the coverage is well in front with a nine in front of it in that respect. So there is extraordinary coverage in terms of NBN with high speed and high broadband plans available for people. And I know the Labor Party is fixated on getting a fibre connection to every single home, but what matters is the bandwidth, how much bandwidth you can get, noting the majority of bandwidth continues to get used right across family from schoolwork to gaming to business and to movies on demand. But we need to continue to up the bandwidth and make sure it's there. But that is not about getting fibre to your doorstep. It's ensuring that you've got access to what you need and the NBN is delivering.

SCOTT LEVI:

This was business premises, though. I think they were promising 1.5 million new business premises. Is that something- you know, there was- last election, I spoke to Scott Morrison and the gigabit city was raised for Gosford, you know, which is languishing a bit as you saw. And he said, great idea. Bring it on. Excellent idea. But it was more of a thought bubble, I guess, then. Is that though? Are those sorts of ideas a way to get people off the commuter treadmill?

MINISTER ROBERT:

It all comes down to the sort of business you're in. If you think through during COVID, we had a lot of people working from home, which was tremendous. Many can't, of course, in terms of infrastructure, transport, food production, and supply. Core areas of our economy just can't do that. But those in the office space can, depending upon who their business is and who they're working for. And you saw a lot of that in terms of schooling, although we want our kids back to school. So working from home has probably got a lot more to do with the productivity that can be driven, the business process, and what the small business, or indeed the larger firm’s policies are. We saw during COVID the capacity to do that with existing broadband was very, very strong and we've continued to invest in that. So if there are opportunities for people to do that, they should take them up with their employer, absolutely. More time at home, more productive. Sounds like a great idea.

SCOTT LEVI:

Alright. We're speaking with Stuart Robert, the Minister for Employment, Workforce, and Business, and you were on the coast looking at business and training opportunities yesterday. What did you see there?

MINISTER ROBERT:

I've been here many times now. It never ceases to amaze me how impressive some of our businesses are and what they do. One of the biggest businesses, of course, is BORG Industries. And just seeing the automation of what they've done in their factories, speaking to their hundreds of apprentices and well over a thousand staff is extraordinary. And then seeing a lot of young ladies and what we call non-traditional apprentices. So, speaking to Elicia at Terrigal, from Terrigal Electrical, she's 22, and she's in a second year apprenticeship as a sparky, and getting her to show me around site and what she's doing and what she's learning and why she's there and the other mature age apprentices - because remember the majority of people looking for work on the Central Coast now are actually not young. They're over the age of 21. So really impressed just to see the government's investment in apprenticeships, the investment in skilling making a difference.

SCOTT LEVI:

And when you look at those giant work premises, the giant warehouses at BORG from the air just covered in solar panels and using inverters and generating their own power. What about the transition away from fossil fuels? We've just had the UN absolutely slam Australia and many of the other countries who they say are not doing what we should be doing. What did you think of the UN's intergovernmental summation of the state of play when it comes to man-made climate change? And how can business transition, because they seem to be leading the way, don't they? People like BORG with such a huge power source from the sun.

MINISTER ROBERT:

Yeah, they've done a superb job. Their electricity bill is still very high, of course, because they're running 24/7 machinery through there, and the renewables are superb when the sun is shining during the day. But they’ve, of course, got to draw on baseload power during the night. There's just no way around that. That's the reality of how renewables work. I've got 15 kilowatts in my house as well, which is wonderful during the day. But of course, I, like you, draw on baseload during the night. And that's where baseload power, in many cases in Australia from coal, is so important. We'll transition through into gas. And then, of course, the government is doubling down with record investment in hydrogen, and I'm sitting in Newcastle as we speak and about to go and see what the University of Newcastle is doing in the work in hydrogen. We think there's real opportunity there and that's why the government is backing very heavily that there. But coal will have a very, very strong future. And the projections -

SCOTT LEVI:

[Interrupts] But if we don't get onto that, we won't have a future. That's what the UN is saying.

MINISTER ROBERT:

Well, we're 1.3 per cent of emissions. And since we started to lean into this, our emissions are down 21 per cent since 2005, higher than New Zealand, higher than Japan, higher than United States, higher than Canada. We are certainly doing a cracker of a job in getting our emissions down. Over seven gigawatts of new renewable energy went into the grid last year. So we are leaning heavily into this. But the reality is we have to be able to replace that baseload power. We just have to do that. You can't turn the lights off and go home. So coal will have a strong future as we move into gas and then all going well, we can get hydrogen down to $2 a kilogram and then happy days. But coal's got a strong future going forward, at least in the medium term.

SCOTT LEVI:

Alright. Look, we could talk about this for a while, but we'll just finish on what's making news at the moment with your Party. And New South Wales Liberal Upper House MP, Catherine Cusack, who's resigning from the Legislative Council, claims the Prime Minister has ruined the Liberal Party, accusing him of ruthless bullying. Your response to that, given Mr Morrison wants to be Prime Minister for another term? 

MINISTER ROBERT:

Just ignore these MPs or senators who've got an axe to grind, and they think the best way to do it is in a hyper media sensitive play during an election campaign. I've known the Prime Minister for 15 years. He's an extraordinary individual. MP after MP after minister has come out to say this is completely ridiculous. And then you get these fringe MPs who are leaving. They think they can throw a grenade at the last minute. We all know it's rubbish. We all know it comes from spite and malice, and we should leave it there.

SCOTT LEVI:

Stuart Robert, thanks for joining us.

MINISTER ROBERT:

Great to talk to you.