Interview - Sky News Live Afternoon Agenda with Kieran Gilbert
Topics: Jobs in the energy and care sectors, vaccination rollout
KIERAN GILBERT:
Let’s bring in the Employment Minister, Stuart Robert. Thanks very much for your time Minister. The PM committing to create around 200- sorry, I should say 2500 jobs as part of this hydrogen and carbon capture parallel initiatives. Half a billion dollars, he's talking about. Does this repudiate, you know, the argument that's made from time to time that clean energy doesn't come with jobs?
MINISTER ROBERT:
We've made the point all along, Kieran. There's not one big bang, there's not one initiative that solves the problem of climate change. There are multiple initiatives, multiple technologies. And this is an example, again, of looking at carbon capture use and storage and hydrogen as another set of initiatives on our path towards a net zero approach to our economy. Many of them create jobs. Many of them build into what we need for a clean economy, and I thought the announcement from the Prime Minister and Minister Taylor was just excellent.
KIERAN GILBERT:
Is it in part, though, obviously, you know, we have to look at the commitment to that region, the local politics involved, but a lot of this is about the geopolitics of Joe Biden hosting a climate summit in 24 hours from now, and the Prime Minister needs something to take with him to that.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Oh, come on, Kieran. Minister Taylor announced the first hydrogen hub back in February. We're announcing a further four of them now to complement and build out on the fifth one. Hydrogen is something our country has been looking at for a long, long time. CSIRO has been heavily developing and investing into it, as have the states and territories.
KIERAN GILBERT:
Do you think that Australia can become a renewable energy superpower?
MINISTER ROBERT:
I think when it comes to hydrogen, the Prime Minister made it very clear he wants Australia and hydrogen to be synonymous. Hydrogen is the most ubiquitous substance in the universe, if you like, Kieran. It is everywhere, it surrounds us, its an opportunity for us to use a natural endowment and to drive it in, to build down, to double down on technology, not taxes approach. So I think there is every opportunity for Australia to be known as a hydrogen technology superpower and to be able to use hydrogen as a core part of powering our very much clean approach to our future.
KIERAN GILBERT:
Do you understand how some communities who are based on the traditional energy sources, like coal and so on, are anxious? Should the Government be up front in terms of what is a clear transition, as the Prime Minister articulated at the start of that news conference, that the world is building towards a clean energy future?
MINISTER ROBERT:
People are always anxious about change. That’s why there’s entire industries built around change management. And communities are always anxious about change. It's why we've been upfront to say that as we move towards Australia's clean energy future, as we move ahead towards net zero, it will not be done at the expense of the regions. It will not be done at the expense of our regional communities in the Hunter, where the Prime Minister has been speaking, and in the Central Coast where he was with Ms Wicks. It will not be done by using differential taxation to punish Australians. It'll be technology driven. And we'll be very upfront about the technology we're investing in, as you saw today, and the approaches we're taking, and we'll be taking the Australian people with us in a very upfront, very transparent manner, Kieran.
KIERAN GILBERT:
And just to look at another issue, I spoke to Clare O'Neil, she's the Shadow Minister for Aged Care. She spoke in a speech today about the massive potential for jobs, for increasing female participation in the workforce via aged care reforms. I know this is a centrepiece of Josh Frydenberg’s third budget, the aged care reform piece. Do you believe, as Employment Minister, there is scope to make this a huge job- jobs opportunity as well?
MINISTER ROBERT:
I do, but I think we need to think bigger. We need to think about a care workforce, not just across aged care, but across veterans and across the NDIS. We've added almost 40,000 new workers into the NDIS over the last few years. We'll need over 120,000 as we move forward towards aged care veterans in NDIS. And I believe we need to take a view of our care workforce. Now, the Treasurer will have a lot more to say about this in the budget, but the Government is very focused on the care workforce and the skills we need to deliver that care workforce. If you look right now at skills being trained, up in the top five is attend and care. Certificate 3 in Attendant Care is one of the most in demand skills, as Australians respond to the demand in this area. But I think we need to take a very wide lens on this, not just what Labor wants to do on aged care, but on the entire care industry across veterans, disability and aged care.
KIERAN GILBERT:
And yeah, well, obviously, there are those components as well, but that royal commission made it very clear that so many of our elderly are not receiving the sort of care and standards that they deserve. Is this also, in specifically aged care, a way to get more people into the workforce? And how do you attract them into a working environment, which is obviously very difficult and notoriously has very low wages?
MINISTER ROBERT:
I won't steal the Treasurer's thunder, Kieran, in terms of announcements in the Budget and how we'll deal with this entire care workforce, but suffice to say, this has been on the Government's planning radar for quite some time, starting in disability then branching out into aged care and veterans. We’ll take a very considered approach to it. We’ll ensure it's funded. We’ll ensure every opportunity is made for Australians to enter those skills and get the training they need. And right now, through the Government's JobTrainer approach, Australians can right now go and get training in those key areas. They can enter TAFEs or RTOs and do those Cert 3 in Attendant Care places that are either fully or partially subsidised, and we’ll continue to double down on that program as we move into the budget and as we respond to the royal commission into aged care.
KIERAN GILBERT:
Minister, finally on the vaccine rollout, the Prime Minister said he wants Australia to have an mRNA capacity. We've seen the change in terms of over 50s to now have access to the vaccine rollout. You've been someone who's worked, and as a minister, overseen logistical exercises, large ones, around the country. Do you think this is now at a tipping point where this is going to speed up?
MINISTER ROBERT:
No question about it. GPs will remain the centrepiece and National Cabinet signed off on that. We're working very closely with the state and territory ministers as we progress. And we'll do it together, which I think is the right approach for Australia. The idea of producing our own vaccines onshore continue to have enormous merit. Only 20 countries in the world, Kieran, actually have a domestic production. And as we've seen with AstraZeneca, over 3.2 million vaccines have not made it onto our shores. We need to control our destiny as much as possible in the vaccination program. So looking at how we increase our domestic production capability makes an enormous amount of sense.
KIERAN GILBERT:
Minister Stuart Robert, thanks for that. Appreciate it.
MINISTER ROBERT:
Thanks, Kieran. Cheers.
[ENDS]