(Image: Tom Red/Private Media)

The following is the edited transcript of the opening of a media conference Scott Morrison didn’t hold on August 10, 2021.

Good afternoon, everyone. I’m pleased to be able to join you here. I’m joined of course by the treasurer and Minister Angus Taylor. Thank you, Angus. It’s good to see you. Can I just make a couple of opening remarks before I throw to Josh and he’ll be followed by Angus who’ll be outlining the detail of our plans.

We all know that the world is in a serious battle with climate change. We’ve all seen the impacts that climate change is having already, be they the Black Summer bushfires and droughts here in Australia, or wildfires in North America or floods in Germany and the current fires that rage in Greece and Turkey. Of course our hearts go out to those people and just recently I have spoken with the prime minister of Greece about what help Australia could provide in that terrible tragedy.

We’ve always faced the challenge of climate change the Australian way, and got Australian results. Now, it hasn’t always been easy and I think everyone here knows how difficult this issue has been. But we’re on track to meet and beat our 2030 Paris Agreement targets which will be an amazing achievement.

But this week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report shows that the challenge of climate change is even greater than we feared. We’re warming faster than expected and are going to reach the kind of milestones that we hoped to avoid much sooner than expected. For a country like Australia we know only too well the harm inflicted by droughts, floods, storms and high temperatures. We know it’s bad for our economy. For some of our biggest industries. And it’s bad for our kids. I was speaking to Jenny only the other night and she urged me to think about the kind of world that our daughters would be raising their children in, and that really brought home to me what’s at stake.

So today I’m announcing new targets that I will be presenting at the Glasgow Climate Change Conference in late October. There’s been a lot of focus on Australia reaching net zero emissions and of course our preference has been to accomplish that by 2050, if possible. However, it’s clear that more urgent action is needed and so accordingly I will be committing Australia to a target of 48% emissions reductions by 2030, on 2005 levels.

Now, we will do this with technology, not taxes. And we have the technological tools to accomplish this transition now. Renewable energy plus storage is now the cheapest form of electricity production, be they battery storage or pumped hydro. We’ll be committing an extra $10 billion over the next 10 years to support private investment in renewables to take Australia to 60% renewable energy by 2030.

We’ll also be asking owners of coal-fired power stations to bring forward their closure so that our entire fleet of coal-fired power stations will be shut down by 2030, and we’ll be tasking the Energy Security Board with advising on what infrastructure investments we’ll need to make now, in collaboration with the states, to support the shift in generation capacity.

We’ll also be ending the sale of non-electric passenger vehicles by 2030 and offering a significant incentive program for the purchase of electric heavy vehicles.

Now, Australia has always been one of the superpowers of coal and we remain so today. But we need to take responsibility for emissions from our fuels even when we sell it overseas. As a consequence, we’ll be prohibiting the export of thermal coal from 2030 and imposing a tariff from 2025 on all LNG exports to reflect the real costs imposed by greenhouse emissions from that fuel source.

Now, of course there will be many jobs created in this transition but there will also be people who lose their jobs. And we’re committed to looking after them. All new energy investment will of course be directed to regional areas to create thousands of new jobs. And there will be a $10 billion support program to assist every single worker who is displaced by the transition, with income support, training support and assistance for regional businesses also affected by the transition. We will make sure not merely that no one is left behind in the transition, but that regional communities emerge stronger and more resilient, with growing jobs in booming energy industries.

I know many people will say that Australia only generates a tiny amount of global carbon emissions and certainly very little compared to countries like China. But Australians, be they of any walk of life, have always been proud of the way we’ve led the world. We’ve led the world with our economy, 30 years without a recession until this terrible pandemic. We led the world in keeping loss of life from the pandemic at bay.

And recently our athletes have all made us so proud with their amazing achievements at the Tokyo Olympics where we recorded our best ever result, and now our Paralympians are about to do the same I’m sure. Aussies are born leaders and we’re always keen to show the world that there might only be 26 million of us but we punch above our weight. So I’m proud to say Australia will lead the world on addressing the challenge of climate change just like we’ve led the world in so many other areas, once again aiming for a gold medal finish in one of the most challenging events of our lifetime.

It can be done. It will be done. I have great faith in the Australian people to get this done. Tremendous faith in their determination and their motivation to get this job done. Because I’ve seen it, each and every day, as we’ve led together, Australia, through this crisis. I’ve seen their courage. I’ve seen their selflessness. I’ve seen their determination. I’ve seen their sacrifice, and that is what has got Australia through to where we are today. Josh?