KARL STEFANOVIC:
Good morning, to you, Treasurer. The Sydney commuter chaos turns out it wasn't solely unions' fault. Was the PM right to weigh in or did he just go off half cooked?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
The PM is absolutely right to shine the light on this unacceptable behaviour, this threatening behaviour by the unions, a sign of things to come for the Australian economy were Anthony Albanese ever to get into government. Because he didn't stand up for the people of Sydney yesterday. He didn't speak out about the disruptions to their lives in the way that he should have. I mean, we had aged‑care workers who needed to get on site. We had police, we had firies, we had other essential services workers who use our train system. And to see it come to a halt in Sydney yesterday was very regrettable. But this is not the first time we've seen threats like this and, indeed, behaviour like this. We just had a few weeks ago the ACTU threatening broader strikes across the country. And that would have disrupted supply chains.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
It was Sydney Trains, to be fair, that shut the gates.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That was yesterday. But what we saw just earlier this year was comments by the union movement that would have really put into doubt whether Australia could continue to operate in the middle of this pandemic with important supply chains.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Okay. A bit to get through this morning. Tech billionaire Mike Cannon‑Brookes is vowing to push ahead with his plan to buy AGL and close down hits coal‑fired power stations. Geez, we like the cut of this guy's jib. He has a war chest of $2 billion to re‑invest coal‑free AGL. Why wouldn't you support that takeover?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Firstly, the shareholders of AGL, Karl, need to support this takeover, and that's obviously got a long way to run, because the initial comments from the board have not been supportive. It would also need to go through the regulatory approval process. No doubt the competition regulator would look at it.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
But in principle.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
In principle we understand that there's a transition across the energy system. Indeed, we've been encouraging it. We've invested record amounts in renewable energy – one in four Australia households have solar panels on their roofs. People are actually voting with their feet. But what our responsibility is as a government is to reduce emissions but also to ensure that energy and electricity particularly is affordable and that the system is reliable.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
But he says…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
And the case in point is what happens…
KARL STEFANOVIC:
But he says he can do it a lot quicker. He denies all this, vehemently denies it. He says there won't be any supply issues. He says bills will not go higher. He says the aged assets are the problems. He says, "I have the luxury of not being a politician, so I get to speak facts and science and economics, not fables and stories." It sounds to me like you're getting spooked by a credible private sector solution.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Karl, let me give you an indisputable fact: when Hazelwood closed in Victoria that was about a quarter of the energy supply. And what that saw was a spike of around 85 per cent in the wholesale electricity price. Victoria suddenly went from being a net energy exporter to being an energy importer, particularly from New South Wales at times of high demand. Now the people who pay the most as a proportion of their income for higher electricity prices are the more disadvantaged members of our community. We welcome more investment in renewables, but we also have a responsibility to tell it as it is, which is that Australia needs to maintain the stability of our grid and the affordability of power.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Okay. We'll put that to him. He's coming up in about 10 minutes' time.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That would be good, Karl, because over the last two years electricity prices in Australia have fallen by 8 per cent, but under Labor they doubled.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
And I get protecting jobs in some of those markets. It is important, that transition. He says he can do it quicker. We'll put it to him in 10 minutes' time. Moving on – you're about to spend $800 million on the Antarctic defence. What's the point exactly? Are our territories and positions under some kind of threat there?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
We have a great history of exploration, scientific research in the Antarctic and, in fact, we claim 42 per cent of sovereignty of that continent. And we have a great history that goes back to Sir Douglas Mawson in the early 1900s with his heroic expeditions. What we're investing in here is the latest technology and marine research and science. Because understanding what happened all those years ago in the Antarctic through looking at the ice and going deep, deep down can give you an understanding of climate change and what is happening, so we're investing…
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Josh, Josh, this has go…
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…in drones, we're investing in helicopters, lots of areas.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
You're worried about the threat from China and Russia down there. I mean, Chinese bases have been working happily inside our territory for years now.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
Sure. Sure.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
What? Suddenly they're a threat?
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
In terms of their expansion of their activities that is something that we're watching very closely. But if you look at these investments – helicopters, we're investing in drones, we're investing in autonomous vehicles, we're also investing in more marine research. We've recently purchased a new vessel. We're heavily investing in the Antarctic because this is important for Australia. And, yes, there are other claimants down there. There are other countries who are increasingly active, and we want to ensure that Australia's national interest is protected.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
Okay. All right. Just finally, I see you've personally authorised election ads are being contributed on WeChat, despite being told to quit the platform. You are a naughty boy. You've also authorised a feature story about you being the next Australian Prime Minister. This feature story goes on to say you are a future political superstar with dazzling super human potential. I mean, can you believe you've authorised your own PR on WeChat? I mean, you're having a go at Anthony Albanese for Chinese links.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
I can't believe it because that's not true. What I have done is advertise with the Financial News, which is an advertising platform. And I find it quite amusing, Karl, that the Labor Party's bringing attention to our attack ads on Anthony Albanese and making very clear that he has supported every tax under the sun from the carbon tax and the congestion tax to the retirees and to the housing tax. I don't have a WeChat account. I would like to. I applied for it; they didn't give it to me. Just like they didn't give it to the Prime Minister. And it's wrong that the Prime Minister and I can't have a WeChat site and we can't communicate that way with the Australian Chinese community, but Anthony Albanese can. I'd say to you, get your facts right, we don't sponsor articles like that.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
No.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
What we do is we support content…
KARL STEFANOVIC:
We know.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
…including bringing a shining light to Anthony Albanese.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
We know that it's factually wrong when it says "dazzling superhuman potential". Thanks Treasurer, good to talk to you.
JOSH FRYDENBERG:
That's just your view. That's just your view.
KARL STEFANOVIC:
You're dazzling. I love it. Thanks, Treasurer, talk to you soon.