Interview on AM Agenda with Tom Connell

Subjects: Coalition climate policy, housing affordability and NIMBYism

E&OE………

Tom Connell

So standing by, Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg, who's joining us live as we talk climate policy, of course, for the Coalition. Andrew Bragg, thank you for your time.

Senator Bragg

Tom, how are you?

Tom Connell

This change in policy or announcement, call it what you will. So no target, 2030 or 2035 target, will be set by the Coalition before the election. Did this go through Party Room?

Senator Bragg

Well, I'm not sure it's a particularly new policy, Tom. I mean, we voted against the Climate Target Bill, and we did it on basis that a number of other countries actually don't legislate their international targets or their internationally agreed targets into domestic law. So we are committing to a Net Zero plan, and we are committing to the Paris Agreement. So I'm not sure that a huge amount has actually changed here.

Tom Connell

Well, at some point, there was a call made, maybe you're saying it was made a long time ago, that there'd be no 2030 or 2035 target before the election. You previously had a 26-28% target. So you did have a target. So it's a shift from that. Did that shift go through Party Room?

Senator Bragg

Well, I think that the key point here is that there is going to be policy which shows how are you going to be able to achieve some of these reductions, and that's the most important point. And as someone who went to the COP meetings in Dubai last year, there are a range of different approaches that different countries take. As I say, some countries don't legislate their targets into domestic law at all. So the idea that this is to the be-all and end-all is misguided.

Tom Connell

Well, Australia did, and they did under the last Coalition government. Let me just try one more time. Did this go through Party Room?

Senator Bragg

Well, I don't think that this is a massive change in policy here. I mean, what you see is the continuation of the policy that we…

Tom Connell

But as I said, it was a change from last election. You had 26-28%. That was a 2030 target. Now you're not going to have a target for the next election. That's a change. And I'm asking if that change went through Party Room.

Senator Bragg

Well, we voted against the Bill.

Tom Connell

Right, so voting against that Bill meant that you were voting to have no target yourself at all?

Senator Bragg

Well, I mean, as you know, there'll be more policy announced before the election, but we voted against the Bill. We're committed to Paris and we're committed to the Net Zero approach overall. That's the most important target. And somebody who went to the COP meetings in Dubai, I can tell you that there's a lot of countries that are going to battle to get to Net Zero. So we've got to do absolutely everything we can, and we'll probably need all the time to actually achieve the final target.

Tom Connell

Okay. What can you tell voters, particularly perhaps in some of those teal seats around your approach to climate. Once you get in and you figure out what's achievable, will there still be ambition within the Coalition on a climate policy?

Senator Bragg

I mean, the idea the targets are the be-all and end-all is really misguided. I mean, Labor's got a 1.2 million new houses target, that they've got no chance of meeting. I mean, their own advisor would say that they'll never meet the target, they're 25% off. So the idea that you legislate something and then the problem is solved is really, I think, quite cello thinking. What we'll be saying is that we are in Paris and we are in Net Zero. And there'll obviously be more policy to be announced before the election.

Tom Connell

Net Zero by 2050 is one thing. That's so far off, you can just say it. That's actually a lot less relevant than the short term targets, because, what the Climate Accord also says is we have a so-called carbon budget. So every year, and how much you emit, matters. So what you're saying there when I asked you, you know, what would you say to a teal voter? You're basically saying targets don't matter. Just worry about Net Zero by 2050. Is that your message?

Senator Bragg

Well, as you know, the decarbonisation of the economy is a very complicated equation. You've got to find a way to decarbonise the electricity grid, you've got industry, you've got agriculture. You've got a very complex formula there. So there'll be policy to support all those things. We already have policy development underway on household electrification, for example.

Tom Connell

Okay, look, I'll move on. I want to talk about housing with you as well, your responsibility, if you like. The latest ABS figures, say a home in Australia, the average value is $959,000, that's up $14,000 in three months. Is that too expensive? Is that out of reach? Do we have an inherent affordability problem?

Senator Bragg

I think that's right. And unless you build more houses, you never solve the problem, which is why it's very important that we, the Liberal Party, is a party of supply and development, and that we eschew NIMBYism.

Tom Connell

Okay, but house building is one thing. The market is so big, that's not going to bring down prices. Do you have any policies to increase the stock of affordable, specifically affordable housing?

Senator Bragg

It's a $10 trillion dollar market, as you say. So it's a very large market. And so a lot of the policies that have been announced by various parties won't make a huge difference. But ultimately, the way you solve the problem is to build more houses, and we're going backwards in Australia. Just five, six years ago, we were building 230,000 houses, and now we're only building 170,000 houses, despite Labor spending billions and billions on huge housing bureaucracies that build no houses.

Tom Connell

We'll talk about that again soon, I'm sure. You'll have to excuse me because we're off to the Prime Minister, who's begun talking. Liberal Senator, Andrew Bragg. Thanks for your time. Prime Minister, as I said, taking questions.

[Ends]