JOURNALIST: Penny Wong is the most senior federal Labor politician in the state, shes Minister for Finance and Deregulation. And she joins us now, good morning Senator Wong.
WONG: Good morning to you both.
JOURNALIST: Will you support Tom Koutsantonis call for an Australian uranium enrichment industry?
WONG: No I dont. Thats not the sort of vision I want for South Australia. I think Tom is entitled to his view and certainly hes asking the right question which is: where do we want to be in 10 and 20 years? How do we secure our ongoing prosperity and increase the standard of living for South Australians?
But my view is that nuclear enrichment, uranium enrichment is not the way to go. Ive also said previously in relation to nuclear power, we dont need that in this country. We have abundant renewable resources and we should be putting our focus into making sure those are developed, which is what weve been doing since weve been in Government.
JOURNALIST: Do you concede that solar and wind energy cannot provide reliable baseload power; that has to be coal or nuclear?
WONG: I concede that our current technologies certainly dont enable solar to be used as baseload power in the way in which we use coal, absolutely. In fact Ive had that argument with some of the Greens Senators. Theres no switch you can flick. But that doesnt mean you dont continue to invest both in solar and in geothermal, for example, which is a potential alternative source of energy.
These are big technological challenges and we obviously have a lot of work to do government and the private sector. But we do have these resources, we should use them.
JOURNALIST: But if youre going to introduce a carbon tax, which will signal a death knell for, say, the Playford power station here in South Australia and worst still for all those jobs in Leigh Creek. But how are you going to replace the power currently provided by Playford?
WONG: The transition of the energy sector is critically important. It is of great importance now even without the introduction of a carbon price. I mean, one of the things we are battling in this nation at the moment is that we have had underinvestment in our energy generation because of the uncertainty associated with the carbon price.
JOURNALIST: So how are you going to replace Playford?
WONG: The first thing weve got to do is make sure we provide the certainty. I mean, the carbon price gives investors investment certainty. What we need in the energy sector is that certainty. What a carbon price does is gives an incentive to look to cleaner energy rather than to simply look to more polluting energy.
JOURNALIST: But thats the theory. The practical question
WONG: Its more than a theory because I think
JOURNALIST: Well thats your abstract goal. But I am asking you about a specific question. Here is a specific application of that policy. How would it relate to Playford power station? Would it close down within a few years perhaps two or three years and how would you replace the power currently provided by that station?
WONG: And what I am saying to you is the transition of the energy sector is absolutely one of the policy areas that Greg Combet and the Government will work through.
But what I think is important to remember is, weve got to remember that theres no such thing as just standing still. I mean Playford at some stage we will need to deal with how that capacity is going to continue. We know that our electricity sector is under-investing at the moment because of the uncertainty associated with carbon pricing and the fact that there isnt that clear signal.
You can understand that from an investors perspective. I mean, these are long life assets. They can be around for a number of decades. You are going to want to know what the investment environment is, including a carbon price. At the moment we are not seeing the type of investment we want, which is one of the reasons we want to introduce the carbon price.
JOURNALIST: Penny Wong, your faction doesnt control Labors national conference. Is the right faction firing a shot across your bow?
WONG: I read Toms comments and Kevin Foleys comments as their interest in this debate. I dont share their views and nor does the Party.
JOURNALIST: No, but youre
WONG: The Federal Partys platform prohibits the establishment both of nuclear power plants and all other stages of the nuclear fuel cycle, which includes enrichment.
JOURNALIST: I apologise for jumping in.
WONG: No thats OK.
JOURNALIST: It prohibited no new uranium mines until Mike Rann changed that. That was a South Australian change. In fact most of the changes to the Federal Government platform on uranium have come out of a South Australian state Labor Government going right back to John Bannons time. So why would the South Australian Labor Party not be able to force another change to the partys platform?
WONG: Well some people in the South Australian party are entitled to put their views in this debate. But what I am saying to you is, I think the Federal Partys position is very clear. And my position is very clear. And I suspect many people in the communitys position is very clear. This is not the sort of vision for South Australias future that many people would have.
JOURNALIST: Whats the big problem with enriching uranium in South Australia? Because you sell the stuff. Why cant you enrich it?
WONG: Well look, I think there is a significant distinction between being amongst the worlds best uranium miners and best miners and obviously mining is a very important part of, not just South Australias economy but the Australian economy. But its a big shift to go from that to say, actually we now want to engage in the nuclear fuel cycle in a different way. That is a completely new industry with a whole range of issues associated with it. I think weve made the decision as a party federally that that is not the path we want to go down. Certainly, in terms of nuclear power, what weve said is we have abundant renewable resources, lets devote our energies to making sure they work as well as they can.
JOURNALIST: I was watching television watching the Senate yesterday on ABC24.
WONG: OK, thats kind of sad.
JOURNALIST: Yep.
WONG: (laughs) You havent got anything else to do?
JOURNALIST: You were like Wonder Woman! Youre up there.
WONG: I wish. (laughs)
JOURNALIST: No, no. Theres a new Wonder Woman out too, were noting. But youre like Wonder Woman. And I noticed some of the colleagues behind you seemed to be nodding off.
WONG: Oh well, you know
JOURNALIST: Its like a one-woman band,Senator Penny Wong.
WONG: Oh well, you know Senate Question Time is of variable interest to I suspect the public and people in it at times.
JOURNALIST: (laughs)
WONG: But its part of the great democratic process.
JOURNALIST: Well its better than Airhawk, I can tell you, at that time in the afternoon. Now just quickly and well have Penny Wong in the studio on Monday we can take one call. Mark from Adelaide. Hello Mark.
CALLER: Hi Matt how you going?
JOURNALIST: Very well.
CALLER: Id just like Senator Wong to address a point. She talks about abundant renewable resources all the time. Theres no doubt weve got plenty of sunshine. But converting it into cheap baseload is not so simple. Apparently the largest array in the world is being built in California. Its going to cost somewhere between US$3-6 billion and its going to supply less than one per cent of Californias needs. Id like to comment on whats the cost of this?
JOURNALIST: Just quickly, the economics of it?
CALLER: Yeah.
JOURNALIST: Senator?
WONG: Its a very good question, Mark, and I think Im on the record as talking about the costs of some of the new technologies and how we have to have a long term investment perspective with these. It is true that at the moment renewable energy is not as cheap as coal-fired but remember thats also because were not factoring any pollution and environmental costs into the cost of it.
And thats part of why were trying to put in place a carbon price. Now weve put a lot of money into research and development, into assisting the renewable sector. Weve got a renewable energy target thats about bringing on greater investment. I dont think anybody says you can just flick the switch overnight. But weve got to keep working at it.
JOURNALIST: Minister, thank you Senator Penny Wong. And she will be in our studios on Monday taking your calls.
WONG: Look forward to it.
JOURNALIST:We do as well. Thank you Senator Penny Wong.
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