PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE: Jodie and I have been talking a lot over the last two months since Peter Dutton made his announcement that this was going to be home to one of his seven nuclear reactors. But what we've actually been doing is saying that Collie doesn't need to wait till 2040 or beyond for a nuclear reactor that may or may not work. There's opportunities happening right now, we've just been out with Neoen, seeing the massive battery, their biggest battery that they've built in Australia. They really brought back battery technology here to Australia, they did the South Australian battery. But now we've seen 226 units of energy storage, which is going to make a huge difference to the WA grid. What's happening here in Collie alone can fill some 20 per cent of the South West Interconnected System Demand over that four-hour period with their contractors to deliver. And what I know is that we've got a choice in Australia right now - it's the choice of either having renewables going into our grid today to give reliable and cheap energy, or we can wait for unproven technologies, like small modular reactors. What I think is really amazing is that the amount of energy that this battery, that we have just been to see, can put into the grid is actually more energy than what a small modular reactor can make. And we saw a report this week that came out saying that the small modular reactors that are proposed for Collie, will only be commercially viable about five years before 2050. So 2045. Now, I don't think it's right for anyone to have to wait 20 years for an unproven technology. I also don't think it's right, to hold back these great projects that we're seeing here, when there's great opportunities right now. I really want to commend Jodie's advocacy. She's been talking to myself and a number of my Federal colleagues about what it is that Collie needs from the Federal Government to make sure that we get this transition right. I had great meetings when I was here just a month ago, talking about what it is that this community needs to make sure that the plan that has been in place for some six, seven years continues to get put together. And what I think tells me everything I need to know about how Peter Dutton treats Western Australia, is that Peter Dutton has been visiting proposed nuclear sites all over the East Coast, he still hasn't come here. He hasn't come to Western Australia once, since he announced his nuclear plan. He hasn't come to Western Australia in the last two months. He's been all over the place, but there is something very suspicious about the fact that he refuses to come here to the West to explain his plans. And I would have thought that if he shows that respect to communities on the East Coast, the least he could do would be to show that respect here in Western Australia. So my question to Peter Dutton, really simply, is 'Where the bloody hell are you'? Jodie over to you.
JODIE HANNS, STATE MEMBER FOR COLLIE-PRESTON: Thanks very much, Patrick and it's great to have you back in Collie again today. And thank you for your interest and advocacy, continued advocacy for Collie as well. I think today really highlighted to me that we just can't wait. The energy system needs energy today. And we need to really develop that within the next decade. The plans for nuclear are really around uncosted, untested technology. And that's a risk for Western Australia. And I think we have to absolutely back in the Just Transition program that the State Government has set in place. Looking at stepping away from the ageing coal-fired power stations and providing an option before that technology is really redundant. In doing that, we are absolutely mindful that we've got to create opportunities for the workers that will be displaced from that decision. And we've made huge inroads with that. We started back before I was elected, with tourism as being the initial focus and trying to get some traction around that. And it's been incredibly successful. People who come here on weekends see the wonderful things that we have to offer in Collie. The next step is around advanced manufacturing in clean energy and critical minerals processing. And there's three examples there. One of which is Magnium - that received joint funding from the Federal Government. So Magnium is already establishing itself in Collie. As well as International Graphite and Green Steel WA and those three companies are expected to bring on hundreds of jobs which will do the job that we're expecting which is to replace those displaced workers. The other thing I really want to raise is the fact that the jobs that we are looking for, that are coming out of those three projects, are jobs that our current workforce in Collie can step into with some retraining and we've got the Jobs and Skill Center here which is incredibly important in that role. So to be able to move those workers from their current positions, with some retraining into jobs for the blue collar workers, and that was a specific target of the industries that we approached from the State Government's perspective.
JOURNALIST: Or do you think, obviously, that the prospect of nuclear in Collie is everything what everybody is talking about in town at the moment? Do you think that there's an appetite for that discussion locally?
GORMAN: I'll let the Local Member speak first on behalf of her community, then I'll speak about broader Western Australia.
HANNS: I think I just go back to our position from the State Government's perspective, is that our energy system is very different. It's an isolated system, the South West Interconnected System. It's got challenges around meeting peak demand during the daytime and the coal-fired power station baseload has had to change the way it's operated to meet those requirements. The uptake of rooftop solar has been a key factor in making that decision, as well as the aging infrastructure of the coal-fired power stations. We do need a replacement. But from my perspective, and I think from this community's perspective, we don't think that nuclear needs to play a role in that. We think we can deliver what we need to deliver without nuclear.
JOURNALIST: The reason I ask that is the Federal Opposition has specified towns like Collie have a high energy IQ. They think that people likely are open to the prospect. Obviously, you don't share that opinion.
HANNS: Look, I know they had a meeting here yesterday, it was a pretty small, invite-only guestlist, I think. And I think there were people at that meeting yesterday that put across the perspective from the community. And I think that the bulk of people who've been in touch with my office are opposed to it.
GORMAN: I think Western Australia is already on the journey to getting renewables into our grid, firmed renewables with things like the Neoen battery that we saw today. We recognise that it is cheap, something that we can put into the grid today. And it's coming with jobs. I mean, already, we've got jobs there. Jodie was telling me that more than half the contract, or half the workers there are local workers, delivering that project. That's a huge outcome for this community. And there's so much more opportunity. Every time people see a success story like that, it starts the next success story. We've seen that in other parts of Western Australia, we've had wind farms go in, successfully feeding into the South West Integrated System. I think what we know, and everyone here knows, and they agree, people of Collie have a really high energy IQ. What they know is that the energy generation that we have today can't survive to 2045, when Dutton's small modular reactors might be commercially viable. We need to be acting now. And that's what our government, in conjunction with the State Government, is doing.
JOURNALIST: So it's not necessarily one or the other. Nuclear couldn't exist alongside renewables, you flat out reject the prospect of nuclear?
GORMAN: I take the spending of government money really seriously. If you look at the costings that have been put out, Mr. Dutton hasn't put any costings of his planning himself, the costings that have been done by other organisations say it's about $600 billion. Now compare that to what we just saw, the battery project that's funded by private investors. Private investors who are actually coming, and putting their capital in, because they recognise it's an opportunity. Mr. Dutton has said that it would have to be publicly funded. So we talk about publicly funded nuclear power, there's really only three options. You raise taxes across the country to pay for that nuclear power. You raise everyone's electricity bills to pay for that nuclear power, or you increase the debt. And we know that when Mr. Dutton sat around the Cabinet table last time, he increased the debt from $250 billion to a trillion dollars. So obviously, is very comfortable adding on to the debt. But eventually, someone's got to pay for it. And that's the question that Mr. Dutton can't answer for you, or anyone else. I think it's one of the reasons he's refused to come here.
JOURNALIST: Think you mentioned it earlier, but AATSE released a report on small modular reactors. What did you make of the findings?
GORMAN: Well, I think that report confirmed what we already knew, which is that small modular reactors are a proposed technology, not something that is available for investors today. That's where I think the real frustration of the Australian community here in Collie, but across the country, is that people go "Okay so, Mr. Dutton's plan is based on a technology that he can't purchase today". So that's why he can't tell us how much it's going to cost, how many reactors. That's the other question that's not resolved for Collie is we've heard everything from one reactor to four reactors of that small modular variety. Some of their water demands are very unclear. All these questions remain. But what's really clear is that you will not see a small modular reactor anywhere, before 2045. And that's a real concern because we've got to act now, people are using more energy year on year. Industry like those industries that Jodie has mentioned, Magnium, International Graphite, Green Steel, they all need energy. They don't want to wait until 2045. The young people who are graduating from high school here don't want to wait until 2045. They want to know what their opportunities are in the years ahead. And that's why I think the small modular reactor fantasy will be very late, and very costly. And ultimately, Australians are going to be the ones who pay for it.
JOURNALIST: Yesterday, the Shadow Energy and Climate Change Minister said that report wasn't relevant to their plans. And the experts they consulted said it was viable. What would you make of that?
GORMAN: I'd say to them, Mr. Dutton and Rick Wilson should release their plans. They said more than a month ago that they've done the geological surveys. If they've had a geological survey for Collie, they should release it.
JOURNALIST: There's a looming Cabinet reshuffle that the Prime Minister announced yesterday. Will you be putting your hand up for a Cabinet position?
GORMAN: The Prime Minister is the one who decides who goes into Cabinet. I've got a really great job, where I got to support him as his Assistant Minister, making sure that we keep all parts of our government operating efficiently and effectively. It means I get to do great things like this, come down and talk to people here in Collie. I love my job. I think all my colleagues love their jobs. And no matter what position I have, now or in the future, I will always, always, be standing up for Western Australia, making sure that we get federal policies that work for us and work for the nation.
JOURNALIST: Will you be putting your hat in the ring for a Cabinet position?
GORMAN: These are conversations for me and my colleagues.
JOURNALIST: And would you like to see more WA politicians in Cabinet because there's only one in at the moment?
GORMAN: What I'll say is that I think it's important that wherever people come from, in the country, wherever they are, whether they be based in Melbourne, Queensland, wherever, I think it's important that everyone in the Federal Parliament understands Western Australia. That's what my colleagues do. They come over here regularly. And that's what I always expect them to do. Minister Bowen has been here as the Energy Minister. But I'll always expect that all my colleagues understand what it is that Western Australia needs, because when the WA economy does well, the nation does well. And equally, it's why I'm so disappointed that Peter Dutton has refused, more than a month after releasing his nuclear plan, to even front up to the people of Western Australia. Thanks.