Subject: The rise of anti-Semitism in Australia; the Prime Minister’s weak leadership; nuclear energy; Australian national flag.
E&OE.
NATALIE BARR:
Well, Jewish leaders are now declaring anti-Semitism is out of control in this country following another attack in Sydney. Two masked men are on the run after targeting homes with graffiti and setting fire to a car in the heartland of the city’s Jewish population. Under pressure to act, the Prime Minister condemned the acts of violence.
ANTHONY ALBANESE:
They are acts which are aimed at promoting fear in the community. And that, by any definition, is what terrorism is about.
NATALIE BARR:
It comes as Anthony Albanese faces criticism for not doing more to combat the country’s spike in anti-Semitism.
The Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, joins me in the studio now. Good morning to you.
PETER DUTTON:
`Morning, Nat.
NATALIE BARR:
You have criticised the PM. He says we need to look for unity against anti-Semitism. Is he right?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, he’s certainly right, but this has been going on now for 13, 14 months and many people in the Jewish community have just been bewildered at the lack of leadership and the protests on the steps of the Opera House on October 9 – two days after people were slaughtered in Israel – that’s when it really started. Anti-Semitism has always been there. It’s been bubbling beneath the surface, but it really now has been lifted to a level where people are living in fear. Many people in the Jewish community are worried about their kids going to school. We’ve got armed guards at schools, for goodness sake. We’ve got bombings of synagogues and these acts of violence and damage to vehicles, etc.. I think the Prime Minister has really been missing over the last 13 months, and it’s really created a terrible dynamic in our country and it needs to be reined back in.
NATALIE BARR:
Moving on, nuclear power: obviously, one of your key policies, you’ve been talking about it for a while. However, the CSIRO has found it is twice as expensive as renewable power. Those findings came even after the CSIRO did their report to accommodate your Party’s criticism of the modelling initially. Are you rethinking your claim that it’s going to cut people’s bills?
PETER DUTTON:
Well, no, we’re not. I mean, if you look at the international experience, there are something like 300 reactors around the world. It’s been very clearly pointed out from the French Government, from the Canadian Government, from President Biden and a number of other comparable countries that, firstly, they can’t meet their net zero targets by 2050. In the United States, electricity is about 18 cents a kilowatt hour, so in Tennessee or in markets where they’ve got a mix of renewables, which are really important, but nuclear as well…
NATALIE BARR:
And a lot of those nuclear reactors, built many, many years ago, at obviously a lower cost. So I think what we need to know in this country – people are open to it – how much is it going to cost? Is it going to add to our bills?
PETER DUTTON:
So, just to make the point, though, so 18 cents a kilowatt hour there. We’re paying in South Australia at the moment, 56 cents a kilowatt hour – so one third the cost. This is the argument about nuclear, that you’ve got a longer amortisation period – that is, the cost is spread over 60 or 80 years and that’s why you get the lower electricity cost.
We will release our costings this week, which show that it’s, unbelievably – when you think of how much money the Government’s spending on the renewables only policy – it’s cheaper than what the Government’s proposing and we can deliver stability in the market. So you need to decarbonise, we need to make sure that we’ve got stability.
We can’t operate an economy with blackouts and brownouts, business just won’t operate in that environment…
NATALIE BARR:
You’re right.
PETER DUTTON:
…and we need to make sure that we’re not sending businesses, small businesses and more importantly, family households broke in the process of the transition in the energy system.
NATALIE BARR:
You’re right. People are open to it, but they want to know the costs, so we’ll look forward to that. Can you guarantee you will cut people’s power bills?
PETER DUTTON:
Yes, we can under this, and if you have a look at the international experience, of the top 20 economies in the world, Nat, Australia is the only one that doesn’t have or hasn’t signed up to nuclear power. It says to me that it works in every other market, why can’t it work in Australia? Because the Government’s trying to chase Green votes here in Australia.
NATALIE BARR:
When will they be cut? Like the first – and when will they be built?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ll release the detail. When will they be built? Really good question. They can be built very quickly if there is a bipartisan position. So, the legislation on the nuclear submarines has been passed through the Parliament because it had the support of the Labor Party and the Liberal Party. The Prime Minister signed up to the technology in the submarines. We could get the Parliament to deal very quickly with the legislation, but it will take longer…
NATALIE BARR:
Ten years?
PETER DUTTON:
…We say 2035 to ’37 before the first reactor comes in, but at the moment, the Government’s hundred per cent only renewables policy is destroying the economy because farmers are paying more for their electricity, cold room operators, and all of that is why you’re getting higher prices for groceries at the supermarket.
NATALIE BARR:
Okay, let’s look at this last one. You’re facing a bit of criticism after revealing you’re going to refuse to put the Indigenous flag, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag, behind you, like Anthony Albanese has. You’re going to get rid of it on the Harbour Bridge too, according to Jacinta Price. Is that what you’re going to do?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Nat, the argument is, how can you be united as a country if we’re asking people to identify under different flags?. No other country does that, no other Western democracy does that.
So, I believe very strongly that we should have an enormous amount of respect for the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Flags, but they are not our national flag. I want practical reconciliation. I want kids in Alice Springs to live in a safe environment, to have a good health system and go off to school.
NATALIE BARR:
Sure. Is it going off the Bridge? Are you going to take it off the Sydney Harbour Bridge?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ll work with the State Governments and obviously the State Government has made a decision to put the flag up there. But for us at a federal level, I’m not going to pretend that our country can be united when we’re asking people to identify in different ways. We have an incredible migrant story in this country – we should be talking more about it. We should be very proud of our Indigenous heritage, but I don’t believe that serving under three flags can unite the country.
To your point before about the anti-Semitism, we’ve got more social disharmony in our country today than we have had for decades. I want to bring the country together and we can do that if we unite under one flag.
NATALIE BARR:
Yep, we understand. Would you like to see the Indigenous flag removed from the Sydney Harbour Bridge?
PETER DUTTON:
I think it’s an issue for the State Government. My preference would be that we just, frankly, accept that we have one national flag…
NATALIE BARR:
So that’s a ‘yes’?
PETER DUTTON:
…and that’s the priority. But ultimately it’s a decision for the New South Wales Government.
NATALIE BARR:
Okay. Peter Dutton, thank you for your time.
PETER DUTTON:
Thanks, Nat. Thank you.
[ends]