Channel 9 - Today
Senator the Hon. Mathias Cormann
Minister for Finance
Special Minister of State
Leader of the Government in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
TOM STEINFORT: Fires, air quality and climate change have once again dominated headlines this week. Only yesterday in fact the Prime Minister acknowledged climate change was actually one of the many contributing factors to those devastating fires we're seeing around the country. Joining us now to discuss are Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and deputy Opposition Leader Richard Marles. Good morning to you both, gents.
MATHIAS CORMANN: Good morning.
TOM STEINFORT: Mathias, I might start with you. The Government look, it's been heavily criticised by some parts about inaction on the bushfire situation. A lot of the focus this week has been on whether or not there should be some sort of financial support for these volunteer firefighters that are getting worked to the bone. What's your take on that?
MATHIAS CORMANN: We work with State and Territory governments. The national response to the fires has been very strong. We have also provided additional support for aerial fire fighting. We will continue to work with the State and Territories as appropriate. We will continue to provide additional support as appropriate.
TOM STEINFORT: What's your take here Richard? Is there a point now we have to say, look, we know that volunteer, it's goodwill. This is beyond a normal situation now.
RICHARD MARLES: I suppose what we all hope this is not the new normal. We have a situation where we've had volunteer firefighters who have been in the field since August. That the fire season is now extending way beyond how we've previously understood it. People are obviously giving an enormous amount of their time. We've been suggesting there needs to be actually a COAG meeting on fires and emergency responses. So that we can have a look at how we do this in a world where there are new normals now. It's very important that this coordination takes place and issues such as this have a proper airing.
TOM STEINFORT: The other unavoidable aspect when we talk about the fires and the political links is the focus on climate change and policy to do with that. Mathias, a new global index has ranked Australia now as the worst performing country on climate change policy. It's not exactly a feather in the cap.
MATHIAS CORMANN: We are one of a handful of countries only which is comprehensively beating emission reduction targets agreed to in Kyoto. We will be beating our emissions reduction agreed to in Kyoto by more than 400 million tonnes. We are on track to meet and beat our emission targets agreed to in Paris. When you look at the level of investment in renewable energy, we are investing more than double on a per capita basis here in Australia compared to the UK, Germany or France. We are absolutely making a significant effort, but we are doing it in a way that is economically responsible.
TOM STEINFORT: Does that stack up? Are we beating Kyoto and is that good enough?
RICHARD MARLES: At the end of the day these are junk stats that Mathias is quoting. I think, if you are living in Sydney and you’ve seen smoke engulf the city for better part of the month. If your kids aren't able to go to school because of that. If you work and fire alarms are going off because there's smoke in the air there's something going on. People in the country don’t think this Government is doing anything about climate change, because they’re not.
TOM STEINFORT: Do they though? Because they went to the election with a very similar policy on climate change, and got endorsed there. How much of this do you think the public is actually buying into?
RICHARD MARLES: At the end of the day I think people in the street absolutely know that something is going on with our climate because something is going on with our climate.
MATHIAS CORMANN: And we are doing something about it.
RICHARD MARLES: But you're not Mathias. The climate change perform index rated Australia down at the very bottom group of nations in the world who are acting on this. Fundamentally, your heart is not in it. There's a group of people… interrupted
MATHIAS CORMANN: That is just wrong.
RICHARD MARLES: But it's absolutely right. There is a group of people as you know who don't even think it's real.
MATHIAS CORMANN: We are only one of a handful of countries beating, beating the emissions reduction targets.
RICHARD MARLES: But everybody in Sydney knows it is real.
TOM STEINFORT: Alright. You guys could argue about that for years to come and I am sure you will. We'll move on for now though. The Government has announced changes to the regulation of tech giants. Ross was just explaining this one to us. It's in response to the ACCC landmark digital platforms inquiry. Mathias, the Government has given the ACCC new powers to crack down on likes of Google and Facebook. As far as you're concerned, look, a voluntary code of conduct. But why not make it mandatory.
MATHIAS CORMANN: Our preference always is for reasonable people to sit down and sort these things out on a voluntary basis. But if that is not successful, we have been very clear, a mandatory code would follow. In the end, digital technology will become ever more important in our economy. We want the right protections for consumers, for competition. Fundamentally, we want to ensure that to the extent possible the protections available to consumers and to competition in the real economy should also be available in the digital economy. That is what we are pursuing.
TOM STEINFORT: Could we be coming down harder here?
RICHARD MARLES: Absolutely. Firstly, it's taken the Government forever to even have this inquiry. That's first point. The ultimate outcome of it Tom is a whole lot of measures which are essentially voluntary. Right now we've got a situation where the question of how do you fund journalism is really live. When if you are looking at your local paper like the Geelong Advertiser in Geelong and I know how hard it is for them to keep the newsroom going. But they're watching advertising bleed from them into new platforms like Google and Facebook, which are not paying for the content that is being generated by papers like that. At the end of the day that was the original impetus for this inquiry. The Government is not accepting the recommendations in respect of public interest journalism.
TOM STEINFORT: It's been nice to see a bit of sparring between you two today. You're normal sparring partner is away. He's on assignment Ethiopia today, Peter Dutton. This is actually our final Friday political segment for the year. Mathias we appreciate you stepping into that seat that's normally occupied by Peter Dutton. He actually sent us a bit of a message.
PETER DUTTON [EXCERPT]: Morning guys. I am sorry I can’t be with you on the Today Show today. My spies on the program told me that Mathias was a little too eager to accept the invitation to be there in my place whilst I'm here in Ethiopia. Well, Mathias it might have been easy for Richard Marles to knock off Anthony Albanese to be on the Today Show, but to you my friend, I just say it’s not going to be that easy. Thank you very much to all the crew, to the whole Today Show family. We've had lots of fun during the year. Thank you very much to Richard Marles. I wish everybody, including all the viewers at home, a wonderful, happy and safe Christmas. I really look 2020. And to you, Mathias Cormann, I’ll be back.
MATHIAS CORMANN: He can have it. 3 o’clock in the morning, I had to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning. So he can have it.
TOM STEINFORT: That’s one job you’re not gunning for. What do you make of his accent there?
MATHIAS CORMANN: I think he will have to work on that a bit.
TOM STEINFORT: Can you give us an “I’ll be back”?
MATHIAS CORMANN: Sure. I’ll be back.
TOM STEINFORT: Thank you, Mathias. What are you doing for Christmas? Anything special on the agenda?
MATHIAS CORMANN: Time with family. Can’t wait. I think we all need it. 2019 has been a big year.
TOM STEINFORT: Absolutely. And Richard, yourself?
RICHARD MARLES: Definitely time with family down at the beach, a part of the world you know well, on the Bellarine and Surf Coast. Really looking forward to it.
TOM STEINFORT: I’ll be down the Great Ocean Road myself. Looking forward to a nice little break. Gents, a safe a happy Christmas to you both with your families.
MATHIAS CORMANN: Same to you.
RICHARD MARLES: Same to you, Tom.