WONG: Thanks very much for coming. It’s great to be here with Kirsten, and with the Deputy Mayor and Councillors and all these fantastic volunteers who work in emergency services here in Rockhampton. One of the things we know about climate change is that it will mean unfortunately more extreme weather events. We know that one of the things scientists tell us is we will see unfortunately more bushfires, more storms, more frequents storms and more intense storms which leads to more flooding and a hell of a lot more work for the sorts of people who are standing behind me. So what we need to do is understand better how this will work and how we can better support our emergency services in responding to these weather events. So today here with Kirsten I’m announcing $2 million in research grants; research which will go to better understanding how climate change will affect these intense weather events, and therefore how we can better support our emergency services, who are often in the frontline of so many natural disasters.

Before I take questions on the announcement I also want to make one comment on some comments made my Tony Abbott overnight, on the issue of negotiation on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. I want to remind to the Opposition that Mr Turnbull said he would negotiate in good faith. Negotiating in good faith doesn’t mean a take it or leave it approach to negotiation, that seems to be what Mr Abbott is flagging. We don’t want a take it or leave it approach, we want a good faith negotiation as Mr Turnbull said he would have. So let’s not have tricky procedural games in the Senate to avoid a vote; that’s not a good faith negotiation. Let’s not have a take it or leave it amendment, or set of amendments, that’s not a good faith negotiation. Happy to take any questions.

JOURNALIST: Is there more likely to be a double dissolution election if there’s no negotiation?

WONG: I want to make very clear what the Prime Minister has said, we don’t want a double dissolution, we want the legislation passed, and the passage of the legislation is absolutely in the hands of the Liberal Party.

JOURNALIST: From what you’ve seen of the Opposition’s amendments are you…

WONG: Sorry to interrupt you, I actually haven’t seen any Opposition amendments, this Bill has been on the table since March of this year, as yet we haven’t seen any amendments from the Opposition.

JOURNALIST: Have you heard about any?

WONG: Well there’s certainly been a lot of talk in the media, but there seem to be a range of different views. I would encourage the Liberal Party to do what Mr Turnbull said they would do which is to get amendments together and put them forward to the Government.

JOURNALIST: The research grants, are they Australia wide or for central Queensland specifically?

WONG: This is Australia wide but it’s obviously not the only thing we’re doing when it comes to research on climate change, in fact the other thing we are also releasing today is a Research Plan on Emergency Management and Climate Change. So a national adaptation research plan and those are available on the website. That is a plan that’s been produced by our national adaptation research facility, which in fact has its headquarters here in Queensland, and is looking at research across a range of topics and emergency management is one of those because we’re very conscious of the fact that climate change does mean more intense storms, more intense, extreme weather events, and unfortunately we have to prepare for that.

JOURNALIST: What kind of difference do you think it will make given that we’ve already got natural disaster action plans in place?

WONG: Well what we have to do is recognise what the insurance industry said years ago, that climate change has a cost in terms of extreme weather events. Let’s remember one of the sectors of business, when Mr Howard was in power, who argued most strongly for action on climate change was in fact the insurance industry, because they started to see the nature of frequent, intense, extreme weather events, and what they would mean to their business but also more broadly to taxpayers. So what we need to do better is understand what the risks are and how we prepare better for them. If you’re likely to see storm events that used to be perhaps three times every 100 years, perhaps happen for example three times every decade or less, that means we have to prepare for our emergency services, our local infrastructure differently.

JOURNALIST: Do you think it would help to understand what kind of financial costs it could mean for the future?

WONG: Well I think unfortunately what we’re seeing is the costs of climate change are very significant and that’s why the Government is so determined to deliver on the election commitment we made, that Kirsten made as a candidate at the last election, that we would act on climate change; that’s what we’re trying to do.

JOURNALIST: Is there a hope to help residents understand what they can do to better prepare themselves?

WONG: I think Australians are hungry for more knowledge about how to be part of the solution on climate change. Certainly one of the things I’ve noticed as climate change minister is local government has been wanting a lot of information about how do they better prepare in terms of planning, how they look at different building requirements. We’re working very hard to try and improve our knowledge and our data on that, unfortunately Australia hasn’t done as much work on that area as we’d like. This national adaptation facility that I described earlier, headquartered at Griffith University, is a really important part of the work Australia’s doing to understand better the implications of climate change and how we best prepare for them.

JOURNALIST: What would be the kind of criteria for these grants?

WONG: Well I’m announcing the guidelines today, I’ll leave you to go through all of the details. They are research grants. They’ll be competitive research grants aimed at better understand the risks of extreme weather events and how we better support our emergency services.

JOURNALIST: Are they aimed at universities or private research companies?

WONG: We’re not being prescriptive about that. Obviously there is a lot of good work going to in our universities but we are keen to do good research where good research is; whether that’s in a smaller private sector area or in our research institutions.

JOURNALIST: If they are divvying up all this money will it be hard to have some kind of cohesive understanding then, if you have got grants here and there in different parts of the country?

WONG: I think what is important to remember is to get the sort of information we need, we need to do research across a lot of Australia, and there will be different risks in different regions. So when I go to coastal communities for example, when I was in Cairns recently, that’s one of the issues they want to talk about - coastal inundation, sea level rise, how do they prepare for that, what are the planning requirements. Different regions, obviously inland there will be different issues, there might be flooding issues given where we are standing. There might be issues in terms of increased bushfire risk which is regrettably one of the things scientists talk about when they talk about climate change; so different regions will have different priorities. I think it’s very important we do take a locally based focus in terms of our response to climate change.

JOURNALIST: I have just got another matter, questions from Sarah Clarke in Sydney, the National Water Commission has released a report. It’s been quite damning and found that state governments have an essential commitment to fix over-allocation by 2010. How concerning do you find that?

WONG: We are very clear in the Federal Government about what we want to do – particularly with the Murray-Darling Basin. And that is to turn around years of mismanagement, of over-allocation and of poor planning. We’ve taken over Basin-wide planning. We are preparing a Basin plan in which the Commonwealth Minister will have sign-off on the Basin cap – that is, how much water will be taken out of the Murray-Darling. That will be based on science for the first time. We haven’t had a cap based on science until the one we are now preparing, which says something. We do think the states could do more in terms of their management of water and their commitment to the National Water Initiative, and we would certainly encourage them to keep on going down this reform path because water is one of the most obvious ways in which climate change is impacting already on Australia. We are seeing, particularly in the southern part of Australia – a long way from where I am now – we are seeing increased drought, consistent with a pattern that climate scientists told us. So it’s very important that all levels of government take responsibility.

JOURNALIST: And the report’s noted that the pace of reform has been slow. How can the Federal Government start to pick up the pace and ensure that governments meet those responsibilities?

WONG: We will continue to encourage the states to keep up with the reforms to which they have committed.

JOURNALIST: Encourage how?

WONG: We will continue to encourage the states to keep on with the reforms to which they have committed and we have got a lot of money on the table. There is $12.9 billion in Water for the Future which is all about pushing forward reform, and we are determined to deliver these water reforms because it’s absolutely in Australia's national interest for us to do.

JOURNALIST: What will you be telling governments at the next COAG meeting?

WONG: Well the next COAG meeting is later in the year, but that’s a first Ministers meeting. But what I would say is it’s important that whether it’s a COAG or other ministerial meetings that the Federal Government continues to make clear to the states what our expectation is, but I think also what Australia's expectations are. People want us to resolve issues in water; they want water reform. I think they want all levels of government to manage it better. We’ve got a lot of money on the table to help achieve that, and we look forward to continuing to work with the states to achieve that.

COUNCILLOR ROSE SWADLING: Minister we are very pleased to have you here today, because the infrastructure is very much paramount on our mind, our water. As you said right now you have come in at a time where we have had extreme conditions here due to the weather and with our SES firefighters backing up our rural firefighters and locals I think its important that people see the face of the Minister on the ground and we certainly on behalf of our region welcome you here. We have water issues, we have the infrastructure things and we are looking to a brighter future. I have handed over a submission to you today. I am sure you will take that away as concerns of our community and they can be addressed. And we certainly do welcome the fact that we have had you here today with us to hear those concerns and share that news with us. I think it’s very important for us as a community, as a council that we can face our people and say yes Ministers are listening to us, we are taking those issues forward and Kirsten also thank you for what you are doing at the moment and that’s keeping us up there in front of everyone. These issues are really live and on the ground for us. Thank you very much.

WONG: Thank you very much, very kind of you.

JOURNALIST: Minister can I just ask about, we’ve had various reports over the past week about, from the coal industry about their attitude towards the Emissions Trading Scheme, are you meeting while you are here in central Queensland with any industry representatives?

WONG: Obviously I spoke at the same forum Ralph Hillman from the Coal Association was at yesterday down in Gladstone. We have met with a lot of industry including coal companies. Obviously some coal companies have different views to others and I think I have already expressed publicly in Gladstone yesterday and on radio today our response to some of the claims that are being made. I hope that this debate here in Queensland and nationally can be conducted respectfully and that people can make sure the facts are on the table. I don’t think it’s a useful debate if people put up over-exaggerations in an attempt to get what they want.

JOURNALIST: Just wondered have you been persuaded in any way at all by the arguments that have been put forward?

WONG: Well I think we’ve got three quarters of a billion dollars on the table where we are prepared to help those mines that will have a significant liability under the scheme, but as I have made clear, at a $25 carbon price, the average that half the mines will face a carbon cost of only 80 cents or less. So I think it’s important to remember that when some of these claims are made.

ENDS