WONG: It’s great to be here in Tasmania, great to be in Hobart and great to be here with the Deputy Premier and all these great women – members of the Cabinet, members of the Caucus and candidates, to support this announcement.

Women’s participation is very important; it’s important to the economy of the nation. It’s important to enable women to make the choices they want to make. And at a political level it’s also important because we need women to participate in politics, in government and it’s great to see this Labor Government in Tasmania leading the way. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: Is it still a struggle for women though, getting ahead in politics? Are there still barriers or is it getting better?

WONG: Look I think that the more women you have in Parliament the better it gets for those who come next and I’ve always been asked questions about you know, how does it feel to be the first or the second or whatever. And I say the good thing I think about there being a first is that there is a second and a third and a fourth. We are moving to the day where it is really unremarkable to have women in positions of leadership and that’s a good thing.

JOURNALIST: But they still draw attention. We had Sarah Hanson-Young recently getting criticised for bringing her child into the Parliament. Is it really becoming the norm?

WONG: There’s always more work to be done when things are changing. If you think about where our mothers were, if you think about the generation of women that have gone before us. There’s been an enormous change in the last decade and there will be in the next decades. The next generation of women will have different opportunities, different choices and different challenges. But I’m firmly of the view that increasing women’s participation in the workforce gives them greater choice and increasing women’s participation in Parliament is a good thing for the community.

JOURNALIST: Can I ask (inaudible)… still well and truly above levels. Is two per cent significant or is it insignificant?

WONG: Well the reality is we are not going to get the sort of reductions in carbon pollution unless we make polluters pay, unless we put a price on carbon. So we might have seen some minor adjustment as a result of the global financial crisis. But ultimately if we need to get where we have to go as a nation, as a globe, we have to make polluters pay. That’s why we need the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

JOURNALIST: If something as big as the GFC only sees a two per cent reduction, does that really put that in perspective that policy is needed, the economy itself won’t do it?

WONG: Well as we have been saying for some time, regrettably tackling climate change isn’t easy and there isn’t a cost-free path. But if we don’t do it we know the cost for our children and our grandchildren will be far greater. What we have to have is real action. Real action means making polluters pay and Mr Abbott has 15 days to come up with a policy that actually delivers the sorts of reductions climate change demands. He has got 15 days to deliver that policy. We look forward to an economically responsible fully costed policy that delivers the reductions that the environment needs.

JOURNALIST: Would you describe two per cent as insignificant then? Where would you scale it?

WONG: I think what it shows us is that to get the sorts of reductions that we need by 2020, we need to put a price on carbon.

JOURNALIST: How important is it for Australia to improve its urban transport infrastructure as well to help fight climate change?

WONG: Well obviously we need a whole range of policies across a whole range of areas and that’s why the Government is doing that. That’s why my colleague Anthony Albanese through Infrastructure Australia, through his funding, has invested in public transport. That’s why we have invested in renewable energy, that’s why we have invested in giving people the ability to insulate their homes, to put in place solar panels to increase their energy efficiency. We need all of these things because without doing these policies, without putting in place a price on carbon through the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, what we know is that Australia’s emissions will continue to rise and we will get to 120 per cent of where we have been by 2020.

JOURNALIST: Will Canberra provide money directly to local governments to update transport systems?

WONG: We have set out through Minister Albanese’s portfolio a range of investments in infrastructure. What we are also doing is funding a whole range of other climate change responses but we know this will be something that all levels of government will have to work to.

JOURNALIST: Is Australia on track to give the UN its emissions targets at the end of this month?

WONG: What we’ve said is we will do all we are able to do to operationalise the Copenhagen Accord. We are pleased that for the first time we see a preparedness from the world’s major emitters, particularly the United States and China, to put forward their undertakings in the Accord. And we will be working – and we are working – with those nations and other nations to put in place that Accord.

JOURNALIST: So do we sit back and wait to see what those bigger nations do before we put our targets in? How does that work?

WONG:  What we’ve said is that we will work with other nations to work out what the targets should be. As the Prime Minister has made clear, and as I’ve made clear, Australia will do its share. We will do no less and no more than the rest of the world.

JOURNALIST:  Can you explain the process to me? Has it largely been a diplomatic wrangle? Or is it within departments, seeing what’s actually achievable?

WONG: Well obviously there’s been bilateral contact. There have been discussions. We will continue that because this is a cooperative process, a collaborative process between the nations who are supporting and part of the Copenhagen Accord. Which includes, as I said, the world’s major economies - both developed and developing.

JOURNALIST: Sounds though like meeting the deadline is partly, depends on the rest of the world as well.

WONG: Well obviously we’ve always said climate change is a global issue. Australia needs to do its fair share. But no one country can do it alone.  It needs all of us to act. The positive thing out of Copenhagen was that for the first time we had the major emitters coming together under a single agreement, which is the Copenhagen Accord. 

JOURNALIST: Does that make us a follower, not a leader on climate change though, waiting for others to jump in?

WONG:  I think this Government has demonstrated its commitment to climate change. We look forward to Mr Abbott setting aside his views that climate change is – he used somewhat more colourful language – rubbish, and facing up to this enormous challenge that the nation needs to and wants to meet. 

JOURNALIST: While this is all going on, a DFAT report has again confirmed Australia’s reliance on coal exports. How does that fit into this picture, the fact that so much coal is exported, particularly from Queensland and New South Wales?

WONG: Well let’s understand that coal will continue to be part of the global energy mix for decades to come. And that’s why we have to invest – as the Government is investing – in finding technologies to reduce emissions from coal. Whether Australia is involved in this or not, this is a technology the world needs. So we have made a decision that we’ve got to be involved in it. We’ve established the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute. We’ve worked bilaterally with other nations to develop that Institute and we see many countries from around the world, developed and developing, signing up to it. This is a technology that the world has to have. We need a whole range of technologies, renewable energy being key amongst them and we are investing in renewables as well. But the world does need a lower emissions solution on coal and Australia has a keen interest, a strong interest, in being part of developing that.

JOURNALIST: Can we cut emissions as much as we need though, without cutting coal jobs, particularly in Queensland and New South Wales?

WONG: What our Treasury modelling clearly shows is the output from coal continues to grow. We’ve put in place a whole range of industry assistance measures including for the coal industry. But the reality is we all have to play our part in responding to climate change whether we are individuals or different parts of industry. We all have to play our part.