Press conference with Minister Ayres, Port Kembla, NSW

My responsibility is on the energy side. Our rules are very clear. We’ll legislate that they must bring their own new renewable energy so that they don't drive energy bills up for millions of other Australians.

But I'll leave it to Tim to talk about the broader issue. TIM AYRES, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION: All right. Yes, the Albanese Government will be legislating artificial intelligence standards, which means that large data centres will come.

I love this butterfly. Legislated artificial intelligence standards for Australia, that means these important investments come here but on Australia's terms. That means new electricity generation for every large data centre.

That's water security. It means making sure that the local research and industrial capability is supported in Australia's national interest. It's really important that we secure the right investments in the right place for Australia.

For your viewers, every morning when they get up and look at their phone, they're using a data centre. For everything that they do in their work, they're using a data centre. The question is, does Australia bring artificial intelligence training data centres here so that we're shaping the future for Australia and Australians?

And that's what we're very focused on at the moment. But look at this facility here. Artificial intelligence, on the data that they generate, absolutely fundamental to delivering this investment more and more efficiently, delivering world-class electrolysers and delivering the jobs and investment here in the Illawarra.

So, we are all about making sure that Australia secures artificial intelligence investment on Australia's terms in the national interest. JOURNALIST: And Minister Bowen, sorry, back to you. Just a question from NBN.

A 540-megawatt data centre is proposed for the Hunter Valley. It will eventually run on renewables, but there have been concerns about its energy supply. Could the project trigger the running of the Kurri Kurri gas and diesel plant?

MINISTER BOWEN: Well, the Kurri Kurri power station is effectively up and running, ready to go, but it's not linked to any particular data centre. Our rules, as I said, are that all data centres must bring their own new renewable energy. Whereas someone has called it the Beyonce rule, bring your own new clean energy.

That's fine too. There will be a transition period, of course, as we match the data centre development with a wind farm development. They don't open on the same day, but we'll manage that.

It's not linked to any particular gas plant. The role of the Kurri Kurri gas plant will be very much backup for the broader energy system – turned on, I envisage, quite rarely, just as Colongra just down the road from it is currently operating but turned on two days a year or something like that, only when the grid needs a boost. JOURNALIST: Minister Bowen, you previously said gas-fired power plants won't be allowed under your upcoming data centre rules, but in New South Wales, proponents are free to apply to build them and have.

Is there a disconnect between federal policy and what the State Labor Government is doing? MINISTER BOWEN: No, I think we can respect that’s just not correct. The New South Wales Government released their data centre rules.

They are more onerous than the federal rules. That's fine. They have higher restrictions, more requirement for renewable energy than ours.

I've made clear all the way along. Our rules will be a national standard, which is the minimum. States can add to it, as New South Wales has done.

They cannot water it down. [Indistinct] has said, just to be very, very clear about the role of gas and data centres, is gas can be used for firming. So it must- they must have firming arrangements in place. Gas is perfectly appropriate for that.

That effectively means the same thing as I said before – turn it on rarely just as a backup. That's appropriate for gas. It's not appropriate for it to be used on a daily basis.

JOURNALIST: So, when you said incorrect, you mean that no gas, or… MINISTER BOWEN: Your suggestion that New South Wales allows gas just isn’t right. JOURNALIST: Well, in New South Wales, you are free to apply to run a gas-powered data centre. It's just not in the guidelines.

You can’t get a 90-day… MINISTER BOWEN: The New South Wales rule- our rules are renewable energy only with gas allowed as a backup. The New South Wales rules are a little bit more prescriptive, that they’ve flagged, like the use of particular percentage of wind farms for example, [indistinct], because I've made clear they can be more onerous than ours, but the New South Wales rules do not allow gas to be used as normal, standard power in a data centre they just don’t.

JOURNALIST: Respectfully, sorry, it's actually- you can still apply for those, you just can’t get a 90-day assessment hearing. Anyway, let’s- that’s fine. In Moss Vale, proponents have applied to build a 700 megawatt gas-fired power plant to run a private data centre.

Under your vision, what do you think of that as a proposal and was that particular proposal part of your, I guess, decision making around data centres? MINISTER BOWEN: No, we didn't set these rules based on any particular data centre. I'm aware of it, but I'm not going to comment on every big data centre proposal in the country because there’s lots of them.

Our rules are very, very clear – you must bring your own renewable energy to power the data centre on a normal operating basis. Gas can be used as a backup. JOURNALIST: One question.

Four people are being extradited to New South Wales today from Victoria over the murder of an innocent Sydney man earlier this month. Are you concerned that violent organised crime appears to be becoming a cross-border operation? MINISTER BOWEN: That case is absolutely tragic.

It's in an area of my community, which was in my electorate until recently, and area I know very well, that's a very heartbreaking case. Obviously, other than welcoming strong police action, I can’t comment on a case before the courts [indistinct]. Okay?

JOURNALIST: Have you approved any offshore wind zone licences? And any R&D applications for the Illawarra? MINISTER BOWEN: JOURNALIST: Question for Minister Ayres.

Industry experts say the loss of Whyalla blast furnace is a net negative for the industry including BlueScope. What does it mean for BlueScope production here [indistinct]? MINISTER AYRES: So, the Albanese and the Malinauskas government's intervention into Whyalla will deliver a pit-to-port manufacturing capability for iron and steel in Whyalla.

The blast furnace failure earlier this week underscores the reasons why that intervention was so important. The previous owner ran that great Australian facility into the ground. You look at the steel capability here in the Illawarra.

BlueScope's focus on investment, and constant maintenance, upgrades, relining blast furnaces, that is a constant investment in the future of the steel industry near the Illawarra. That did not happen in Whyalla. It did not happen in Whyalla.

And what that meant for the 1500 or so Australians who work in and around that facility is that they were let down by a British firm that decided to take the money and spend it on something else. That's the challenge. Now, we are all about rebuilding that capability.

That's what Future Made in Australia is about in the Illawarra. I should say I am really grateful for and heartened by the approach that BlueScope and their engineering team have taken to support the rebuild of the Whyalla steelworks. Hundreds of engineering and safety faults identified by the administrator, supported by BlueScope.

That's a great Australian commitment, not necessarily in their direct commercial interests, but doing it because it's the right thing for the country. And those hundreds of workers day in, day out in that outback industrial facility, working hard to stabilise the blast furnace, reached a conclusion over some months that that was no longer possible. There will be steelmaking in Whyalla.

Australians will build that together. What we don't need is Liberal and National politicians who try and pretend that the failure of a coal-fired blast furnace that was underinvested in, in Whyalla, that it’s something to do with energy costs or new technology in steel. It's just nonsense.

It's partisan nonsense. It's un-Australian for Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie and Matt Canavan to try and blame the government's energy policy modernisation for the failure of a British billionaire. Why are they running interference for GFG and Liberty Steel who’ve let Australians down?

That's the question that they should be answering. JOURNALIST: Minister, on that, are you aware that there's a Liberal MP, Alister Henskens, who's actually representing GFG Alliance in proceedings in the New South Wales court regarding the Tahmoor colliery, something that the New South Wales government has an interest in, and do you have any comment on that? MINISTER AYRES: Well, I think what Australians expect is their members of parliament and their senators to be representing their interests.

That's what you get out of a Labor government. We are focused on doing our day job which is supporting Australians and the Australian national interest. The Liberals and Nationals and One Nation are all in this self-indulgent fight amongst themselves.

All I can say about that is we are going to keep on with the job of delivering for Future Made in Australia, great industrial regions like the Illawarra, and we won't be distracted by the sideshow from the Liberals and Nationals and One Nation who hate each other, fighting with each other, cooperating with each other in an awful mess. It is a circus that even clowns wouldn’t go to.

JOURNALIST: And just finally, are you concerned about the takeover bid for BlueScope and what it means for sovereign steelmaking in Australia? MINISTER AYRES: This is an entirely commercial matter. I work with BlueScope.

They are such an important Australian business, and their heart is here in the Illawarra, forged by tens of thousands over the years working hard at the steelworks, their building products division. They’re a great Australian company. They’re important to our industrial structure.

We’re going to keep working with them to deliver a Future Made in Australia, in Australian steelmaking, in Australia building products, and working with them in Australian iron-making as well. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.