Press conference, Burnie, Tasmania

MEMBER FOR BRADDON, ANNE URQUHART: Okay. Can I first of all begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners on the land on which we meet and pay my respects to them. It's fantastic to be here today.

And I want to first of all thank Marinus Link for all the work that they've done in bringing us here today and the level of where we're at. I want to acknowledge the representatives from both the state government and, of course, my good friend, Chris, who is a good champion for Tasmania. And Chris, whenever I've asked him to come to Tasmania he's hopped on a plane and come over, so it's really great to have you here today.

I just wanted to talk about the importance of this project here and, I mean, we've heard speeches today but we've heard about how important it is today. And I just reflect on the fact that this was the Tioxide site many years ago. I can remember driving past here as a child on my way to my ballet lessons every week and looking at the water out the front that was a lovely colour of brown where the pigment used to go.

And now today, we see that we've got a clean energy operation actually going to work off this site, which is fantastic. I think the other thing that I reflect on a little bit about this site is the fact that in the 1990’s when we, like the premier raised earlier, when Tioxide actually pulled out of Tasmania and closed, it was a time when a lot of our young people left the state.

And my own children packed up and left the state. They were about to look at buying houses and doing things, and they actually left the state because Tioxide had closed. They saw not much of a future here for them and to build families.

I'm pleased to say that have- one of them has come back. But this project and what will deliver for Tasmania, and particularly here on the North West Coast, will provide those opportunities that my kids didn't have back in the day when they had to leave to get a good job and a profession and future. So, I am extremely excited to be here today and look forward to the future and the opportunities that this will bring for those young people like my children, and what it will bring for the future of the North West Coast but Tasmania as a whole.

And I think I'm now handing over to Chris. MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY, CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks, Anne. Well, we’re here.

We are today officially starting major works for the Marinus Link. There’s been many press conferences held by many people about Marinus over the years. Many people promised and talked about how good it is, but today the Albanese Government, the Rockcliff Government and the Carroll Governments are delivering, it is starting work today.

And this is a genuinely nation-building project. It's enough to power 750,000 homes - it will unlock that much energy. That's more houses than we have, of course, in Tasmania.

It's enough to unlock new renewable energy investments in Tasmania and open up more industrial opportunities for Tasmania into the future. It’ll improve Tasmania’s connectivity. Yes, it’s about exporting Australia’s clean- Tasmania's clean pumped hydro to the mainland, but also importing solar and wind to Tasmania on days where that makes sense so that Tasmania has more energy security. 2,400 hundred construction jobs, 1,400 of which will be right here in Tasmania of which 80 per cent will be locals employed in those jobs.

So, this is a really important project for our country. I want to thank the Rockcliff Government for working so closely with the Albanese Government, both my friend and colleague Nick Duigan and his predecessor Guy Barnett; the Carroll Government through the former Minister Lily D'Ambrosio, for their strong support of this project and for working with us to make this reality.

This could not be done without the three governments cooperating closely. It's receiving strong support from the Albanese Government, from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. It's also receiving financial support from two governments, and that makes it a reality.

There's no transition without transmission, and this is hundreds of kilometres of transmission under the Bass Strait which will better connect the two islands that make up Australia, Tasmania and the mainland of Australia, and ensure our energy security, both on the mainland and in Tasmania for many generations to come. I look forward to coming back for more milestones into the future, but today is an important milestone as we commence the major works.

TASMANIAN PREMIER, JEREMY ROCKLIFF: Thanks Chris and Tom and Nick. It's great to be with you all here today. As I’ve said, another great example of very strong collaboration between the national government, the state government, and in this case as well today, the Victorian Government as well.

It's not often that you get the opportunity to make hard decisions but the right decision that transforms Tasmania for the next number of generations. Today is that day where we start the project. The decisions have been made.

We're getting on with the job, and that will completely transform and provide energy security and economic security and social security to Tasmania for generations to come. These projects are always challenging, but the most challenging decisions are often the right decisions and being judged in history as the right decisions as difficult as they may well have been to get to this point.

I want to acknowledge everyone who’s been involved across the journey of the course of the last decade. This has been a lot of work from successive ministers, successive governments as well, and another great example of governments - in this case nationally, Victoria and Tasmania - working together for the benefit of people now and into the future. And I'll hand over now to Minister Duigan.

TASMANIA MINISTER FOR ENERGY AND RENEWABLES, NICK DUIGAN: Well thanks very much Premier. And I’ll take the opportunity to thank Minister Bowen and, of course, the Victorian Government. This is the culmination of more than a decade's work.

And there have been a lot of people that have had their hands on Project Marinus, but today is a really important day because we go from the planning and approvals phase into the delivery phase, and that’s a really important thing. For Tasmania this is an enormous opportunity. We have been blessed through the vision of previous generations and our forefathers who built and installed our hydro-industrial system to make that work harder, to deliver a better return for the people of Tasmania who own that valuable asset.

This- the value of that asset has never been more apparent than it is today. It is dispatchable, it is flexible and it is renewable, and that is a hugely important asset for our state and Project Marinus goes a long way to help us deliver that return to our community. It's important to also recognise that we are a state almost entirely dependent on the weather for our energy, and Project Marinus provides real energy security for us.

So, another one of the benefits beyond all the investment that Project Marinus will bring is that idea of energy security for Tasmania as I say, which is hugely important. As we move into delivery we're seeing the impact of this project, a very large project that it is, on local businesses. We know with the North West Transmission Development, there's already been around $55 million of investment into the local community, and more than 50 local businesses engaged in delivering that work.

So again, a very profound impact already at this point. For Project Marinus, I understand some 13 local businesses already engaged in delivering that project. So together, they are very, very substantial investment opportunities and drivers of employment here in regional Tasmania.

The other aspect that I'd like to touch on is the community benefit sharing. I take this opportunity to thank all those landholders, particularly in respect of the North West Transmission Developments. Some 270 land holders who are impacted in some way by this project and who are hosting assets on their properties.

I want to thank them for their level of engagement. I want to thank TasNetworks for the years of work that have gone into that, and I want to point to the community benefit sharing schemes. $16 million taken in combination between Marinus and NWTD for legacy projects here in North West Tasmania to reflect the benefits to the community of this project.

So with that said, I will take my place at the back. [Indistinct] thank you Tom. MEMBER FOR EASTERN VICTORIA, TOM MCINTOSH: It's a hell of a lot of work to have gotten to this point and I want to acknowledge Chris Bowen, the Feds, the Tasmanian Government. But it's pretty simple, for anyone who uses electricity, this means cheaper power prices.

For people who are looking for jobs, this is more and more jobs. We've got the investment in TAFE, we've got the investment in our young people in our regions, and of course, whether it's our local economies, our state economies or our national economy, the more electricity we have, the more competitive we are globally. So this is really important.

It's a great announcement. Congratulations to everyone who's worked on this to this point. MINISTER BOWEN: Thanks, Tom.

What I might suggest colleagues is questions on Marinus first, on today's announcement, and then questions for the Premier or Minister Duigan or I on matters of the day. So Marinus first. JOURNALIST: When can we expect taxpayers to start seeing the benefits of Marinus on their electricity bill?

MINISTER BOWEN: Well, not until it's finished, and it'll take several years of construction, but all the work shows that there are wholesale price savings for electricity bill payers both in Tasmania and in Victoria. When the project's up and running, which is several years off yet, then you'll start to see that better, cheaper renewables flowing through Marinus Link both ways.

JOURNALIST: For Tasmanians, that savings about $30 a year in power at the most. So is the project worth it [Indistinct] them? MINISTER BOWEN: Absolutely.

It's about the power price reduction, but it's not just about the power price reduction. It’s about economic opportunities that are opened up for Tasmania and Tasmanians. The Tasmanian economy needs constant boosting through new projects and that's very hard to do when there's question marks about electricity flows between the mainland and Tasmania.

That’s not- that won't be the case when this is up and running. JOURNALIST: You talked a lot about the number of jobs that this project is going to create on both sides of Bass Strait, particularly in the construction phase. Are any of those jobs or is that level of employment going to persist beyond the construction?

MINISTER BOWEN: Well, they are construction jobs, but as I said, it then opens up new opportunities. It opens up opportunities for new renewable energy here in Tasmania, it opens up other industrial opportunities. If there's guaranteed flow of cheap renewable energy across the Bass Strait, we'll have to see how that rolls out, obviously.

But I know that without Marinus Link, those opportunities won't be there. JOURNALIST: Has the government done the work to bring the community in for this project? MINISTER BOWEN: Yeah, look, every project is controversial in some form.

Very few projects have 100 per cent support from every single person with a view. But TasNetworks, Marinus have done a good job, Minister Duigan, in bringing projects- bringing communities with them on this journey. Listening to feedback about particular things, about where transmission can be sited for example, that helps.

And in my experience, across the board, whether it's this or HumeLink in New South Wales and Victoria which is being built. And now, 99 per cent of landholders agreed to put transmission towers on their land, and in the end, that sort of process, which takes time to work through, does lead to much better outcomes. JOURNALIST: Has the federal government left that work up to the state, though, to work with the landholders and coax them along in this journey?

MINISTER BOWEN: Well, inevitably we each have different responsibilities, and inevitably the state government, which is very close to the ground here, does know those communities well and works with them. We also assist, but inevitably we both have different but both important sets of responsibilities. JOURNALIST: Can you just respond to this concern from a farmer in Wesley Vale, [Indistinct]… and he thinks that the attraction of AI data centres to Australia- to Tasmania is to facilitate and justify the cost of this project.

Can you just explain to him what the project is? MINISTER BOWEN: No, well, with the greatest respect, that's not right. That’s thinking about it the wrong way around, with the greatest of respects.

On data centres, which is I guess related to this in some ways about energy use, again, the Rockliff Government and the Albanese Government have the same view. Data centre investment is welcome if and only if it's in the best interest of Australia and the best interest of Tasmania. And that means bringing your own new renewable energy, and adding to the grid, not detracting from the grid, and making sure we don't put energy prices up for anyone else.

That's key. It won't be open slather under us for data centres. They must get that right, and similar rules are being developed for water and other things through other portfolios.

But it is not the case that the data- any data centre development is somehow designed to make Marinus viable, because Marinus was thought of and conceived of and agreed long before this data centre conversation even began in Tasmania. Okay, that might do us for Marinus. Other matters of the day?

JOURNALIST: Yeah, you lowered the quality standards for fuel and diesel to get through the fuel crisis. It's been extended. How long will that continue to stay in place?

MINISTER BOWEN: It's my intention to keep it in place until January 2027 at this point. JOURNALIST: What does that mean for our emissions? MINISTER BOWEN: It's not an emissions question.

It's not related to carbon emissions. It's about sulphur levels and the flashpoint for diesel, so it has no impact on emissions. JOURNALIST: Okay, can you explain that?

The lower quality of diesel doesn’t contribute to Australia’s emissions? MINISTER BOWEN: No, because it's about flashpoints. It's about the temperature at which it ignites, it's got no reference to emissions whatsoever.

JOURNALIST: There have been calls for Australia to end its double standard on fossil fuels. How do you plan to manage those conversations at Pre-COP next week? MINISTER BOWEN: The same way we always do, which is talking to my international colleagues, both at Pre-COP as I did at the Pacific Islands Forum a couple of weeks ago, talking about how Australia is making great progress on renewable energy.

Fifty per cent renewable energy in September, for the first time in September that has happened. And the way you transition away from fossil fuels is by building renewable energy here in Australia and overseas. And when I have conversations with my ministerial colleagues, whether they be from the Pacific or elsewhere, like I did with Saudi Arabia and India last week, people understand that.

JOURNALIST: What harms are young Australians being exposed to on online platforms like Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite? MINISTER BOWEN: Well, that's why we banned social media for under-16s, in a world leading reform which is now being copied by more than 20 countries, which we're proud of and pleased with. Social media is not the right place for young minds that are developing and learning and growing.

So hence, that was a difficult and controversial thing we’ve done, that is working well and is being copied from around the world. I'll leave Anika Wells to talk in more detail about the picking of platforms. Roblox is not something I personally am engaged with, but that's why we've made the sorts of [Indistinct].

JOURNALIST: You know those platforms aren't social media though, do you think they're doing enough to keep children safe? MINISTER BOWEN: I think Anika Wells has made it clear that there are strong obligations on them and commitments on them, but I'll leave her to comment. JOURNALIST: You say the ban is working well though, it's been shown to not be working well, there are still kids on social media broadly and certainly on those platforms, how can you say it's working well [Indistinct]?

MINISTER BOWEN: Well as the Prime Minister says, somewhere on a Saturday night in Australia, somewhere under- someone under 18 gets a beer. It doesn't mean that the ban on under 18-year-olds drinking beer isn't working, it means that occasionally people will find a way around it. It's still the right thing to do to put the laws in place.

JOURNALIST: What about the harms to adults that come from [Indistinct] MINISTER BOWEN: Well, hence we’re having other conversations about the digital duty of care [Indistinct]… to get through to Parliament. JOURNALIST: State governments and councils apply a surcharge to their bills if a credit card is used. Would the credit card surcharge ban- sorry, card surcharge ban.

Will these- will they have to absorb those costs? MINISTER BOWEN: I’ll leave the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer to talk about the details. Okay.

Thank you, cheers. 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.