Interview with Emma Rebellato, ABC News Breakfast

EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: We’re joined by the Environment Minister Senator Murray Watt from Canberra. Good morning to you. MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER: G'day Emma, how are you?

EMMA REBELLATO: I'm very well thank you. Look I want to start with Australian Robert Pether who's finally out of Iraq five years after his arrest. His family said these were trumped up charges against him.

Can you take us through why it took so long for him to be released? MURRAY WATT: Yeah, well this is obviously very welcome news that Mr Pether has been released and will be able to be reunited with his family here in Australia. I think everyone would understand that the Iraqi system is not necessarily the easiest system in which to negotiate these sorts of matters, but this release is a real testament to the hard work of many officials over a number of years advocating for Mr Pether, providing consular assistance to him, and we're certainly very grateful for those efforts and really pleased to see him coming home.

EMMA REBELLATO: Another story overseas is really making a lot of headlines here in Australia, certainly a lot of debate and discussion, and that is the possible live streaming of an execution that's going to take place in the US in December. Now, the e-Safety Commission says it doesn't have the power to stop it from reaching us in Australia. Is this something that the Government could look at or it's simply unviable?

You just can't stop it from happening? MURRAY WATT: Well, firstly, can I say, Emma, I just find the idea of a public streaming of a firing squad execution absolutely disgusting. When I first heard that this was being proposed, I couldn't believe that it was real.

You know, I think all Australians would agree that this is a very distressing thing to have publicised. And, of course, Australia's had a longstanding public and bipartisan position against the death penalty in any country. As it relates to the streaming itself, we’ve seen now that the e-Safety Commissioner says they don't have those powers.

I wouldn't want to commit to any legislative change at this point in time, but what I do think it shows is this rapidly evolving situation that we've got with technology, which is why our government is trying to take as much action as we can, as quickly as we can on these sorts of matters. EMMA REBELLATO: When it comes to social media for instance and this is where a lot of people might see it even if they don't want to, Digital Duty of Care laws are going before Parliament this week.

Now the Greens, it seems like the Opposition won't support it, the Greens are saying they won't be afraid to vote against it if the Government doesn't adopt stronger changes. Are you open to adopting stronger changes and a stronger stance on this? MURRAY WATT: Of course we want to see these laws passed and even this recent example of this execution and the possible streaming of it is an example that we need to strengthen Australia's laws as it relates to the responsibilities of the tech platforms.

You know, we remain open to passing this legislation either with the Coalition or the Greens and I know that Minister Wells is in discussions with both sides about that. It's too important to have this blocked through some sort of politics from either side. We will continue discussing with both the Coalition and the Greens what their changes are whether we're prepared to prepared to make them.

But we need to put the interests of Australians first on these sorts of things. EMMA REBELLATO: Obviously, a lot of people are concerned about social media, they're also really worried about AI and we've had this bipartisan committee looking into artificial intelligence. Now it's just released a letter urging the Federal Government to require AI companies to submit to independent safety checks.

Do you think that's a good idea? MURRAY WATT: Well, again those recommendations have just been received, and the Government will certainly give them consideration. It's good to see some bipartisan work happening in this space.

And just to go back to the Digital Duty of Care, we'd like to see that sort of bipartisanship on that as well. I think on the Digital Duty of Care that it is a bit of a concern that the remarks we’ve got coming from the Coalition indicate that yet again, they’re being led to a policy position by One Nation, trying to copy One Nation’s position, and it is further evidence for what Josh Frydenberg has been out there saying, that the Liberal Party needs to get back to the centre.

I mean the fact that the Liberal Party is outside the Parliament publicly audition for the leadership role shows how lacking in talent they have and again I think it's an admission from Josh Frydenberg that there's simply no way the Liberals can govern without One Nation. So, the more bipartisanship that they can show on these matters that concern Australians, like AI, that will show that they are doing what Josh Frydenberg says which is get back to the centre and think about the needs of Australians.

EMMA REBELLATO: There's been a lot of discussion about businesses at the moment too a lot of them say they feel like they're being a punching bag, they are operating on the slimmest of margins and they're having to make all these adjustments to changes that the Federal Government is initiating. Do you think the Government is letting businesses down? MURRAY WATT: No, I don't think so Emma.

I mean we've acknowledged that whether you're in small business, an average worker, there are many people who are struggling at the moment and that's again why we keep providing the support that we have, which I have to say has been voted against every time by the Coalition and One Nation. When it comes to small business, we’re providing billions of dollars of support, even our recent Budget locked in things like the loss carry back system for small businesses, the instant asset write-off, all those sorts of tax advantages for small business.

So, you know we're doing what we can as a Government to support them just as we are by delivering higher wages for Australians. EMMA REBELLATO: One of our colleagues at the ABC has written a piece online about a warning from the Climate Council, this is in your portfolio of course, and the Climate Council's warning of a loophole saying that oil and gas expansions aren't subject to the same stricter laws as new projects when it comes to emissions.

Why aren't they? MURRAY WATT: I haven't seen that myself, Emma. I'm happy to take a look at that report if that's been provided.

Certainly, from my perspective, when a federal government is assessing any project, whether it be an expansion of an existing one or a brand-new project, the test we apply is whether that project would significantly impact on one of the matters that we nationally regulate. That’s the test that applies for coal projects, gas projects, renewable energy projects, housing developments.

So we don’t distinguish, to the best of my knowledge, when it comes to expansions of existing projects or new ones. EMMA REBELLATO: Minister Murray Watt, thank you very much for joining us. MURRAY WATT: Thanks Emma.

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