BENSON: Martin Ferguson you say the future for Australia’s coal mines and for our exports of coal is bright. The Greens are not going to be pleased with that assessment.
FERGUSON: The reality of the international economy is that it is growing, hence there is a growing demand for energy. Australia is well positioned, not only for the continued export of coal but also, I might say, an expanded opportunity in LNG, including coal-seam methane LNG exports.
BENSON: And what does that, what are the implications of that for the emissions from Australian coal?
FERGUSON: Well firstly on coal, Australian coal, especially from Queensland and New South Wales, which are export corridors, is regarded as relatively clean coal. In places such as China, where the demand is growing they are also building new coal fired power stations, which are far more efficient from an emissions point of view.
Then I go to the question of LNG; for every tonne of LNG produced in Australia, we actually reduce emissions in China by four tonnes in terms of CO2 emissions.
BENSON: But just in terms of your remarks on coal is it a dangerous thing to be talking so optimistically about coal when you’re in a pretty delicate stage of negotiations with the Greens on your emissions scheme. Are you not worried about losing their support as you did before the last election?
FERGUSON: Australia has obviously got to front up to its responsibilities in terms of putting a price on carbon. I must say from an energy perspective that it is very important to actually creating an environment of certainty for the purpose of investment in our own electricity generation capacity in Australia.
But, we cannot also forget the strength of our economy. We are going exceptionally well in terms of investment at the moment and growth built off the back of the export of commodities such as coal, LNG, uranium and copper and iron ore to name a few of our commodities.
You can’t have it both ways. You can’t destroy your economy whilst at the same time fronting up to your environmental responsibilities. We can do both.
BENSON: Mr Ferguson, let me just ask you a quick question in your capacity as Tourism Minister, Karl Bitar, the former national secretary of the ALP has just been appointed by James Packer’s Crown Casinos to manage relations with the Government, specifically tourism as part of Karl Bitar’s new responsibilities. Will he find your door open?
FERGUSON: Well Karl Bitar will be treated like any other government relations person. I also say there are standards expected of Government. Karl is a former national secretary of the party. He understands our expectations and he’s no different to any other Member of Parliament of staffer or former secretary of any political party who has gone in that direction.
If he seeks a meeting with me in terms of investment or the needs of the tourism industry in Australia, which employs just under a million Australian’s directly or indirectly, then I’ll have those meetings in the same way I meet with a lot of other people in the community, but there will be no favours.
BENSON: No favours. But is the public entitled to feel cynical when they see this political process that a person from right in the heart of the Labor Party is now going off to lobby the Labor Government?
FERGUSON: It’s no different, I might say, to ABC journalists who appear at corporate functions, or I might say former political staffers from all political parties. But in terms of the Labor Party, we established a register of lobbyists. They understand, both for those directly employed and those who lobby on behalf of companies that in terms of their engagement with the Federal Labor Government there are no favours.
If they have a case to put to us in terms of potential requirements for training or staffing or I might say potential investment, then I’ll listen to them because I’m about strengthening the tourism industry in a very tough environment because of the impact of the strength of the Australian dollar. And I might remind you that those workers are not relatively well paid and I’ll work with Karl Bitar or any other person in a proper, constructive, open way to strengthen the tourism industry.
BENSON: Do you have a high opinion of Karl Bitar because he left under something of a cloud as the man at the centre of a very unsuccessful ALP campaign in the 2010 election. Is he a good man?
FERGUSON: Looking on the campaign from outside, and my experiences having lived in New South Wales, I don’t blame Karl Bitar for the difficulties we suffered in the last election, nor do I blame him for the meltdown in New South Wales. I look to his predecessors for that responsibility; I think he inherited a mess in New South Wales.
BENSON: Martin Ferguson thank you very much.