Interview on ABC Radio Sydney with Chris Taylor

Subjects: Budget in Reply, Coalition’s housing plan, nuclear and gas

E&OE………

Chris Taylor

I'm joined now by the New South Wales Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg. Good morning, Senator.

Senator Bragg

Chris, how are you?

Chris Taylor

I'm very well. What do you make of the timing of this election being called on a Friday morning after the Budget Reply speech?

Senator Bragg

Well, look, it is unusual. Usually, elections are called on the weekend, but I guess Mr Albanese is always about politics, so this is an ominous start to the campaign. But look, we look forward to talking about our alternative vision for Australia. People are doing it tough, in particular in my role of being a housing spokesperson. I know that we must get the cost of housing down. We must make the Australian Dream achievable for younger generations. That's really an important part of our mission.

Chris Taylor

We didn't hear a lot of meat on the bones about how you'll do that. What is the Coalition policy on reducing housing affordability? Reducing the cost of housing, sorry.

Senator Bragg

Well, we have a number of policies, including on the supply side. We believe that we can cut the overall cost of housing by freezing the construction code for 10 years. We also have a plan to have a supply fund of $5 billion, which will cut the cost of construction for builders and developers. Then we also have an agenda to tilt the scales for first home buyers by allowing them to use their own superannuation to enter the housing market, because we know that the key test of your success in retirement is your housing status, not your superannuation balance.

Chris Taylor

Just on another issue canvassed in Mr. Dutton's speech last night in his Budget Reply speech. The one big policy that had been tabled ahead of the election was your plans for a nuclear future for the country. There wasn't a lot of mention of nuclear in his speech last night. Instead, it was all about gas. Now, the pitch for nuclear, as I understood, it was a clean and green way to move away from fossil fuels. And yet by going back, making gas a very much a top-line policy, have you done a u-turn on this now?

Senator Bragg

Absolutely not. We think that it makes sense to avail yourself of every single opportunity in the energy market. We are pro-anything that works, frankly. Right now, gas is a key transition fuel for the energy market, but we also think that it's frankly anti-scientific to be against nuclear when it is a zero-emissions technology. We're also pro-renewable. We think that all the options should be available to the Australian people. We think it's, frankly, a bit of a caveman approach from the Labor Party to be against a technology that most of the rest of the developed world is using as part of their agenda to get to net zero by 2050.

Chris Taylor

But how is the nuclear policy polling for you internally? It did strike me as surprising. There was no mention of it in a speech that-

Senator Bragg

He did mention it.

Chris Taylor

Gas was very much the headline, whereas it seemed like nuclear was the footnote.

Senator Bragg

It was in a speech, Chris, and we don't run our policies based on polling. We think that it is very clear, and I noticed this when I went to the COP meeting in Dubai last year, that basically every other country that is trying to get to net zero, which has a similar economy to Australia, is using nuclear as part of that effort. I think it's frankly unremarkable that Australia would be using a technology which is used in most other comparable countries and is based on uranium, which we, of course, mine and ship to other countries. Of course, we're about to put our sailors onto nuclear submarines. I don't think it's as controversial as perhaps some people may suggest it could be.

Chris Taylor

Well, I guess there's been a fair bit of detail lacking about where the waste will go. Can we expect to get more information about that during the campaign?

Senator Bragg

Well, we've been very clear about where the sites will be, and we've been clear that we also think that gas is an important part of getting our energy prices down, but also showing fidelity to getting to net zero. We think that ultimately, we've got to make sure we look after Australians now, and the skyrocketing energy prices under Labor are hurting people, hurting small businesses. That's why we want to avail ourselves of all the different technologies which are available, and we've been quite clear about that.

Chris Taylor

On 702 ABC Sydney, I'm chatting with Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg on the day that the federal election has now officially been called. We'll all be going off to the polls on May the third. Just finally, Andrew, there's been some news reports about unhappiness at a leadership level and the Liberal Party about leaks to the media, reports of disunity, dissatisfaction with a lack of policy formulation. What's morale like now that we've got five weeks ahead of us? Do we feel we have a united Liberal Party, united Coalition going into this battle?

Senator Bragg

Absolutely, Chris. In my portfolio of housing, what I can say is that we have a suite of measures which I think is going to be very exciting in the sense that we have probably the only plan that can actually get the Australian dream back on track. As I said before, I think that by getting the supply side moving, getting the houses built, restricting the foreign demand for Australian housing, tilting the scales for first-home buyers, making sure that millennials and Gen Z's feel like they have a chance of getting into the housing market - I think we're really excited about that.

Chris Taylor

That doesn't quite answer my question. My question wasn't about housing, but about the morale and unity.

Senator Bragg

That's all fine. We're focused on policy. We're focused on - what I'm trying to say to you is what has been said about our policies.

Chris Taylor

Is it true? The report is true that Peter Dutton has called for fewer leaks in the media between now and election day?

Senator Bragg

No, we're very keen to talk about what we think is a well-crafted set of policies, and particularly in my portfolio of housing. We think that we have an offering that can actually change a trajectory where we now see so many millennials and Gen Z's not on track to ever own a house. That would fundamentally change the character of Australia, Chris. We want to be a democracy where people own a house, and that is now not on track under this government. Getting the houses built and finding practical ways to tilt the scales for first home buyers is a part of our mission that we are all very excited about. We want to talk to the Australian people about our plans, and we now look forward to the opportunity over the next few weeks to do that. That's our focus.

Chris Taylor

Thanks so much for your time this morning. It's going to be a long five weeks, hopefully a relatively painless one. I imagine you've given us a little flavour of some of the arguments we'll be hearing ad nauseam over the next five weeks as voters make their choice on May the 3rd, but I really appreciate your time this morning.

Senator Bragg

Thanks very much, Chris.

[Ends]

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