Interview with Natalie Barr - Sunrise, Channel Seven
NATALIE BARR, HOST: A whole civilisation will die tonight – that is the extraordinary new threat from the US President against Iran as his deadline for a deal reaches its final hours. Donald Trump made the declaration in the early hours of this morning, adding that he doesn't want the attack to happen, but conceding, quote: it probably will. For their take, let's bring in Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth and National Senate Leader Bridget McKenzie. Good morning to you. Amanda, our biggest ally is threatening to annihilate an entire civilisation. How is our Government responding?
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS: Well, first I would say there would be a lot of Australians waking up with a lot of concern about that sort of tweet. From my perspective, and the government’s perspective, it is essential that civilian life and civilian infrastructure are protected. We urge all parties to act within international humanitarian law because civilians should not be targeted. That is a fundamental principle of international humanitarian law.
NATALIE BARR: Yeah. Bridget, lots of countries are lining up to say exactly what Amanda has said. He’s clearly – as critics have said – saying a civilisation will die, so he sounds like he’s aiming for civilians and civilian infrastructure. How do we respond to that as a country?
BRIDGET MCKENZIE, NATIONALS SENATE LEADER: Well, I think Amanda's right. Under the Geneva Convention, every effort should be made during a war to not be targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure. That is a principle that the United States has always upheld, as we have as well. So, I agree with Amanda that that needs to be paramount. But as you said in your opening comments, Nat, there's a situation that's unfolding. I'm heartened to see, obviously, Iran released some prisoners overnight. So, I think we're all watching, waiting to see what comes as the deadline approaches. We want to see an end to this conflict, the Strait of Hormuz open. But as Amanda says, the United States is our closest ally and that remains the case.
NATALIE BARR: Amanda, how does our government prepare for a potential attack at 10 am Australian Eastern Time? That is Trump’s deadline.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, look, of course we are not involved in any offensive action in this conflict. I note the Prime Minister of Pakistan has urged time for a diplomatic resolution. Of course, we want to see de-escalation. We want to see the conflict come to an end. The end point was, of course, first articulated as stopping Iran getting nuclear weapons. From all reports, it is quite clear that Iran’s military has been degraded. From Australia’s perspective, we urge de-escalation and a resolution to this conflict.
NATALIE BARR: Okay, moving on. The Queensland Premier, David Crisafulli, is calling on the federal government to back unlocking a new oil field. It’s five hours west of Brisbane, so it can roll out barrels of oil without delay. Amanda, there are already tenders out. I think there’s a joint venture that has apparently brought some barrels to the – some test oil to the surface. Would you, as the federal government, back this?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I would say we have changed our environmental laws so projects can get decisions faster and move through the process sooner. As the Prime Minister said last week, he’ll work with Premier Crisafulli on any practical measures, but it would be wrong to suggest this oil would be on the market tomorrow. It would probably be many years before we see production. So, in addition to thinking longer term, our government has been dealing with the here and now. That’s about securing fuel supply and reducing excise and doing what we can to support consumers with the cost of fuel at the moment.
NATALIE BARR: Yeah, Bridget, what do you say? Your leader, Matt Canavan, says drill, baby, drill. This Taroom Trough, I think it's called, has been known about since the 1960s. It's also known to be commercially difficult, so I think that means expensive. Why now? Do you think it's possible now with new technology to get the oil out?
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Well, that's going to be determined by the market, Nat, and I think we're having a great reality check in our country at the moment that we are highly dependent on fossil fuels, whether it's our mining industry, agricultural, our food security, manufacturing. Sixty per cent of our economy relies on diesel. So I think the Crisafulli Government in Queensland is doing what state governments should have been doing over the last decade, and that's actually unlocking the great natural resource we have under our feet right across the country. It has been too expensive to get out of the ground because of a lot of- the lack of political will, I might say, in state and territory governments in the past, but also the high level of regulatory burden. We have excessive regulation, that's meant it's very expensive to get this stuff out of the ground. This will help us for future shocks. It won't assist us in the here and now of what we're going through right now.
NATALIE BARR: So it’s the regulations, it’s not the cost of getting that out?
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Well Nat we say it’s too expensive. That’s code for saying doing business here in Australia – trying to unlock, explore and develop the abundance of natural resources we have under our feet – has been too expensive. That’s why projects like this haven’t stacked up financially. And now we are highly dependent on imports of things that are actually under our feet. So I think there is a genuine need, and a sensible argument to be had, about us using the resources we have here onshore and along our coastline for our use, so that in future shocks – like we’re going through at the moment, and previously during COVID – we’re able to be sustainable and self-reliant.
NATALIE BARR: Okay, and maybe we'll be looking into more of these. Thank you very much. We'll see you next week.
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