Anika Wells MP on 4BC with Scott Emerson
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
DRIVE WITH SCOTT EMERSON
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2021
SUBJECTS: Coalition net zero negotiations; Unvaccinated Covid man on Gold Coast; Dolphins name for NRL competition.
SCOTT EMERSON, HOST: Well now it’s time for our Question Time here on 4BC Drive. Always a feature of our Friday show. And we’re joined now by Labor member for Lilley Anika Wells and the LNP member for Ryan Julian Simmons. Anika and Julian, how are you both?
JULIAN SIMMONDS, MEMBER FOR RYAN: Very well
ANIKA WELLS, MEMBER FOR LILLEY: I’m coming to you live from Canberra Scott. I’m well.
EMERSON: Oh, you’re still in Canberra there? What about you Julian? Where are you?
SIMMONDS: No I’m in beautiful Brisbane. That’s much where I’d rather be.
EMERSON: Hopefully you survived those storms coming back up then if that’s the case. Alright let’s go through obviously Anika you are still in in Canberra and obviously the the topic of debate in Canberra particularly this week has been net zero emissions by 2050. Now the Prime Minister, he leaves for overseas on Thursday he’s got the G20 first and then the climate summit, the COP summit there for climate change, the UN summit. No announcement yet in terms of net zero missions. Still a lot of debate with the Nationals. First off Anika, does he need the Nationals support to take that policy to Glasgow?
WELLS: Well no he doesn’t. And we did give him, we generously gave him the opportunity to legislate it on the floor of the House this week and he used the government numbers to vote that down.
EMERSON: But he doesn’t need to legislate either does he? He doesn’t need to legislate it. It’s not {inaudible} the law.
WELLS: The idea behind that was that then he wouldn’t be a hostage to the Nationals like he has been. He was hostage to the Nationals last week when we spoke Scott. And I guess my worry is that his actions or his lack of action leaves us increasingly isolated on the world stage. Because whatever he has to give over to Barnaby Joyce to get the permission slips for net zero by 2050, when it comes to Glasgow next Thursday and you know the UK and Germany and Switzerland, they’re all doing 50 per cent by 2030. And the US is doing our 2030 targets five years earlier and had much bigger targets. Do you they’re going to be impressed by him staggering over the line having just managed to get net zero through? It’s not very ambitious. And it’s not going to look good on the global stage.
EMERSON: Julian Simmons, do you need the Nationals to be in the in the camp, in the tent there? Because I did see Bridget McKenzie say if the Nationals don’t agree to it, it will be ugly.
SIMMONDS: Well we want the Nationals in it because this is the job of how we…this is a conversation about how we get there. So it’s about jobs and the economy as much as it’s about the environment. And the regional constituency that the Nationals are representing, as, there’s a lot of regional Liberal members too. It’s important that we make sure that we can, we convey that this is a plan about technology not taxes and that we are doing it in the best interesst of Australia. It just, you know what Anika said before tells you everything that’s wrong about the Labor Party. They want to virtue signal. They want to make a decision for Australia that best impresses their international mates. But we’re not interested in that. We’re interested in doing what’s best for Australians. To allow us to to meet net zero but do it in a way that protects jobs in regions.
EMERSON: Anika Wells if we do it as we assume will happen; is that Scott Morrison says net zero emissions by 2050. That’s the same policy for 2050 as Labor. But Labor has been very quiet in terms of what its argument will be for 2030. Morrison says look that he’s sticking by that 20 per cent reduction. Why hasn’t Labor come out and said what it will do at 2030.
WELLS: Well Scott you might remember Opposition has very few luxuries. But one of them is that the government has it’s hands on the levers. The government sets policy and your job as opposition is to scrutinise it and try and improve it. So we will wait for Scott Morrison to come to a deal with Barnaby Joyce about what the government policy is, eight years too late mind you, but here we are. And then we will scrutinise that and try to improve it.
EMERSON: So you’ll come out with what a higher figure than what the Coalition is saying it for 2030? And when will that happen?
WELLS: Well it depends, there’s too many variables in that when the government hasn’t done its job first. But what we have said is that we do want the government to take a higher target for 2030 than what they have at the moment. And that’s not looking very promising at this stage?
EMERSON: So when will Labor come out if Scott Morrison has said he’s not going to change 2030. Labor could come out now and say it couldn’t it? What its target will be.
WELLS: Scott Morrison has said that he hasn’t finalised the government’s climate policy and that he can’t do that until the Nats party room tells him what it is.
EMERSON: I think he has had they’re not changing their 2030 number. They have said that. So Labor could come out and say could do it. Julian Simmonds?
SIMMONDS: Our plan is to stick to the Paris target, that’s our national commitment. And we are going to meet and beat that. And the problem is I think Labor will come out with a higher target and that’s when Australians and the regions have to question well what are the decisions that you’re going to make to get it to a higher target by 2030? What jobs are going to be lost? What industries are going to be lost? Because their plan is not linear, our plan is to get to 2050, get zero by 2050, but do it with technology and that that’s going to mean that higher targets at 2030 are going to be far more dangerous for the jobs and economy.
EMERSON: Now I’m talking to the member for Lilley Anika Wells and the LNP member for Ryan Julian Simmons. Obviously we saw this case that was revealed yesterday about this bloke on the Gold Coast. I think he is just an idiot. Unvaccinated apparently an anti vaxxer. Unfortunately he is in hospital, in a pretty critical way, he might be being moved to the intensive care ward. But he hasn’t used the check-in apps. He’s been infectious in the community for 10 days. Hopefully he does survive and we don’t know if that will be the case. But if he does he will just get a $4000 fine at this stage. Is that enough? Is that enough punishment for someone who’s allegedly done…broken the law, done the wrong thing? Anika Wells
WELLS: Well I agree that he’s an idiot. But I don’t think anyone deserves a front page public enemy number one on the Courier Mail, which he’s got today. Because ultimately this bloke is a victim of misinformation. There is so much misinformation out there and it’s not just from the fringes. I mean Julian’s former Liberal colleague Craig Kelly who sits with us in the House has emailed all House representatives again today with misinformation. Whipping up discontent. Whipping up people, encouraging them to act outside the law. So it’s a problem that lawmakers like Julian and I have to look at from the top. But when you’ve got MP’s who are being given a very long reign and not reined in by the Prime Minister, I think it’s a real problem.
EMERSON: Well the Prime Minister can’t do anything about Craig Kelly now. He’s not a member of his political party a the moment can he.
SIMMONDS: No he’s former, he’s former.
EMERSON: He’s a former member. But Julian Simmons, Anika Wells just said that the guy’s an idiot, I think he is, but he shouldn’t be named and shamed like on the front page of the Courier Mail. What’s your thoughts about that?
SIMMONDS: Well look, I hope he pulls through. But yeah I think he should have been named and shamed. I think he deserves what he’s got. I mean as you, you know, it’s pretty selfish behaviour quite frankly. I mean he’s managed to get across the border, he’s not using the check-in app and then he’s and then he’s left himself left himself so late, getting so sick, that he can they can barely talk. Because he didn’t want to fess up to what he’s done. So you know, it reinforces to everyone, this is why it’s important to get vaccinated. And the sooner they do that, the better. And we, I will agree with Anika in the sense that we all have a responsibility as MPs. I’m certainly doing it, to encourage everybody get vaccinated.
EMERSON: Indeed. And then look, Craig Kelly I think he’s an idiot too, to be honest. Very much an idiot and sending out some very very incorrect information out there regarding vaccines but…
SIMMONDS: We’re all in furious agreement then.
EMERSON: We are indeed. Alright let’s go to something a little bit lighter. But it does, has fired a lot of people up this week. This is about the new NRL team, the Dolphins. And it will be only been known as the Dolphins. Not the Redcliffe Dolphins. Not the Moreton Bay Dolphins. Not the the Sunshine State Dolphins. Not the Brisbane Dolphins. Anika Wells what do you think about that? Just the name Dolphins? Would you have liked to have seen a geographical reference to the name?
WELLS: Oh well Scott wearing my shameless Northsider hat, I would have liked it to be the Bramble Bay Dolphins. That takes in a bit of Shorncliffe, Brighton, Sandgate. But I can’t have that. And it sounds like the Moreton Bay Mayor’s a bit upset about this decision. But ultimately, when we talked about this decision you know, a week or two ago, it was about how do we grow the sport. And how do we encourage people out there to get involved at a community level, at an early level? And it’s not limiting the Dolphins as a national brand by putting {inaudible} and encouraging people on the Sunny Coast or wherever to get involved as well. And I think that’s a good thing.
EMERSON: And Julian Simmons I know you’re a big Broncos fan there. Does it worry you at all that the Dolphins don’t have a name attached to them?
SIMMONDS: It worries me that they’ve got Wayne Bennett. That’s what worries me. Look I think this is just administrators thinking far too hard about it. Let’s just be the Redcliffe Dolphins. You’ve got the Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels. You know people are still going to call them the Redcliffe Dolphins just like they still call Suncorp Stadium, Lang Park.
EMERSON: Indeed. Alright Anika Wells, Julian Simmons appreciate you joining us on 4BC’s Question Time this week. Will catch you both next week.
WELLS: Have a good arvo.
SIMMONDS: Thanks, bye.
ENDS
