DAVID SPEERS:

The new Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Greg Hunt – he's delivered a major speech here in Canberra this afternoon and is joining me now.

Thank you very much for your time.

GREG HUNT:

It's a pleasure.

DAVID SPEERS:

Congratulations on your new role.

GREG HUNT:

Thank you.

DAVID SPEERS:

This address you've delivered at the Australian Academy of Science, your first key speech in this new portfolio area, you spoke about the announcement of a few days ago in relation to the CSIRO and the new Climate Science Centre that's going to be based in Hobart.

GREG HUNT:

Correct.

DAVID SPEERS:

What is it going to do?

GREG HUNT:

So, the Climate Science Centre will act as a national centrepiece for research, dissemination of knowledge, hard science in relation to climate change and climate science.

What we announced today on top of the announcement last week was the creation of what's called a decadal climate science capability.

In other words, long-term forecasting – taking the hard data and making scientific projections about the impact in terms of overall climate, regional variations, impacts on specific areas of the country.

DAVID SPEERS:

So, it will tell us what the CSIRO expects to happen in a particular part of Australia over the coming decade?

GREG HUNT:

Correct. And, the reason to do this – this is the hard science capability that much of the science community was looking for.

It's about cooperating with the Bureau of Meteorology, it's about cooperating with all of the different arms of the scientific community, and what we do is we…

DAVID SPEERS:

I can see a lot of people out there saying – they don't get their daily forecast all that right, how can they be sure about ten years? What will the data be used for by the Government?

GREG HUNT:

So, that data's used for agricultural planning, it's used for private decision making, it's used by state governments for long-term planning decisions about understanding what are the threats and challenges and opportunities that come over the course of a decade.

DAVID SPEERS:

Now, as part of this, you are – well, the CSIRO is putting 15 new climate science jobs…

GREG HUNT:

Correct.

DAVID SPEERS:

…back into the CSIRO and this follows earlier in the year, the CSIRO announcing 275 jobs cuts including, I think, 35 in the climate area.

In hindsight, was – I know it wasn't your decision, you weren't the Minister at the time, but was it a mistake by the CSIRO?

GREG HUNT:

Look, I'm not going to – respectfully – go back into the past.

I can say the decision that I have taken in consultation with the Prime Minister, who is very, very supportive of this, was to say that as a government we are reaffirming the importance of core climate science.

We're adding 15 per cent to the workforce of a hundred that would otherwise have been the case, adding $37 million over a decade as opposed to what would already have been spent in that space.

And the CSIRO as a whole will grow by more than 200 jobs and will grow by more than $115 million a year in its workforce and budget over the next three years.

DAVID SPEERS:

But see the thing is on these climate scientists, you say that this was your and the Prime Minister's decision.

But back in February – and Malcolm Turnbull was the Prime Minister then – we were told this was a CSIRO decision, they were independent, they're a statutory agency, government didn't intervene in this stuff.

GREG HUNT:

So, there are two different things here. It's a fair question.

One is, this was a decision of the organisation at the time and there's no criticism – they were adapting for the future.

What you can do as a new minister is set out what's called a statement of expectations for the entire direction of the CSIRO. That's an option that I have chosen to accept.

And the first part of that statement of expectations has been working with the chair, working with the CEO, working with the head of all the climate and land science program to say that climate science will be a core part of the statement of expectations and, frankly, the organisation's embraced it.

DAVID SPEERS:

So, just forgive my ignorance of how this works technically, but with that statement of expectations from the Minister, CSIRO has to do it?

GREG HUNT:

That is part of their duty – that becomes part of their effective operating instructions going forward and they've already responded.

We have released today the outline for the decal climate forecasting capability – core, real, hard science.

DAVID SPEERS:

Now you might have seen the new One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts a few days ago calling for an investigation into the CSIRO’s climate change research. Is that going to be happening?

GREG HUNT:

I respect all of our Senators and I think it is very important to say that I am one, who whilst I believe deeply and passionately in the science, also I believe that people have a right – and I've said this on numerous occasions – to express their views.

So I think we have to be respectful of different peoples' views.

DAVID SPEERS:

Sure, but on the enquiry into the CSIRO – will that happen?

GREG HUNT:

Look, at this point in time there are no plans for that.

I have deep faith in our hard science institutions and I've long maintained that I don't believe that scientists around the world are fabricating data or making things up…

DAVID SPEERS:

Well he says…

GREG HUNT:

I believe strongly in the reality of climate change and taking actions that actually reduces emissions, which is what we've managed to achieve.

DAVID SPEERS:

But he says there is no empirical evidence showing humans cause climate change. Is there?

GREG HUNT:

Well I would simply refer to the entire Paris Conference, the framework and science upon which the entire global international community acted – acted as one, and acted unanimously.

DAVID SPEERS:

Is that empirical evidence though? I know everyone acted in Paris but is there empirical evidence that humans cause climate change?

GREG HUNT:

I think that there – from our own Bureau of Meteorology the advice has been categorical; from our own CSIRO the advice has been categorical…

DAVID SPEERS:

Can you forward that to me?

GREG HUNT:

…from all of the scientific agencies – it is available and we'll be happy to brief any Senator, any Member of Parliament at any time.

DAVID SPEERS:

Now you also acknowledged in your speech today that Australia lags behind the OECD on research and development investment from public and private sources, or at least we're falling behind many of the OECD countries.

Now, you are now the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, can I ask you, does the $900 – well it’s now $1 billion dollars over four years – cut to research and development tax incentives still stand as Government policy?

GREG HUNT:

Well I think the ALP picked up exactly that action at the last election, so there has been no change in any of our previous positions.

But what we have done – we have only in the last week launched a $500 million Biomedical Translation Fund.

What's that about? That’s about taking research from the lab and turning it into jobs for Australians, and then benefits for Australians in the medical space.

We've got a $200 million CSIRO Innovation Fund, a $1 billion Clean Energy Innovation Fund.

And now I've also signalled that I want to talk with the research community and the investment community about new options in the innovation fund space.

Now that's about using the Government's balance sheet rather than paying money out.

So we have a national challenge to make sure that we control our debt. At the same time we have the example of these three funds which are likely to create jobs and wealth and prosperity.

And I always say, innovation isn't just about new start-ups, it's about existing firms such as Dulux which have been around for 100 years, which have tripled their share price through innovation, both in product, but also in the way they do their business in the last six years.

DAVID SPEERS:

A final one – as Industry Minister, what's your principle starting position on industries that we need to protect in Australia, that are critical to Australia?

I mean, is steel one of them? Is ship building one of them? We're seeing the car makers go, but what are the critical industries?

GREG HUNT:

Our job is to have a level playing field, to make sure that our natural strengths create the jobs going forward.

What does that level playing field mean? It means that we have the Free Trade Agreements with China and Japan and Korea.

It means that we have our public sector finances under control so that we're not leaving a debt which is going to lead to higher taxes.

Therefore we want to work to lower company taxes because that allows more investment and more jobs.

DAVID SPEERS:

But you're also giving $50 million to Arrium to help them out, I mean…

GREG HUNT:

We've provided a loan, and that's an appropriate thing. And so what you'll see is a shift, from grants – I noted that when I came to the portfolio $300 million had been given to each of the three major car manufacturers who had been operating over the last five years and even then each of them decided to leave with the taxpayers' money…

DAVID SPEERS:

So those handouts don't work?

GREG HUNT:

So what we're doing is protecting taxpayer money on loans and we're focusing on making sure that there is actually a value add which will create jobs.

DAVID SPEERS:

Just listening to your answer – this is really interesting…

GREG HUNT:

So in the end our role is to create a level playing field.

And Government is not an organisation for just gifting and gifting money to the private sector.

 As a Government, we are creating jobs if we're creating the environment where people can invest.

DAVID SPEERS:

So listening to that answer, it's really interesting – you're saying we want a level playing field, handouts don't work, you're not identifying any industry that's particularly deserving of taxpayer protection.

GREG HUNT:

Well what we're doing is we're working on two levels – one is to work on the macroeconomic, to make Australia a highly desirable place for investment.

And then we're working on the microeconomic – to remove impediments in particular sectors.

Now that means a level playing field where there is gaming of the international system, where there are inadvertences that need to be repaired.

So microeconomic reform is about removing barriers to effective competition, about removing barriers to job creation in individual sectors.

DAVID SPEERS:

Greg Hunt, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, thank you very much for talking to you, catch up again soon.

 

(ENDS)