Senator Dean Smith – Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury – Transcript – Interview with Gary Adshead, ABC Drive
SENATOR DEAN SMITH SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY LIBERAL SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA TRANSCRIPT – INTERVIEW WITH GARY ADSHEAD TOPICS: Northwest Shelf, Dual Citizenship deportations, Federal Budget E&OE GARY ADSHEAD: Speaking of politics, let’s get into the campaign, our segment here where we have our guest, Madeleine King, the Minister for Resources, and of course North Australia, which is important. You’ll find out why in a second. And Dean Smith, the WA Liberal Senator. They both join us. Thanks very much, folks, for coming. Well, Madeleine’s on the line. Dean, you are right in front of me. DEAN SMITH: G’day Gary. Hello Madeleine. I’m starting to take it personally, Madeleine, that we’re not in the studio together. GARY ADSHEAD: You’ll have very serious affairs of state won’t you, Madeleine, to be dealing with at the moment? MADELEINE KING: Well, I’m actually a fair way away from your studio at the moment, but still in in Perth. Down in the south, where it’s the best as you know. GARY ADSHEAD: Alright, okay. Hey, let’s just get started if we can with this idea that Peter Dutton has floated, which is that – everyone’s waiting on Northwest Shelf gas, the extension of this project to go beyond 2030 and up to 2050. He says he’ll fast track it if he wins the election, and this is some of what he had to say: (RECORDING) PETER DUTTON: And I think West Australians are smart enough to realise that they’re being duped by a Prime Minister who is no Mark McGowan, no Roger Cook and frankly he’s a Prime Minister that is against mining and is against agriculture and is against development. And our announcement today to deal with the Northwest Shelf gas extension decision within 30 days should send a very clear message that our Government would be a very different, provide a very different future for Western Australians than what a Labor-Greens Government would do. I’m seeking a mandate from the Australian people and, in particular, from the people of Western Australia to make sure that we can keep mining going. GARY ADSHEAD: He’s a bit of a “drill, baby, drill” type of guy, isn’t he, Peter Dutton? Dean Smith? DEAN SMITH: Gary, you know, drill baby drill has been pretty essential to the prosperity of this state. And when we think about the Northwest Shelf project in particular, it’s a very significant revenue earner for Commonwealth taxes. Very important earner for West Australian revenue. I think what Peter is saying is that the Northwest Shelf project, and gas in particular, has an important role to play here in Western Australia. But in terms of the national energy transition, it’s absolutely critical to global energy security interests. And what Peter is doing is drawing people’s attention to the fact that the regulatory processes don’t work fast enough to give investors like Woodside and others enough confidence to be able to make significant investment decisions. And Peter today said a couple of things. He said within 30 days there will be a decision in regards to the Northwest Shelf. And he’s made it clear to people what his personal opinion is about that – he’s for the project. Secondly, he also said that he would apply a broader national interest test to take into account economic and broader social issues. And he also said, which hasn’t been mentioned, that he would effectively put a statute of limitations over appeals to projects. So, this would allow interested parties, environmental groups, up to 12 months to make the appeals. But beyond that project investment would be safe and secure. GARY ADSHEAD: Okay… DEAN SMITH: So, this is a very pro-West Australian decision. GARY ADSHEAD: This is obviously right in Madeleine’s ballpark. Madeleine, is it wrong for Peter Dutton to say there might be a process in place, the environmental process in this instance, and we’ll go over the top of that and short-circuit it so that there’s a decision quicker? MADELEINE KING: Well, I really don’t know, Gary, what Peter Dutton’s going to do about the six years it’s been in the State Government processes. That is not something he has much influence over. So, putting that aside, which is where we’re at, at the moment, after six years, it’s now come up to the Federal Government to make the decision. But, what we’ve seen today is, it’s actually a reckless announcement because it does pre-empt the judgment on this decision. It pre-empts Governmental decision-making. And what that does is make any decision that he makes or his Government might make if he is elected. And I don’t think you will be able to do that, it prejudices all of that and just opens it up for more challenges. So, it demonstrates how reckless the Coalition have been before in decision-making. And I’ve mentioned this in the media before, I’ve had to go through a number of court cases cleaning up the mess around apprehended bias type decisions because Ministers and the Coalition Government were shooting their mouth off about decisions, which then just open the door to a caravan of litigation that has taken a couple of years to fix up. So, Peter Dutton is just doing the exact same thing as the Coalition did before, which brings enormous doubt into the decision-making DEAN SMITH: But Gary, let’s wind this back a bit because we had this conversation on your show a few weeks ago. And let’s just remind listeners what happened. Tanya Plibersek recently deferred the decision on the Northwest Shelf project to post the 31st of March. She did that to get over and past the WA State Election. She did that expecting, and we probably will be, in an election period. So, the caretaker conventions are then invoked, which means a decision can’t be taken. So, this decision is being put on the backburner. GARY ADSHEAD: Well, it’s a key point, isn’t it Madeleine? I’m not trying to…