ROD CORFE, HOST: Tim Ayres is Senator for New South Wales, and Assistant Minister for a Future Made in Australia and Assistant Minister for Trade. Good morning Senator, how are you?
SENATOR TIM AYRES, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR A FUTURE MADE IN AUSTRALIA AND ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR TRADE: I am very good Rod, it is really good to be on the show.
CORFE: Good to have you. Let’s first talk about the Far West, a bit of a disaster outside Broken Hill, nearly two weeks ago now, with some power lines pulled down after strong winds.
Senator Ayres: It has been pretty tough. We have been watching it from here at a great distance. I can't imagine how difficult it has been for people in Broken Hill and in the surrounding communities in the Far West. The Commonwealth Government has been providing some support to the New South Wales Government, who are working very hard to deliver power supply and to deal with what is a pretty challenging break in electricity services.
CORFE: They were celebrating last night, three days without the power going off. That's a good start.
SENATOR AYRES: Yeah, it is a good start. I'm told that all customers, businesses and households in the Far West have had power supply. That's because of a network of generators. I haven't heard the report back, but I understand there was an effort to establish a further two generators by the end of the weekend, and so hopeful that those have been put up in time. That is three days without interruptions, no load shedding during last night's peak. But there is more work to do, TransGrid teams, Essential Energy teams, I think there's another hundred people on site over the course of the weekend for TransGrid and Essential Energy teams, contingency planning across the network to make sure that there are larger scale generator trips. Big efforts going in there, a thousand food hampers have arrived to support families who need them. There is a recovery assistance point in Broken Hill, which is a one stop shop for support. I know that is going to be traveling to Menindee, Wilcannia, White Cliffs and Tibooburra tomorrow and Wednesday. There is a real effort going on. But of course, these are very difficult circumstances for country communities.
CORFE: They are and the towns themselves, the people in those towns, have been mostly working together to get through it.
SENATOR AYRES: It must be deeply frustrating and worrying for families, households and businesses. I absolutely extend my sympathies and just assure listeners that I'm very confident that everything that can be done by TransGrid and Essential Energy. But also by the State Government as the direct coordinating authority there with the Commonwealth Government, the Minister Jenny McAllister for Emergency Management, is providing the support that can be provided. But at the end of the day, the real action is where frontline service workers in the electricity system are just mobilising so quickly to try and get the show up reliably. Of course, in the long term, this transmission line has got to be fixed to get it back to secure a normal supply.
CORFE: Yes, and obviously, there needs to be something done to get not just one transmission line in but have a backup as well.
SENATOR AYRES: We have seen these kind of extreme weather events causing problems in the power system, I think it was a couple of years ago in South Australia, major storms, intense weather events causing damage in the system. That is one of the reasons why the government has been rolling out this Rewiring the Nation program which is about modernising the transmission grid, not just so that it can load shift and we can bring more low-cost renewables into the grid, but also that so that we've got stronger transmission infrastructure for the future with more redundancy so that events like this can be coped with effectively. That work goes on, that is a $20 billion contribution from the Commonwealth and making sure that we have got the transmission that we need for business, and in my area, for future manufacturing as well as households. But right now, this is a repair job to try and get households and businesses back online permanently and reliably after what has been a pretty challenging weather event.
CORFE: We're hearing from Tim Ayres, Senator for New South Wales. The Queensland state election was held on the weekend. Have you kept your eye over that?
SENATOR AYRES: Of course. You watch all these things pretty closely. I know that from talking to colleagues in Queensland at the State and Commonwealth level, everybody watches these results carefully and listens to what voters would say. It is a ten-year-old government, and governments at the state level change from time to time. One thing that voters can be confident about with the Albanese Government is it is very much our role and our view that the Commonwealth Government works with state governments, whether they Labor or Liberal, to work in the interests of all Australians. We will work carefully and strongly in the interests of Queenslanders and in the interests of Australians with the government that the people of Queensland have elected.
CORFE: You don't see any impact from the Queensland election on the next federal election?
SENATOR AYRES: Can I just make this point? We as a government- remember the last government you had Scott Morrison sort of wandering around the country looking for an argument with Labor State Premiers, picking fights basically. That is not what you have seen from the Albanese government. whether it is the Malinauskas Labor government in South Australia, or the Minns Labor government in New South Wales, Jacinda Allan in Victoria, or the Liberal government with Jeremy Rockliff in Tasmania, we are working carefully across party lines in the interests of all Australians, because these are the governments that Australians have elected to do the job. We are just going to keep focused, listening carefully, but keeping focus on the issues that matter to Australians now, the here and now issues of making sure that Australians earn more and keep more of what they earn. We have got inflation down about half of what it was when we took office, there is still a bit more work to do, and in the long term, doing the work that is occurring in the long-term interests of Australia. Particularly rebuilding our manufacturing sector, a Future Made in Australia, reindustrialising regional economies. That is what we're going to continue to focus on and I think that is what Australians expect from the government.
CORFE: We will talk on a Future Made in Australia in our next chat, but I thank you for talking to us today.
SENATOR AYRES: Good on you Rod. Catch you next time.
ENDS.
