TRANSCRIPT
17 September 2025
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STAN SHAW:
Ben Small, who's just returned from a self-funded tour of Denmark's wind power industry. He reckons the numbers don't stack up and the Federal Government would need to pump a lot of taxpayer money into wind projects to keep them viable. The ABC's Jackie Lynch asked Ben Small if he backed a net zero policy.
BEN SMALL MP:
Net zero is a slogan. It's not a policy. Let's be real. So whilst the Albanese Government likes to talk a big game and has lots of little slogans and spin, the reality is that their policies that they're pursuing, dressed up under a net zero badge, are causing power prices to increase for Australian households and businesses.
They can't tell us how much this is going to cost the Australian economy. So, I think that it's the government that's got the questions to answer on this. From an opposition perspective, all I'm asking from climate change Minister Bowen and Prime Minister Albanese is a little honesty about how much this is going to hit Australians in their households and their businesses in pursuit of their policy agenda.
JACKIE LYNCH:
Does Sussan Ley have your full support?
BEN SMALL MP:
Yes. And I mean, like, let's be serious. Like I say, it's climate change Minister Bowen and Prime Minister Albanese that have got the difficult questions to answer on this. Susan has led the party to a position of saying; we're reviewing our policies because we just got whacked at the last election. So there are lessons to be learned from that. And as a party, we're out in the community listening to make sure that we do learn those lessons.
JACKIE LYNCH:
Do you have a personal view on net zero?
BEN SMALL MP:
Yes. So my personal view, and I can be very clear with you about this, is that if the question was, does a net carbon neutral economy with no cost sound like a great thing? And of course, my answer is yes. The reality, though, that we're seeing at the moment is this is very, very different. And we need to be very careful to separate an acceptance of climate change from economic policy.
Is the climate changing in my view? Yes. There are 8 billion odd people on the planet today. Is that likely to have some effect? Yes. Is that a reason to pursue a set of policies at any cost to the Australian economy by an arbitrary date? Absolutely no it is not.
Let's not push industry to relocate its big employing base in the likes of smelters, refineries and heavy manufacturing to other countries that don't have our environmental standards, that don't employ Australians and pay tax here. Let's actually have a very sensible conversation around what this government's policies are actually going to cost Australians.
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