THE HON. ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH OLIVER PETERSON, 6PR

FRIDAY 3 MAY 2024

Topics: Labor’s offshore wind farm proposal, AUKUS preparedness.

E&OE…
OLIVER PETERSON: It's the Member for Canning, the Shadow Defence Minister, Andrew Hastie, he joins me live on 6PR this Friday. Andrew, good afternoon.

ANDREW HASTIE: G'day Oly, how are you?

OLIVER PETERSON: I'm alright, Andrew. Why are you worried about this offshore wind area?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, it's a proposal that will potentially lock up more than 8,000 square kilometres of beautiful, pristine ocean off our coast, all the way from Dawesville down to Dunsborough. There's a number of reasons that I'm concerned. I'm concerned about Australians and the cost of living – I want this country to be productive and competitive and for that we need reliable, affordable baseload power. This wind farm will not deliver that, it'll deliver instead very costly and unreliable power. So there's that concern. There are also environmental concerns. They're proposing to rip up the ocean floor, install these massive towers, blades and turbines which will potentially affect our whales, our fish, and also our wildlife, our birds. Finally, there's national security concerns that I have as well and that is that we're potentially running headlong into energy dependence upon China, because most of the wind turbines are built in China. We're ignoring our coal, our gas and our uranium reserves, and our natural advantage in energy, to buy renewables from China. I think that's a problem especially given that it makes us vulnerable to cyber-attacks and also strategic coercion if our supply chains are completely dependent upon China. So there's a number of different reasons. I've got a petition out there with almost 10,000 signatures, we've got people who are worried for environmental reasons, economic reasons, tourism reasons – Mandurah and the South West is a beautiful part of our world, we want tourists coming there – and finally national security reasons. Some people were concerned about more of those than others, but a lot of us can identify with all those concerns.

OLIVER PETERSON: We did have a chat with the commercial fishers earlier this week, Andrew, about similar concerns that this might affect the local fishing stock and the fact that while this seems like there's some consultation, there is actually no alternative zone being put forward at the moment – this is basically it. Are you surprised that there isn't an alternative, that this is the only area that the wind farms might be located, and have we got a bit of sort of Clayton's consultation going on at the moment, Andrew?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yeah, look, the consultation has been minimal and there's been a lot of people who've wanted questions answered, and they haven't had those questions answered. In fact, when there was one down south, they just provided material that people had already received so they didn't really interact with people. It looks all a bit tokenistic. People are very concerned and Labor I don't think is listening. I think, you know, it's nice and convenient to send it all down south, but you won't see this thing off Cottesloe, that's for sure. This Labor government is only interested in building these farms out of sight in places where they don't hold many seats and of course, these are Coalition seats down in Forrest and Canning and I think they're just going to plough ahead and that's why we need as many people on board to stop this.

OLIVER PETERSON: You said you've got about 10,000 signatures on that petition already and I see you've got some bumper stickers Are people coming into your office and picking them up and putting them on their cars?

ANDREW HASTIE: Yes, we have people coming in, we've got people emailing for them, and we're sending them out. So if you want a bumper sticker, get in contact with my office and we'll send you a sticker. 'Our coast, our voice, stop Labor's offshore wind farm' is the message.

OLIVER PETERSON: Do you think they're taken for granted the local community? Because the amount of opposition at the moment, Andrew, the number of people in different groups that are speaking up about this with very similar concerns - as you said, lots of questions going on answered – do you think we might find Chris Bowen driving his EV across the country to come and talk to everybody again?

ANDREW HASTIE: I don't think Chris Bowen will bother. This is an arrogant, ideological government that doesn't actually listen. Across the portfolios, when they've had to negotiate with stakeholders, they've insisted on non-disclosure agreements, so that those who are actually briefed about their plans can't actually raise their voices after they've had their time with the minister. This is a government that likes to shut down opposition, it likes to divide opposition, and they're just going to drive over the top of us if we don't stand up to them, which is why I'm calling on people to get with us.

OLIVER PETERSON: On another matter, Andrew, there's also concerns in your electorate regarding the AUKUS deal and what impact that might have on infrastructure in the area and housing. Is that not being properly addressed?

ANDREW HASTIE: Again, the state government and the federal government are asleep at the wheel. AUKUS is a massive opportunity and only two and a half weeks ago, I met with the US Ambassador, Caroline Kennedy, a US four star Admiral, and all the leaders of the local governments in the catchment area – Rockingham, Kwinana, Serpentine, Jarrahdale, Mandurah, Murray, Cockburn, and others in between – and we talked about the opportunities for local government. We're expecting a couple of thousand Americans to come down-under, they want to be part of our community, they want to make sure that we have enough housing. The state government has got to start identifying where we're going to build homes, they need to build the infrastructure so that we don't have congestion, we need to make sure our schools are up to scratch, and we need to make sure our hospitals are up to scratch. All of these things have been neglected by the Cook and Albanese governments and that's why we're calling on them to act.

OLIVER PETERSON: Yeah, Rob's submitted a news tip to Perth Live's 'word on the street' a couple of weeks ago saying that some of the Commonwealth land. or what is really our defence force land out at Garden Island, might have to be used to house some of these Americans. Have you heard any whispers like that, Andrew?

ANDREW HASTIE: I haven't, but for every American that comes over, they're going to have families and we need places to put these families as well. Again, this isn't a huge problem, it's an opportunity. But also, I've got people in my electorate who can't even get a home. What's the state government doing to turn on the supply of housing? This is where people want leadership. This government has a lot of money coming through their coffers, they need to be investing in our hospitals, our roads, rail, our school and our houses because we have an infrastructure deficit or shortage across the board, particularly as the Albanese Government is bringing more than 500,000 people here every year. We haven't seen this sort of migration in more than 120 years, and we're not prepared for it and that's why they need to act.

OLIVER PETERSON: And they need to talk about migration when they talk about housing as you are. Andrew, have a good weekend.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks Oly, you too.

[ENDS]