THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SKY NEWS
MONDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2025

TOPICS: VALE GRAHAM RICHARDSON AO; COST OF LIVING; HOUSING; NET ZERO; COALITION CHAOS; EPBC REFORM

ANDREW CLENNELL: Tanya Plibersek, thanks so much for your time. I wanted to start with your reaction to the announcement by the PM of a state funeral for Graham Richardson. You once had a go at him in 2012 for trashing the Labor Party for a buck. So, what's your view in terms of him making criticisms of the Labor government at the time as a paid commentator. So, give us a story around that, and what's your view on him getting a state funeral from the taxpayer?

MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES, TANYA PLIBERSEK: Well, you know, Andrew, the funny thing about that interaction, we were both on a TV panel show and he was giving us a pretty hard time and I said something like, ‘I hope when I retire I won't have to make a buck trashing the Labor Party’, and Graham had a good laugh at the time and he was always very generous with me, particularly after that, I have to say, particularly generous after that.

He was a good adviser. He was someone who watched the Labor Party very closely, watched what was happening in opposition and in government, and very generous with a word of advice here and there. Look, Graham Richardson, he really achieved some incredible things, particularly in the environment portfolio. If you look back at places like the Daintree and Kakadu, the protections that he gave those two iconic parts of Australia, I think have, you know, really stood the test of time and showed that he had a lot of foresight. A lot of foresight.

CLENNELL: Indeed. And I can attest he was a man who didn't hold a grudge, actually. Having tangled with him as a journalist and subsequently worked with him. But I wanted to move on now to energy rebates, and obviously the PM was asked about this today as well. I asked the NDIS Minister, Jenny McAllister, on Sunday Agenda about it. She indicated what I've been hearing a bit, that it would be tough to keep those rebates going past December. As Social Services Minister, would you like to see the government extend them, or can you see the difficulty with that?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, look, we've said all along that rebates like this can't go indefinitely. Some households have benefited to the tune of $750, you know, more commonly around $450. These rebates, incidentally, opposed by the Liberals and Nationals. So, when you hear them crying crocodile tears about energy prices, don't forget they voted against the measure that took pressure off energy prices.

Of course, you know whether they continue or not, that's a matter for the Expenditure Review Committee, and the Prime Minister and the Treasurer will make that decision with the support of the ERC whenever it goes before the ERC. What I would say when it comes to pensions and entitlements and so on is since Labor was elected, the Age Pension and Disability Pension have increased by about $5,000 a year. Unemployment benefits by about $4,000 a year. We've Rent Assistance by up to $1,800 a year. These are very big investments in easing the cost of living on people, particularly on low and fixed incomes. So, along with the other measures to bring down energy prices, like the, you know, the three hours of free power that we'll see for people who are hooked up to the national grid from next year onwards, like the batteries and solar panels on roofs that are making power cheaper for so many households. We are very, very focused on cost-of-living measures. And it's not just energy prices either, of course. We've made medicines cheaper, we're making it easier to see a bulk-billed doctor, we've got Fee-free TAFE, university debt relief, cheaper childcare, minimum wage has gone up $9,000 since we came to government. These are all things that are absolutely designed to take a bit of pressure off ordinary families.

CLENNELL: And those Centrelink increases, social security increases, now that you're in the portfolio, they were the first for years. Do you see another possible increase, and particularly, I guess, in terms of rent assistance, because you talk about all the measures the government's taken. Fair enough. But energy prices have gone up, rental costs have gone up in that time.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, they have, and we always look for ways of making life a bit easier for people. You're talking about rent assistance. That's the biggest increase in rent assistance in decades under this government to two very substantial increases in rent assistance that have taken the rate up by almost 50% since we came to government. But that's not the only thing we're doing to make housing more available and more affordable. We're actually out there making sure the states and territories work with us to see more housing built. Ultimately, the best way we can take price pressure off housing is to build more accommodation. We're investing in social and community housing as well and helping young people into their first home with those 5% deposits. I cannot tell you how popular that's been. I've got kids who are kind of entering that age group where they're starting to think about a home of their own. That 5% deposit policy is the first thing that's grabbed their attention in housing policy in many years, I have to say.

CLENNELL: You don't get the house price increases because of it, in your view?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, we've been very upfront about the fact that there is a tiny impact in the next few years, a fraction of 1%. What will make the biggest difference to house prices is building more houses. Supply is the biggest factor. And of course, the other thing that makes a difference is as interest rates decline, people feel able to borrow more. And so I'd say that the fact that interest rates are coming down would have a much bigger impact on house prices than the really excellent 5% deposit policy that we've introduced.

What is the point of young people paying off the landlord's mortgage when they could be paying off their own mortgage? There are generations of Australians who've had that opportunity. What we're doing is making it easier for people to get into a home of their own. And all of the same lending rules still apply from the banks. Other than the fact that people won't have to pay mortgage lenders insurance, they'll be able to start sooner with a 5% deposit but they'll still be able to, they'll still have to show that they can pay off the mortgage every month. There'll still be an expectation that they're earning enough and saving enough to do that.

CLENNELL: Sure, sure. But were you concerned by the inflation number we saw the other week?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, the whole, you know, the whole government is focused on inflation and cost of living. The Prime Minister says this every day in every press conference he does. It's the thing that we spend most time discussing around the Cabinet table. How do we make sure that Australians see their wages going up, their taxes coming down, their cost of living more manageable into the future. And it's why so many of the things that we've invested in as a government are about taking the pressure off when it comes to cost of living.

CLENNELL: Alright, let's talk about the Coalition's net zero position or getting rid of net zero position. They're going to land with we are part of the Paris Agreement, but we're not committed to Australia doing net zero. So, what would you make of that kind of position?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, I absolutely think Australia should be doing its fair share. And I think it's very clear from the Australian public that they see action to reduce emissions as Australia playing a responsible global role.

We are a country that is very much impacted by, by climate change. You know, our agricultural production, bushfires, floods, drought, we see it all in Australia and we feel the cost of it in Australia in lives lost, in property lost, in reduced productivity. We have to be part of the global solution when it comes to climate change. And I think the really interesting thing about the Nationals and Liberals on this, the people who suffer most from the impacts of climate change are rural communities. The people who have most to gain when we take action on climate change are people who live in rural communities. There's an estimate that we can see a billion dollars go into farmers pockets over coming years and $200 million go into regional and rural communities of benefits from the transition to net zero. Take an average farmer, they can earn $40,000 a year per wind turbine on their land. They can earn $1,500 per hectare for solar panels. That is income that comes year after year regardless. Has there been a drought? Has there been, you know, flood? The fact that that income is immune to those sorts of vicissitudes that many farming families are coping with year on year, that is something that the National Party should be celebrating and encouraging. And instead, they're saying that it's fine to bully your neighbours if your neighbours are prepared to make a bit of money out of some wind turbines or some solar panels, they're tacitly encouraging that sort of conflict in rural communities. It makes absolutely no sense to be denying farming families the drought proof income from wind turbines or solar panels that they could be making.

CLENNELL: Interesting point of view there for the Nationals. Not sure they'd agree with you on the impacts on the bush. Now, you were previously attempting to get the EPBC Act changed as the Minister.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Just a minute, Andrew. They don't agree because. They don't agree because they're completely madly ideological about this. Like, they had 24 coal fired power stations they were told were closing down on their watch -

CLENNELL: Are you saying there's no constituents, are you saying, well, they get voted in, you know, they get voted in easily in their seats. I mean, there's got to be constituents in their seats who agree with their point of view on it. I get what you're saying about there will be some constituents who can make money out of it, but you must admit there are some who would be pretty upset about it.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I don't doubt for a moment that there are people who are upset about it, but I don't think it's responsible of the National Party to be whipping up this sort of conflict and I don't think it's, if someone, if a farmer says, I want it on my land for the National Party to be saying they shouldn't have access to that income. Why? It is purely ideological. They were told that 24 coal fired power stations were closing when they were last in government. They took no action to replace that energy generation capacity. If they wanted to rebuild new coal, why didn't they start that when they were told that the last lot of coal fired power stations were closing? If they wanted to do nuclear, why didn't they start that when they were told?

CLENNELL: Ok, well, they're trying all that now, I've got to say. But look, I want to ask you about the –

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah, a bit late.

CLENNELL: - EPBC before you go. What do you make of the changes your successor, Murray Watt has made to give the Minister extra power, and do you think this version of the laws will pass the Senate?

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think this version of the laws absolutely must pass the Senate. It is very clear that our current environment laws are not working for nature and they're not working for business. I think there's something in here for the business community with faster decisions and clearer, you know, clearer guidance about where to build, what to build, how to build it so that they get faster decisions.

And there's a lot in here for the environment. There's really clear benefits for the environment in backing these laws. I think both the, you know, people on The Greens kind of political party side and the people on the Liberal National side should be voting for these laws as they are because they provide a good balance and a good improvement on the laws as they currently are. If this set of laws doesn't pass, we are stuck with the laws that we've got at the moment and everybody agrees.

CLENNELL: Tanya Plibersek, thank you for your time.

MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Always a pleasure, Andrew. Thank you.

ENDS