'That town is done': Peter Dutton declares Hunter mining belt is dead amid shake-up in Hunter ballot | Newcastle Herald | April 5, 2025 - video Dailymotion

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00:00Welcome back. Australia has been hit with a 10% tariff on all imports to the US

00:05under President Trump's sweeping Liberation Day plans. Despite our strong

00:09ties Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was unable to secure an exemption. Liberal

00:13leader Peter Dutton has slammed the government accusing them of not providing

00:17enough assurances to keep Australia off Trump's list. And Peter Dutton joins us

00:22live. Good morning to you. Let's go straight to this. One of our daily

00:26newspapers is leading with this story this morning basically saying that

00:30Anthony Albanese is already working on a deal to use our critical minerals

00:35things like lithium, tin, cobalt to do some kind of deal with the US and scrap

00:40our 10% tariff. Would that be achievable? Yeah well I think it is

00:44achievable and the engagement needs to be with the US but it should have been

00:48taking place really from January and the problem is that the Prime Minister

00:52hasn't been able to get even a phone call let alone a meeting with the

00:54President. The ambassador can't get into the West Wing and it shows that had we

00:59done the work beforehand I think there was a deal to be struck and when you

01:03look at the statement out of the White House they are talking about ways in

01:06which there is a deal to be done here and we do have I think the opportunity

01:12through critical minerals through the relationship that we have in the

01:15defence sphere to pull together something that's in our mutual best

01:19interest. If we do that... We got the best deal in the world though. 10% I was talking to

01:23beef producers yesterday. The first point is that the US can't produce enough

01:28beef for the consumption so they need to import beef and Australia is an

01:33important partner in that regard so I actually think that's a bit of a ruse

01:36but still 10% on a small business in Western Sydney who has been exporting

01:42and developed a market in the US might be the difference between whether their

01:45business is viable or not. So May 3rd you get in you're in charge now what do

01:52you do? How do you deal with Donald Trump? Well, when we were in government

01:54last time when President Trump was in the Oval Office we were able to

01:58negotiate an exemption for Australia so it was at 0%. Other countries

02:04had the tariff applied we didn't and it's because we put work into the

02:08relationship. We've got connections with those within you know a position of

02:13influence. So will you be able to get us an exemption? I think we can and I

02:16think there is a deal to be done there. We've got an incredible opportunity with

02:20the defence industry sector in Australia to continue to grow that. If we

02:23can do that then I think there is value in the Americans eyes and I do think

02:29that the 10% is just a leverage it's a it's a negotiating tactic and I think we

02:35can we can get a good outcome. So would you use our defence deal, our AUKUS deal

02:39as leverage is that what you're saying? I think this if you have a look at AUKUS

02:42there's two pillars one is the submarine part the other part is around AI it's

02:47around critical minerals it's around autonomous vehicles so underwater drones

02:52there's an enormous opportunity of value-add for us so I think there is a

02:56big play here for our industry and the Americans see value in that because they

03:02want assurances and certainty in their supply chain in the development of their

03:06weapons and that's why they need our critical minerals and we can be a

03:10trusted partner but and that's what I say all of this conversation should have

03:13been taking place over the last three four five months. Let's move on a little

03:19bit and talk about nuclear power and how you believe you're going to back it in

03:24just give us three critical things right when can you deliver it and how quickly

03:29can you deliver it how much is it going to cost and how much is it realistically

03:34immediately going to save us? So 2035 to 37 is when we start to roll out the first

03:39two reactors and then into 20 into the 2040s it costs 331 billion dollars which

03:44is 44 percent cheaper than Labor's plan and that's independent analysis of our

03:49two energy policies so it is going to be cheaper electricity it is also going to

03:53mean reliable power so we won't get the blackouts and brownouts that Mr.

03:58Albanese's plan will be certain to deliver it allows us to transition as we

04:03decarbonize and reduce our emissions at the moment Chauvet China is building 29

04:08nuclear power plants the United Kingdom the Labor government there is just

04:12announced that they're cutting all of the approval times so that they can

04:16bring more nuclear into the system in our country I just think we've lost sight

04:21of how much we're paying for electricity here we're paying three times the cost

04:25that say people are in Tennessee or in Ontario where they do have renewables

04:32underpinned by nuclear so our plan is as you come out of coal into gas and we

04:37want a lot more gas in the system which will bring prices down the price of

04:41electricity because gas is used in the production of electricity and then

04:45that's the interim step and then we go to nuclear now all if you have a look at

04:49Apple Oracle all of the big companies that are now building these big AI and

04:53data centers they're all doing it in the United States and with companies that

04:58are providing nuclear power so I just think it's where the world is moving we

05:03are the only one of the top 20 economies in the world not going down the nuclear

05:07path in the u.s. let's look at the u.s. thing as you brought it up I think the

05:11Georgia one is the only one that's been built what since the 1990s and didn't

05:15that go over budget and way over time well that if you have a look at the

05:19small modular reactor and if you have a look at the technology that's there now

05:22I'm not proposing that we build sort of an Australian made reactor from scratch

05:26we should be doing what the South Koreans have done what's happened in the

05:31Middle East and and look at the examples where it's been good and bad trying to

05:35sort of build it and bespoke as they've done in the UK it runs over budget and

05:39over time but the the technology now means that in modular form you can ship

05:46around in shipping containers I just think this whole we're going to leave

05:50ourselves behind the rest of the world if if you look at as I said a China

05:54example they're building two coal-fired power stations a week they're building

05:5729 nuclear reactors as we speak and if they get they've got cheap labor though

06:01compared to us though so is that is that a good comparison they'll end up

06:05delivering at a cheaper model for that reason and also because they don't have

06:09the environmental regulations that we do appropriately in our country the other

06:13point I'd make is if you look at an area like the Hunter or really any coal

06:17mining area their jobs in that industry that town is done there's no shopping

06:23mall there's no barista course that's going to provide a future for those

06:28miners and the international experience with nuclear is at 77% of those jobs

06:33translate from coal across into nuclear and you can bring the AI data centers

06:38and you can bring the big industrial centers into rejuvenate all of those

06:43areas that otherwise are just going to wilt. Just got to wait 10 years all the

06:47best thanks so much into it it's a long campaign appreciate your time thanks

06:51guys thank you

'That town is done': Peter Dutton declares Hunter mining belt is dead amid shake-up in Hunter ballot | Newcastle Herald | April 5, 2025

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