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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