You’re a member of the Liberal Moderate Faction. Would you be disappointed to see the Liberal Party drop Net Zero?
Senator Scarr
Well, first, I don’t describe myself as a member of any faction. I’ve been a member of the Liberal Party since I was seventeen, so 38 years ago. In terms of the debate we’re having in relation to Emissions Reduction Policy, I think we’re making positive progress. I thought we had a really, good meeting last Friday where there were many members of the Liberal Party in attendance, with Dan Tehan. It was a very well-chaired meeting. We had an exchange of views with respect to different perspectives right across from regional members, Senators from right across the country, and there are a lot of things we agree on. We agree electricity prices are too high. We agree there still needs to be emissions reduction, but we’ve got to get the balance right…[cut off]
Sharri Markson
So, what do you think the balance should be?
Senator Scarr
From my perspective, we’ve got to get electricity prices down. It’s just crippling Australian households, it’s crippling Australian businesses. I’m seeing that in my home state of Queensland, where the Mount Isa Smelter, the Townsville Copper Refinery were in trouble. We’re seeing that with Tomago. I’m seeing in terms of mortgage stress…[cut off]
Sharri Markson
But what does that mean in terms of energy position? Does that mean you dump Net Zero?
Senator Scarr
Well, it means a focus must be on bringing electricity prices down. We cannot have Net Zero at any cost. So, we must see what’s practical, what makes common sense for Australia now. From my perspective, we need to have a serious discussion with respect to nuclear energy. It doesn’t make any sense to me at all that we’ll have nuclear powered submarines in ports all around Australia, but we won’t, from the Labor Party and Green’s perspective, won’t use nuclear power to generate electricity, doesn’t make any sense to me at all.
Sharri Markson
There are widespread media reports today that Ley’s leadership is vulnerable. Do you think Sussan Ley is on borrowed time?
Senator Scarr
I support Sussan as our Leader. She won the party ballot. I think Sussan has worked extremely hard. She’s introduced policy making procedures, which give every person in the party an opportunity to have their input. So, Sussan needs to be given an opportunity. I really think it’s important that Sussan is given every opportunity.
Sharri Markson
Now, in your own portfolio area, as I said, your Shadow Immigration Minister. Everyone’s been focusing on Net Zero, but you gave a speech recently at the Migration Institute, and you said this. You said, “we will take time to get our immigration policy right. We will listen to the community. The policy development process will be iterative and continuous. It will evolve throughout the term”. Paul, this sounds like you’re avoiding a decision on migration numbers.
Senator Scarr
I respectfully disagree. It reflects the fact that we need to get all the data and the evidence. We need to talk to stakeholders and get their views, and I can tell you the immigration rate for the year ending 31 March 2025 was 315,900 – it’s too high…
Sharri Markson
So, what do you think it should come down to? I just want to get to your policy position, though. What do you think the migration level should be?
Senator Scarr
Well, the migration level needs to be at a level that’s sustainable…[cut off]
But what is it? What is it? Is it 100,000 a year?
Senator Scarr
Well, that’s the work we’re doing in terms of working out what the figure should be, and I’ve given you a few benchmarks. 10 years prior to the COVID 19 pandemic, it was 216,000… [cut off]
Sharri Markson
Is it 200,000 a year?
Senator Scarr
Well, on several benchmarks, the 10-year average before the COVID 19 pandemic was 216,000, so it’s still 100,000 above that level. But at the same time, Sharri as you know, we’ve got a housing supply issue, and the Government’s own State of the Housing Market Report for 2025 indicated that if we keep going along baseline population growth, in five years’ time, we’re going to have a shortage of houses in the tens of thousands. So, we’ve got to do the work to get that balance right between addressing skill shortages, and we’ve got skill shortages all across Australia, including in regional Australia, and make sure that governments at all three levels, are working together to provide the infrastructure, the housing and the services Australians need…
Sharri Markson
But why does it take six months to produce a policy like this?
Senator Scarr
Well, I think it’s a complicated matter. I think it’s a complicated matter in terms of balancing the issues around skill shortages, on the one hand, and making sure that we don’t cut off our nose spite our face, in terms of the need for agricultural communities to have the workers they need, for our regional hospitals to have the workers they need, and on the other hand, to achieve balance in terms of housing supply. This is not an easy matter, and one of the things I want to avoid is coming out with a figure that the government can simply work at attacking and breaking down and finding ways in which they can assault that figure. We need to do the work, and we need to do it from the ground up in terms of each visa category as well.
Sharri Markson
All right. Paul Scarr, thank you very much for coming to the show. Appreciate your time.
