Labor governments appear confident that opposition leader Peter Dutton will win the next election, judging by their response to his nuclear energy policy.
Even before he gave his Budget Reply speech on Thursday evening, restive Labor figures began a fear campaign against his plan to convert disused coal-fired power stations into nuclear reactors.
New South Wales Environment Minister Penny Sharpe tweeted about a House of Commons vote to ban nuclear power in the state.
“Breaking news: the NSW Legislative Assembly has voted against nuclear power having a future in the NSW energy mix,” she said on Tuesday evening.
“Not a single Liberal Party or National Party MP voted for or against this proposal.”
Labor governments appear confident that opposition leader Peter Dutton will win the next election, judging by their response to his nuclear power policy (he is pictured with his wife Kirilly)
Queensland Labor Prime Minister Steven Miles attempted a pre-emptive strike on Monday after Daily Mail Australia revealed Nuclear for Climate Australia, a group backed by Liberal and National MPs, had earmarked 13 sites for a nuclear reactor.
“The LNP-backed ‘Nuclear for Climate Australia’ has identified multiple sites in North Queensland for nuclear reactors,” he said in a joint statement with Minister of State for Energy Mick de Brenni.
“This would lead to nuclear reactors in Townsville, the Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton, Brisbane Valley, Toowoomba, the Darling Downs and more.”
Mr Dutton’s Budget Reply speech said Labor’s “renewables only” approach to reaching Australia’s net zero target by 2050 had pushed up energy prices.
“With nuclear energy we can maximize the highest energy yield per square meter and minimize damage to the environment,” he said.
‘We do this by installing new nuclear technologies on or near the brownfield sites of decommissioned or decommissioned coal-fired power stations, using the existing electricity grid.
“There is no need for all the proposed 58 million solar panels, nearly 3,500 wind farms and 17,000 miles of new transmission poles and wires.”
Mr Dutton also invoked former prime ministers who personally supported nuclear energy but were forced to erect roadblocks to the energy source for political reasons.
“Bob Hawke was a strong leader who strongly supported nuclear energy,” he said.
Even before he gave his Budget Reply speech on Thursday evening, they started a fear campaign against his plan to convert disused coal-fired power stations into nuclear reactors (pictured Tihange in Belgium).
“As does John Howard, along with the Australian Workers Union, and many others who have a vision for our country – including around 65 percent of Australians aged 18 to 34.”
While Mr Hawke personally supported nuclear power as Labor Prime Minister, his party’s 1984 national conference introduced ‘three mine policy’ that limits uranium mining to the Ranger, Nabarlek and Olympic Dam projects.
Mr Howard, as prime minister, agreed to ban nuclear power in 1998 as part of a Greens amendment to win support for a new nuclear medicine research reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney’s south.
But Australian Workers Union national secretary Dan Walton called for a lifting of the ban on nuclear power in 2021 and is exploring the idea of small modular reactors that could produce 300 megawatts or 300 million watts of power.
“We already have the uranium, why not develop the capacity to use it in a safe and effective modern way?” he asked.
His predecessor Paul Howes made that call in 2009.
New South Wales Environment Minister Penny Sharpe tweeted about a House of Commons vote to ban nuclear power in the state
Queensland Labor Prime Minister Steven Miles attempted a pre-emptive response on Monday after Daily Mail Australia revealed Nuclear for Climate Australia, a group backed by Liberal and National MPs, had earmarked 13 sites for a nuclear reactor
“Nuclear energy must be part of Australia’s policy mix for a prudent risk strategy aimed at addressing energy security and climate change,” he told the Sydney Institute.
The AWU is one of the largest unions linked to the right-wing Labor faction at the national conference, while the more outspoken Labor critics of nuclear power come from the left of the party, where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese comes from.
In the latest Newspoll survey, Labor was ahead of the Coalition by 51 to 49 percent after preferences, narrower than the 52 to 48 percent result at the 2022 election.
But the Coalition would need a swing of 6.4 percent to win 18 seats from Labor and barely form a majority government if the climate change-focused, blue-green independents in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth were to retain the wealthy voters they will win in 2022 of the Liberal Party had won.
Dr. Miles, the underdog in the upcoming Queensland election, is campaigning against Dutton, as one of his Labor predecessors Wayne Goss did in 1993, when federal Liberal leader John Hewson was the favorite to win the election on a 15 percent VAT .
