Australia pursuing nuclear energy would not be playing to the country’s strengths, the energy minister says, as the prime minister goes on the attack on power sources.
Anthony Albanese will spruik renewable energy in NSW’s coal heartland of the Hunter Valley on Tuesday, emphasising the region’s role in expanding the workforce in areas such as solar while opening a new TAFE facility.
The prime minister will also reveal a renewable energy project in the Victorian city of Wodonga, as a parliamentary inquiry examines the coalition’s proposal to operate seven nuclear power plants in Australia.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen says the nuclear proposal doesn’t fit the energy mix and Australia needs to make the most of the advantages of renewables.
“We have to play to our strengths in Australia and we have the best renewable resources in the world, and the opposition wants to stop us using them, and in turn, keep coal in the system for longer,” he told ABC radio on Tuesday.
“That would be terrible for emissions and fatal for energy reliability as these coal-fired power stations get older and increasingly less reliable.”
The opposition’s plan to establish nuclear power plants in seven locations, including the Hunter Valley, has been met with scepticism and doubt.
At a parliamentary inquiry on Monday, Australian Nuclear Association secretary John Harries warned Australia might need to build twice as many nuclear power plants as currently planned to meet energy demands in 2050.
This could require as many as 100 nuclear reactors, Dr Harries said.
Energy will be a key issue at the upcoming federal election and the policy battle is expected to play out in the resource-rich electorate of Hunter.
The opposition has yet to release the costings for its nuclear power plan, which would see the first reactor come into effect from the mid 2030s.
Mr Bowen said the nuclear plan did not stand up to scrutiny.
“Whenever you expose the claims of the Liberal Party about nuclear energy to scrutiny, their claims crumble like a Sao in a blender,” he said.
“It just doesn’t stack up to any proper analysis.”
The federal and NSW governments will invest $60 million across five years for the Hunter Net Zero Manufacturing Centre of Excellence at the TAFE in Newcastle, and another $17 million to help fund Australia’s first commercial concentrated solar thermal heat plant, slated for completion in Wodonga by 2026.
The prime minister said the funding would help to secure renewable in years to come.
“Creating jobs, investing in our regions, reducing emissions and bringing down power prices – that’s what we’re delivering,” Mr Albanese said.
“Peter Dutton and the coalition want to deliver the most expensive form of new energy – nuclear – in two decades’ time, but refuse to tell Australians what it will cost them.”
These lines echo Queensland Labor’s campaign in the run-up to last Saturday’s election.
Although the party ultimately lost government, the margin between the two major political players narrowed when Labor turned its attention to the Liberal National Party’s plans and pointed to apparent holes in the policy.
