Neha Samar | ALP Greater Shepparton branch president
It was disappointing and not at all surprising to see Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell come out in support of Peter Dutton’s plan to build nuclear reactors at the sites of existing coal-fired generators. (The News, June 26.)
Sam is, of course, just adhering to the Liberal Party’s line that nuclear is the way to go. He is correct when he says we need to ensure we have cheap and reliable energy to power our industries, but why is he supporting nuclear when numerous experts, including from the prestigious CSIRO, have said nuclear is the most expensive form of energy while renewables are the cheapest?
I would listen to evidence-based reports from an independent scientific organisation such as the CSIRO before I would believe a politician of any party. The Nationals have for years (in cahoots with the Liberal Party) worked to delay this country’s renewable transition in favour of polluting fossil-fuel generation.
Sam’s voting record in parliament speaks for itself. He has voted against regulating gas prices that could contribute to bringing down energy prices faced by consumers. He has also been unsupportive of bills to fund the expansion of Australia’s industrial base, which we have lost during the Coalition’s years in power.
Yet here we are embarking on the most industrially intensive and complex way to produce power to reduce energy prices.
In fact, his leader, David Littleproud, wants a stop to large-scale renewable projects even in the face of the fact that the entire private sector is headed that way anyway. Worse still is the proposal that you, the taxpayer, will build these nuclear plants and presumably decommission them at the end of their life.
How this scenario will lead to cheaper power prices is beyond any reasonable person who knows basic maths. The private sector won’t touch them because they are uneconomic. This is further supported by the example that very few new nuclear power plants are planned in any developed economies around the world. This is because developed countries with experience running nuclear energy programs have realised that it is expensive, risky to the taxpayer and does not produce that much energy for the investment.
There has been plenty of research published into how long it will take before a nuclear power station will be operational, and the absolute best-case scenario is late 2030s or early 2040s but even then, highly unlikely. This is with no skilled workforce, no legislative pathway open and huge cost overruns the norm.
What will we do in the meantime? Run some diesel gennies or harness unicorn farts?
If Sam and the Nationals want to be seen as true ‘leaders’ they should be trying to strengthen our response to uneconomic energy prices by cost-effective investment in energy production. Stop trying to walk the Liberal line and think of the people of regional Victoria. Trying to delay our response by stopping the rollout of renewables and championing the ‘pie-in-the-sky’ promise of nuclear power is not the response Australia needs.