Peter Dutton defends decision to not announce nuclear policy costings
Oppostion leader Peter Dutton has defended the party's decision not to announce costings for its nuclear policy yesterday. The party has revealed seven locations for its planned nuclear reactors in five states. But the policy has been met with criticism as well as some support, communities saying promised consultation never occurred.
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00:00But we now have an answer to the where question, but still no detail as to costs, where the
00:07waste would go and several other points, including the timeframe, beyond ambition to have the
00:13first two between 2035 and 2037.
00:18In terms of the sites, those seven sites, there's two in both Queensland and New South
00:23Wales, one in Victoria, one in South Australia and one in WA.
00:28They're all in coalition and held seats apart from two, those two being Liddell, which is
00:34in the Labor held seat in the Hunter, and also the Mount Piper one, which is now held
00:41by independent Andrew Gee, who was previously a Nationals MP.
00:46But even if elected, it doesn't mean it's going to be smooth sailing without any sort
00:51of obstacles in the way.
00:53There are bans at the state level across these states, as well as at the federal level, a
01:00moratorium on nuclear.
01:02So that would have to be a step that's overcome as well.
01:06It would also require significant support from the states if it was to be a smooth process.
01:13All of those states so far presenting opposition, including from the Queensland State Opposition
01:24Leader in David Crisafulli, who's been outspoken against this ahead of the election in Queensland
01:31later this year.
01:32It would also require more detail around how exactly the coalition would take on these
01:42sites, some of which are held or owned by the state government, in the case of Queensland,
01:48others are privately owned by several corporations, the government saying that the nuclear facilities,
01:55if they were to go ahead, would be government owned.
01:59We've heard this morning from Peter Dutton, who is defending the party's decision not
02:04to provide answers to those several questions in terms of detail, yet here's his response.
02:12We want the information out there in bite-sized bits, if you like, so that people can consume
02:16exactly what it is that we're proposing and understand what it's not proposing.
02:22We're only talking about coal-fired power stations that are at end of life.
02:25That's because there's an existing transmission network.
02:28So the poles and wires are already there.
02:29So we don't need Labor's new 28,000 kilometres of poles and wires through national parks
02:34and pristine farming land, etc.
02:38And it provides the opportunity to talk about that aspect of our proposal and we'll release
02:44the next stage in due course.
02:47There's been mixed reception as these communities await key details about how this plan would
02:52operate were it to come into fruition.
02:56They're waiting for those details, as are we.
02:59And in the meantime, we've heard from both people in communities that support the idea,
03:05looking towards the prospects of additional jobs and some security for communities.
03:10And then others who have serious concerns about the viability of this, if it will ever
03:17come to being, as well as safety and environmental concerns.
03:24We have heard from, as well, the federal MP, now independent, formerly Nationals MP for
03:32Clare, Andrew Gee, which his electorate covers the Mount Piper site proposed as being one
03:38of the locations for one of the coalition's nuclear reactors.
03:43If we get to that stage in terms of their proposal down the track some years, the opposition
03:49acknowledging that there will be some time before that happens, if they are successful
03:55at the next election.
03:56Andrew Gee says there has been zero consultation with his community, is what he had to say.
04:01I think David Littleproud and Peter Dutton need to actually turn up on the ground and
04:06explain this policy so people can understand the impacts.
04:11People can understand how it's going to affect their lives.
04:14And they need to actually be out on the ground today.
04:16They should have been here yesterday, but they really need to be out here today talking
04:20to people and explaining this policy.
04:22There have been several experts cast significant doubt on this proposal in terms of the time
04:29frames at the moment.
04:30The former chief scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, said it could be possible, but everything
04:35would have to go in favour of those projects.
04:39We've also seen a lack of uniformity in terms of answers on the key question of what would
04:44happen if the community, which has been pinpointed as one of the potential locations for these
04:50reactors, was steadfastly opposed.
04:54We heard from the Deputy Nationals leader yesterday saying that it wouldn't go ahead,
05:00but then we heard later from the leader of the National Party, David Littleproud, saying
05:09that it would.
05:10So some clarification needed on that point.
05:13We heard further from Peter Dutton saying that these projects would go ahead, whether
05:18the community is happy with that or not.