Majority of Aussies say it’s time to go nuclear to save money, planet

As the gas crisis bites and power bills threaten to skyrocket, even Greens voters are backing the nuclear option. See the survey results.

Australians are increasingly willing to embrace nuclear power as a means to provide reliable power while cutting carbon emissions as the country stares down the barrel of an energy crisis brought on by a gas supply crunch, outages at coal fired power stations, and a rushed race to embrace renewables.

According to data from the Institute for Public Affairs, 53 per cent of Australians agreed with the statement “Australia should build nuclear power plants to supply electricity and reduce emissions”.

By contrast, just 23 per cent of those surveyed disagreed with the statement, while 24 per cent said they neither agreed nor disagreed.

They also found that support for the nuclear option was surprisingly bipartisan.

While 70 per cent of those who identified themselves as Coalition voters said they would support a push for nuclear power, 52 per cent of Labor voters agreed with a startling 44 per cent of Greens voters also in favour of exploring the idea.

The new Albanese government’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The data comes as climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen moved to call an emergency meeting with his state counterparts to address the current gas crisis, triggering a war of words with the Coalition over who is to blame.

“Remember (the Coalition) used to talk about the gas-led recovery? They talked about that for years,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters before leaving for Indonesia on Sunday.

“Well, where is it? This is a government that sat on their hands, they had 22 different energy policies and didn’t deliver one.”

Nationals leader David Littleproud hit back, saying that Labor had to share the blame.

“The gas companies are high up in the stirrups because they can see the price where they are,” he said Sunday.

“They’ve had a Labor opposition that were demonising them for nine years, saying they were part of the problem in our emissions, and now they want to turn around and befriend them when they need them.”

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton and leader of the National Party David Littleproud say Labor shares the blame. Picture: Richard Walker

Nuclear power is common across the developed world, supplying 70 per cent of France’s electricity needs as well as 20 per cent of electricity in the US and 15 per cent in the UK and Canada.

Last month, in the face of energy security issues brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that his country would build one new nuclear plant each year, and French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed a similar push.

A fortnight ago Finland’s Green party also approved a resolution urging their government to go nuclear, saying it was a reliable and sustainable energy source.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson envisions building eight new nuclear power stations in the UK. Picture: Finnbarr Webster / POOL / AFP

However Australia, which holds the most uranium deposits of any country in the world, bans nuclear power and forbids the environment minister from “approving an action consisting of or involving the construction or operation of … a nuclear power plant”.

Both Labor and the Liberals have said they are not open to the nuclear discussion, with new opposition leader Peter Dutton saying that atomic energy was “not on the table.”

However Mr Littleproud said that his party would continue to push for nuclear.

“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton should come together and show leadership to repeal the ban on nuclear power in Australia, which can provide low-cost and reliable base-load power,” said Daniel Wild, Director of Research at the Institute of Public Affairs.

“The current energy crisis in Australia is a design feature of a net zero emissions by 2050 target, that will only be solved by reliable, affordable baseload power from coal and nuclear,” he said.

The poll of over 1,000 Australians was conducted by Dynata on behalf of the Institute of Public Affairs.

Originally published as Majority of Aussies say it’s time to go nuclear to save money, planet