Stevens joins Liberal nuclear push as Albo drops Simpsons sledge

A key SA Liberal MP has joined his party colleagues’ new call for nuclear energy after Labor and the Greens agreed on a landmark climate target.

Australia must consider using nuclear power as part of its energy mix or risk lagging behind some of the world’s most advanced economies, Sturt MP James Stevens has declared.

Debate on using the contentious technology to achieve net zero by 2050 erupted on Wednesday as the Coalition established a major point of difference to the federal government by formally reviewing the potential for a nuclear power industry.

The nuclear discussion came as the lower house was set to pass Labor’s signature 2030 climate target Bill on Thursday morning.

The federal government will attempt to fast-track it through the Senate later in the day after Greens leader Adam Bandt revealed his newly emboldened party would support the legislation.

Debating the bill on Wednesday, Mr Stevens, a leading SA Liberal moderate, said Australia should learn from some of the world’s biggest economies, including the US, UK and European nations.

Sturt MP James Stevens said discussions on using nuclear energy must be part of achieving the net zero 2050 targe.

“All of those nations with aggressive emissions reduction targets have nuclear as part of that solution,” Mr Stevens said.

“How can we possibly say with a straight face that we want to get to net zero emissions in this country by 2050, and equally at the same time not say we should look at one of the most significant sources for base load, emissions free electricity generation?

“It is absolutely ridiculous to say that we’re not going to have a discussion and a proper look at that as a potential part of the mix.”

It prompted a scathing response from the Prime Minister, who said the Coalition were “ignoring the biggest nuclear reactor of all”.

“It is up there. The sun, solar power, they are ignoring,” Mr Albanese said.

“They are ignoring the future, they are stuck in the past, they are frozen in time while the world warms around them.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese threw a major sledge at the Coalition. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

During Question Time, Mr Albanese likened the Coalition’s nuclear review to the comical mismanagement of the Springfield nuclear power plant in hit cartoon show The Simpsons.

“Putting the member for Fairfax (Ted O’Brien) in charge of a review on nuclear power bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr Burns putting Homer Simpson in charge of nuclear power safety in Springfield,” he said on Wednesday.

Greens leader Adam Bandt on Wednesday revealed his party would back Labor’s legislation to cut emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, despite arguing it was insufficient.

“The Greens have improved a weak climate bill, but the fight to stop Labor opening new coal and gas mines continues,” Mr Bandt said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham promised the Coalition would take a “much stronger” emissions reduction target to the 2025 federal election.

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