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Miles vows to take nuclear fight to High Court, citing legal advice
By William Davis and Matt Dennien
Premier Steven Miles has promised a High Court fight against any attempt to build nuclear power plants in Queensland, saying he has received legal advice the state may be able to prevent their construction.
The federal opposition has committed to rolling out two reactors near Brisbane and Gladstone sometime after 2035, along with five other sites nationwide.
Queensland LNP Leader David Crisafulli last year said he would be opposed to nuclear energy until there was bipartisan federal support.
Premier Steven Miles campaigns in Cairns with local Labor backbencher Cynthia Lui (centre) and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman (left).Credit: William Davis
With the state election on October 26, and a federal election due within months, Dutton and Crisafulli have sought to play down their policy differences.
That is despite Dutton insisting he could override any state pushback – a scenario Crisafulli has declined to detail how or if he would fight.
“I think he’d make an outstanding prime minister; it doesn’t mean that we agree on everything,” Crisafulli said when joined on the campaign trail by Dutton last week.
On Thursday, Miles was at a campaign stop of his own in Mareeba when he was asked if a re-elected Labor government would be willing to fight for the state’s rights in the High Court.
“Yes,” was the reply.
“We’ve received advice on what steps we could take to strengthen our hand … The advice is there are things we could do.
“Obviously, Peter Dutton’s intention is to build these on sites we already own at existing generators … That gives us more influence over if we can use them.”
The Queensland Labor leader questioned whether Crisafulli would take the fight to a federal Coalition government.
“I’m confident that I would have a lot more success at blocking those plans than David Crisafulli would,” Miles said.
“You saw him at a joint press conference with Peter Dutton where Dutton effectively said he would make David Crisafulli accept those reactors.
“He’s never actually said he’s opposed to them, he’s just said it’s not part of his plan. He says that about a lot of things.”
Australia’s chief scientific research arm and energy market regulator say any nuclear power station wouldn’t be operational until 2040, and would come at a higher upfront and ongoing cost than renewables.
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