Nuclear energy policy emerges as Queensland election issue

Nuclear energy has emerged as a 2020 Queensland election issue after Labor confirmed its anti-nuclear stand amid a new investigation into nuclear power led by three Queensland federal LNP MPs.

Labor's 2019 state conference on Sunday cemented the party's opposition to the energy source after three high-profile federal Liberal National Party MPs recently triggered the first federal government inquiry into nuclear power in a decade.

Former candidate for Maiwar Ali King addresses the audience as Labor re-affirms its anti-nuclear energy policy.Credit: Tony Moore

Queensland Labor immediately questioned the LNP's nuclear power policy before Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington on Sunday afternoon issued a single line statement rejecting nuclear power.

"The state LNP does not support nuclear power in Queensland," Ms Frecklington said.

Three high-profile Queensland federal MPs - Senator James McGrath, Bundaberg-based MP Keith Pitt and Sunshine Coast MP Ted O'Brien - quietly re-opened a federal government inquiry into nuclear power, which began quietly on August 7.

Mr O'Brien is chairing the House of Representatives Standing Committee investigation into nuclear power, which will receive submissions until September 16.

Ted O'Brien said it was time to revisit the issue.Credit: James Brickwood

He said nuclear power had evolved over the past 20 years and it was time to look again.

"The committee will look at the necessary circumstances and requirements for any future government’s consideration of nuclear energy generation, including using small modular reactor technologies," Mr O'Brien said.

"It will consider a range of matters including waste management, health and safety, environmental impacts, energy affordability and reliability, economic feasibility and workforce capability, security implications, community engagement and national consensus."

The Labor conference several times highlighted clear policy differences between Labor and the LNP in the 12-month run down to the 2020 Queensland election.

On Sunday ALP delegate Ali King, from the United Voice union, received unanimous support for the party to reconfirm its opposition to nuclear power in Queensland.

"Since the (May) federal election we have seen an emboldened LNP federal government flirting with every policy fantasy of the hard right," Ms King told the conference.

"The most disturbing of these is their insistent push towards imposing nuclear power on a reluctant Australia."

Ms King claimed nuclear power was "now a central plank of the LNP's hard-right policy platform", but questioned why it was being explored.

Nuclear energy produces no direct carbon emissions, however the ramifications and severe impact of accidents at Chernobyl (1986), Three Mile Island (1979) and Fukushima in Japan (2011) are widely known.

Cost evaluations showed energy produced from nuclear fission would be more expensive than renewable energy and the long timeframe - "possibly a generation" - made it impractical, Ms King argued.

"Delegates, the LNP is pursuing this nuclear agenda to disguise the fact that they have a gaping hole where their energy policy should be," she said.

"They will do absolutely anything to divert attention from their utter failure to shape a genuine energy policy."

State Development Minister Cameron Dick, who has since June pressured the LNP to support or rejection for nuclear energy, told delegates the energy "stories" for the two major parties were now completely different.

Mr Dick said Labor's included converting waste to energy, hydrogen, wind farms and solar farms as well as using coal and gas.

He said the LNP's plan - "the Queensland Liberal nuclear plan for geiger counters and radioactive protection suits" - deserved close scrutiny.

"There hasn't been a more primitive approach to energy creation since Tom Hanks created fire in (the movie) Castaway," he said.

Mr Pitt said he wanted to explore all options for Australia's future energy mix, because nuclear energy now provided 11 per cent of the world's energy through 450 plants world-wide.

“I am not saying that there is a nuclear reactor coming to a shopping centre near you but we have to be able to investigate all options,” Mr Pitt told the Sunday Telegraph.

“All I am calling for is an inquiry as to whether it’s a feasible option to ensure we are up to date with the latest information.”

Federal Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt by the Burnett River in Bundaberg.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

The MP said nuclear energy had helped to reduce carbon emissions and power prices in Europe, while also being a reliable source of power.

Nuclear power development is currently banned in Australia under the Federal Government's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

"It is this restriction that the LNP are ultimately trying to dismantle," Ms King said.