‘Won’t stop us’: Dutton’s nuclear threat to Queensland election winner

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has ramped up his rhetoric over nuclear power, with an explicit vow to override state premiers’ objections and steamroll through his energy pitch if elected.

“I will work respectfully and collaboratively with state premiers, but I don’t answer to them,” Dutton told fellow Liberals at the party’s federal council event in Sydney on Saturday.

Peter Dutton says he will not let premiers stand in the way if he wins the next federal election – due within a year – which could include his LNP counterpart in Queensland after October’s state election.Credit: Rhett Wyman

While talking about the need for a “mature conversation” about nuclear energy – despite questions about its cost and necessity – Dutton also reiterated that “Commonwealth laws override state laws”.

“So support or opposition at a state level won’t stop us rolling out our new energy system,” he said.

The comments escalated the challenge not only to Queensland Premier Steven Miles and his pledge to fight the plans if re-elected in October, but also Dutton’s state LNP counterpart, David Crisafulli.

The Queensland opposition leader came under mounting pressure this week – even from within his own party – after pledging to retain the state’s ban on nuclear technology. But when questioned repeatedly about his stance, he refused to be drawn further.

Travelling outside Brisbane since Dutton made his pledge that if elected, he would build seven nuclear reactors nationwide, two of them in Queensland, Crisafulli repeated the line: “It’s not part of our plan.”

Crisafulli was contacted for comment through his office on Saturday but had not provided a response by the time of publication.

In his speech, Dutton referenced his “good friend” Crisafulli, saying he had “taken a perfectly understandable position on nuclear power” and was “going to make an outstanding premier”.

But his Queensland-based federal LNP counterparts have publicly called Crisafulli out since Wednesday, saying he was avoiding the topic to “take the LNP into government”.

Federal Nationals leader David Littleproud, whose sprawling electorate could host the proposed Tarong facility, has said he and Dutton would “expect” the next Queensland premier to fall into line.

Speaking to journalists in Logan on Saturday, Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni described Crisafulli as “weak” and suggested he would “roll over ... in an instant” if the opposition won power in both Queensland and federally.

“Peter Dutton will get his way – he will take Queenslanders’ [state-owned] power stations off them and turn them into nuclear power stations,” de Brenni said.

“It will take him decades to do that, and they will burn coal for decades in the meantime, that means we will miss all of our emission-reduction targets.

“Companies will leave Queensland – the companies that employ Queenslanders that are today saying they support Queensland’s clean-energy transition.”

De Brenni also criticised Crisafulli’s rejection of the government’s flagship $12 billion-plus pumped hydro renewable energy storage project and promise of multiple smaller ones under tougher planning rules instead.

He said this meant the LNP would need to build dozens, at a higher cost and community disruption, for the same capacity to capture excess wind and solar power.

“[Which] communities are these going to be in?” de Brenni asked. “Whose land is going to be impacted by that? Have they told those communities? And how much is that going to cost?”