Peter Dutton’s plea to Australia’s Labor premiers: Debate my nuclear reactors policy like adults

As Peter Dutton prepares to release costings on his plan to power Australia with seven nuclear reactors, he’s asking Labor premiers to be “the adults in the room”.

Labor premiers are being challenged to back nuclear power to be “the adults in the room” by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, as he decries electricity grid failures across four states.

Declaring “the time for nuclear energy in Australia has come”, Mr Dutton is condemning “an energy policy trainwreck” under federal Labor as he prepares to release costings before Christmas for seven nuclear power plants.

Mr Dutton is targeting NSW Premier Chris Minns and SA Premier Peter Malinauskas, who has repeatedly declared himself “open-minded” to nuclear power, urging them to show national leadership like they did over the social media ban for under-16s.

READ PETER DUTTON’S COLUMN IN FULL HERE

Federal Labor argues the average four-person household will face a $972 annual power bill rise under the Coalition's nuclear policy and Mr Malinauskas has declared it uneconomic for Australia

Mr Dutton wants to demolish this argument by proving nuclear power is economic and force the premiers to the negotiating table.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton addresses a CEDA lunch on his nuclear policy in September. Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

He says Labor’s “renewables-only fantasy” will cost $642bn – five times more than estimated – and accuses Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Energy Minister Chris Bowen of “one of the most scandalous con jobs ever attempted on the Australian people”.

“I believe, in time, state premiers like Peter Malinauskas and Chris Minns – the adults in the room when it comes to the Labor Party – will support nuclear energy because it’s zero-emissions technology and it’s the only way we’re going to shore up renewables and get to net zero by 2050,” Mr Dutton says.

“That’s the best thing that we can do for our environment, for our economy, and for our country.”

Mr Minns has declared he won’t support nuclear power but Mr Malinauskas has left the door ajar, saying technology change might make it economical for Australia in the future.

In an opinion piece, Mr Dutton says nuclear plant costs can be spread over an 80-year reactor lifespan, but solar panels and wind turbines need to be replaced three to four times during the same period.

“The fact is we are on an energy policy trainwreck under this government,” Mr Dutton writes.

“In SA, they are restarting mothballed diesel generators. In Qld, the hydro projects have blown out by billions. In Victoria, they have literally banned gas from homes while relying on extending the life of coal-fired power stations, and in NSW, we were warned last week not to use dishwashers and washing machines because of the fragility of the grid on a warm day.

“We are paying some of the highest electricity prices in the world under federal Labor’s renewables-only policy. This is not what we should expect in a first-world country.”

Mr Dutton in June revealed plans to build seven nuclear power plants on coal-powered generator sites in five states, vowing two would be commissioned by 2037.

But a House Select Committee into Nuclear Energy has heard it is not viable in the Australian context and that build costs are escalating, creating financial disasters.

The committee also heard remediating the site of a coal-fired power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley would require about five times the water in Sydney Harbour.

Climate Council economist Nicki Hutley on Thursday branded the Coalition’s nuclear policy “a risky, expensive fantasy that would see Australians paying more than $100 billion for a fraction of the electricity we need”.

Originally published as Peter Dutton’s plea to Australia’s Labor premiers: Debate my nuclear reactors policy like adults