Anthony Albanese says Labor will not support lifting moratorium for nuclear energy

Anthony Albanese rejected possible bipartisan support for lifting a federal moratorium on nuclear energy, stating it wasn’t even supported by Peter Dutton’s own state.

Anthony Albanese has ruled out lifting the Howard-era moratorium on nuclear power, stating the move “makes no sense”.

The government has continued its fierce criticism of the Coalition’s election promise to build seven nuclear reactors, the costing of which, while heavily critiqued, have been modelled to cost $331bn.

Speaking in Launceston, Tasmania on Sunday, the Prime Minister rejected suggestions Labor would offer bipartisan support for removing the federal ban, even if the policy gains support among voters, highlighting that it was originally a policy bought in by the Coalition government under Liberal prime minister John Howard.

Separate state-based nuclear moratoriums also exist in Queensland and NSW, with NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns and Queensland LNP David Crisafulli both ruling out future reforms.

“No one is going to. They couldn’t even get the Queensland LNP to drop their moratorium because it makes no sense. There’s a moratorium in (Mr Dutton’s) own state,” said Mr Albanese.

“There’s a moratorium in NSW (and) federally.

“What you have here is the National Party tail wagging the Coalition dog and Peter Dutton being too weak to stand up to the ideologues who dominate the Coalition.”

Anthony Albanese said there would be no support for removing the federal moratorium on nuclear energy. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Speaking on Sky, Jim Chalmers also lashed the nuclear plan as a “diabolic option for Australia.

The Treasurer claimed switching to a nuclear strategy would result in a $294bn hit to Australia’s economy by 2050 due to lost growth in the renewables sector.

For people “who rely on the national energy market” the lost output would result in a $4 trillion hit to the economy”, he said.

Dr Chalmers also said the Coalition’s plan also wouldn’t attract private sector investment, as it relies on the government to build and maintain the nuclear reactors.

“I convene the biggest investors in this country on a pretty regular basis, and behind closed doors, they absolutely laugh at Peter Dutton’s nuclear fantasy, because it’s economic insanity.

“Our plan is investable. It’s about the cheapest sources of new energy, which are renewable, and it’s about making sure that we take advantage of the combination of advantages and opportunities that we have here in Australia.”

Since unveiling the $331bn price tag for the Coalition’s nuclear strategy on Friday, the analysis conducted by Frontier Economics has been criticised for using assumptions that Australia’s energy demand by 2050 was far less than current government forecasts.

Peter Dutton announced the Coalition’s nuclear strategy would cost $331bn to build the seven nuclear power plants, the first of which could come online from 2035. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

It would also force ageing and less-reliable coal-fired power plants to remain in the system for longer, despite the Australian Energy Market Operator stating Australia’s coal fired power stations expected to completely close by 2038.

However Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor highlighted the Coalition’s claims that the Coalition’s plan is $263bn cheaper than Labor’s 94 per cent renewable energy policy, and would ultimately reduce power bills – something Peter Dutton has yet to outline his strategy for.

“Including a portion of clean base load nuclear power in the system brings down the overall costs of the system, which puts you in a position where our manufacturers, data centres, Australian households, small businesses, can pay less for electricity over the many decades to come,” he told Sky on Sunday.

“We’ve seen that (Anthony Albanese) promised a $275 reduction and we are nowhere near that. He’s got 16 days, by the way. He’s got 16 days for the deadline on that. But I think we can all be pretty confident we’re not going to see that.”