Peter Dutton visits Queensland back country in nuclear energy push

Peter Dutton has hit the sticks to promote his controversial nuclear energy plan but remains mum on how much the “essential” project will cost.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has for the first time spruiked the Coalition’s controversial nuclear energy plan in an electorate earmarked for a new “modular reactor”, promising the ambitious project will be more efficient than replacing wind turbines “every 25 years”.

The Liberal leader on Monday championed the contested energy project in Mount Murchison, a town of little more than 100 people in the Shire of Banana on Queensland’s central coast, following the unveiling earlier this year of the Coalition’s nuclear energy plan.

Mr Dutton flagged seven sites – two in Queensland and NSW and one each in South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia – for potential new small-scale nuclear reactors under the plan that he promised to take to the next federal election in 2025.

Peter Dutton, has reiterated support for the Coalition's nuclear energy plan. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Despite pushback from energy experts about the proposal’s feasibility, Mr Dutton said nuclear power would be “good for jobs” and “the underpinning of 24/7 reliable power into the future”, blaming Labor for warnings about future power shortages.

“The Coalition’s policy of renewables and gas and of nuclear (power) is absolutely essential to keeping the lights on, to having cheaper power and to making sure that we can reduce our emissions,” Mr Dutton said on Monday alongside Liberal Flynn MP Colin Boyce.

He claimed warnings by the energy regulator about brownouts were based on Labor policies. “The PM and Chris Bowen have us on this 100 per cent renewables-only path which is what’s driving up the price of your power bill. It’s what is making our system unreliable,” Mr Dutton said.

“If we want to have cheaper power, if we want greener power, and if we want reliable power, then nuclear is the way in which we’ll provide that 24/7 power into the future … let’s have an honest discussion because Australians are really struggling under this government.”

Mr Dutton hit out at investments by Labor in “green hydrogen” projects that he said were “not proven, not scalable” and claimed that nuclear reactors did not need to be replaced “every 25 years” like wind and would provide jobs amid the winding down of coal power.

The Liberal leader said he was “encouraged by discussions with the local community” about nuclear power but remained mum of how much the ambitious project would cost amid doubts about the targeted start date of as early as 2035.

Of the seven sites selected, five are in Coalition-held seats. In an earlier press release, Mr Dutton said the sites offered “important technical attributes needed for net-zero emissions nuclear plants”, including water capacity and transmissions infrastructure.

Under the plan, the Coalition proposed the government would fund the construction of the plants in partnership with experienced nuclear energy companies. The government would own the sites in a similar system set-up to the Snowy Hydro and NBN networks.