Peter Dutton, Bill Shorten clash on nuclear on Today show

After Australia’s peak science body called out the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton has failed to answer one question on nuclear.

Peter Dutton has failed to answer a key question in a fiery clash with Bill Shorten over nuclear energy.

Peter Dutton has failed to answer a key question in a fiery clash with Bill Shorten over nuclear energy.

The Opposition Leader has this week been spruiking his plans for moving nuclear, but when asked by the NDIS Minister where the reactors would go, Mr Dutton didn’t answer.

“Are you willing to host one of your nuclear power plants in your electorate or anywhere in Queensland? Where are you going to put your reactors?” Mr Shorten posited to Mr Dutton on Nine’s Today Show on Friday morning.

Bill Shorten and Peter Dutton clashed on nuclear during a TV segment on Friday morning.

Mr Dutton did not answer the question, instead pointing Mr Shorten towards a “huge argument in the United Kingdom at the moment, where adults are able to have a conversation”.

“The Labour Party there is arguing for the Tories to have more baseload nuclear power because they know it’s zero emissions,” Mr Dutton replied.

“This government, your government, has no chance whatsoever of meeting the net zero by 2050 target. That’s the reality of it. What we’ve said is that where you’ve got a retiring asset … you can replace that coal with a zero emissions technology, the latest technology, the same technology you’ve signed up to for then nuclear submarines.”

During the segment, Mr Dutton was questioned on his stance on Australia’s national science agency CSIRO over comments he made earlier this week.

Mr Dutton defended comments he made about CSIRO. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

On Tuesday, Mr Dutton said it had been “well documented” that CSIRO “can’t be relied up” during a press conference where he discussed nuclear energy and a report by the agency that found nuclear energy was more expensive.

Mr Dutton said the report was “discredited”.

It prompted the agency to make a rare statement, with a letter from chief executive Doug Hilton published online on Friday morning, saying that for science to be useful, it requires the “trust” of the community.

“Maintaining trust also requires our political leaders to resist the temptation to disparage science,” he said.

“The GenCost report is updated each year … (It) is carefully produced … and updated regularly as new data comes to hand.

“The GenCost report can be trusted by all our elected representatives, irrespective of whether they are advocating for electricity generation by renewables, coal, gas, or nuclear energy.”

When asked about it on Friday morning, Mr Dutton said being critical of the report – not CSIRO in general – was a “fair point” for him to make.

“At the moment that report was released, it doesn’t take into consideration all of the costs around renewables,” he said.

“I’m strongly in favour of renewables … All I’m saying is, let’s have a fair comparison, instead of a skewed one.”