Parties play tit-for-tat on site of nuclear plants

The Coalition demands Labor say where it’ll build a nuclear waste repository under AUKUS after the PM launched an election-style scare campaign against Dutton’s nuclear policy.

Anthony Albanese says these ‘beautiful parts’ of Australia could be at risk under Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan. Picture: X

The Coalition has urged Anthony Albanese to reveal where Labor will build a nuclear waste repository under the AUKUS pact, after the Prime Minister launched the first election-style scare campaign warning “beautiful parts” of Australia are at risk from Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan.

Mr Albanese posted picturesque photos of eight locations across Australia – Newcastle, Anglesea, Barossa Valley, Whitsundays, Collie, Bribie Island, Hunter Valley and Gippsland – asking voters on X what they have in common.

“They’re at risk of a nuclear reactor in their backyard under Peter Dutton. Australians have waited 673 days for details on Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan. He still won’t say what cities and towns he’ll put under threat,” the Prime Minister said.

What do these beautiful parts of Australia have in common?

They’re at risk of a nuclear reactor in their backyard under Peter Dutton.

Australians have waited 673 days for details on Peter Dutton's nuclear plan. He still won't say what cities and towns he'll put under threat. pic.twitter.com/KiG4CcljBZ

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) June 4, 2024

The Australian sought to clarify why the locations were singled out and whether the suggestion was they were all – including the Whitsundays and Bribie Island – near coal-fired power plants.

Collinsville Power Station is about 160km from Airlie Beach, which is considered the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands.

“It’s just hard to rule out which beautiful Australian towns and cities will get a nuclear reactor because Peter Dutton either doesn’t know the detail or he’s not across it,” a government spokeswoman said.

Peter Dutton responded to Mr Albanese’s “false” and “childish” tweet with his own social media video saying the Coalition wasn’t proposing a nuclear power plant would be built on anything other than an end-of-life coal-fired power station site.

“More than 30 countries are using nuclear power and more than 50 countries are looking at using it for the first time. Do we really think that all of these countries have got it wrong and that Anthony Albanese has it right?” the Opposition Leader said.

“The trouble is the Prime Minister promised you $275 as a cut on your power bill but instead what we know is that each household in Australia has faced an increase of about $800 in their electricity bills. So it’s little wonder the Prime Minister is reverting to childish scare campaigns on the issue of nuclear energy.”

It’s time for a mature debate on Australia’s energy future, @AlboMP. pic.twitter.com/BPB26bfk9a

— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) June 5, 2024

Opposition climate and energy spokesman Ted O’Brien posed three questions to Mr Albanese, declaring “two can play at that game”.

“In which local community, or in whose backyard, does Labor plan to build a permanent repository for high level nuclear waste as part of the AUKUS deal? Labor has refused to rule out any state or territory for this facility, but it has to go somewhere and so the Prime Minister can come clean with the Australian people on the location,” Mr O’Brien said.

“If nuclear reactors are so ‘risky’, why has he approved members of the Australian Defence Force to sleep with nuclear reactors under water in our future nuclear propelled submarines? Will the Prime Minister commit to closing down the nuclear reactor that’s been operating in Sydney for nearly 70 years to save that local community?”

Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen has avoided explicitly saying nuclear reactors would be unsafe when talking about the risks of nuclear power.

The government has said a nuclear repository under AUKUS would be on Defence land, with speculation centred around Woomera in South Australia.