Nuclear power debate ‘could undermine AUKUS’, Defence Strategic Review author warns

The lead author of the government’s Defence Strategic Review has warned the political debate over Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy plan could threaten bipartisan consensus on AUKUS.

An artist’s impression of the SSN-AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine. Picture: BAE Systems

The lead author of the government’s Defence Strategic Review has warned the political debate over Peter Dutton’s nuclear energy plan has the potential to “run off the rails” and threaten bipartisan consensus on AUKUS.

Peter Dean said domestic nuclear power and nuclear-powered submarines were “very different things”, but there was a risk they could be conflated in the public mind amid ferocious debate over the Coalition plan.

The warning came as Anthony Albanese again refused to distance his government from images shared by senior Labor figures of three-eyed fish and a nuclear-affected Blinky Bill, accusing the media and Coalition of being overly concerned with political memes.

The Prime Minister said he believed the consensus on AUKUS could withstand the nuclear power debate, as Defence Minister Richard Marles attacked Coalition attempts to “draw an equivalence” between nuclear energy and the AUKUS submarines.

Professor Dean, who heads the United States Studies Centre’s foreign affairs and defence program, urged both sides of politics to prosecute the nuclear power debate carefully.

“I think it could go one of two ways,” he said. “If the debate goes well … we could have a much better informed public and a more literate, Australian public around that particular issue. Or it could run off the rails and get out of hand, and potentially impact AUKUS.”

Professor Dean said the debate needed to be informed by science rather than “pop culture references”.

Peter Dean, the director of the United States Studies Centre’s foreign policy and defence program.

“I would urge caution because, irrespective of your position in any of these debates, we need to have a factually informed, evidence-based discussion on this,” he said.

“AUKUS is designed around Australia not having a civil nuclear industry. And it is not reliant on the development of one. It doesn’t require it because what we are getting is sealed reactors.

“The number of AUKUS boats we get is very small, and the scale and size of the reactors is very different compared to a civil nuclear power industry.”

The Prime Minister has played down the sharing of anti-nuclear memes by Labor figures, including Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, urging critics to “lighten up”.

He stood by the position on Monday, arguing “some in the media and the Coalition” were “very worried about some cartoons and some memes going out”.

“I’m happy to engage in a debate about facts when it comes to nuclear energy, because the facts and the science tells us that it simply doesn’t stack up,” Mr Albanese said.

Challenged by the opposition in parliament as it sought to underscore the safety of nuclear power, Mr Marles said those who would serve on Australia’s nuclear submarines would not be in any danger from the boats’ reactors.

“But, while those opposite are trying to have some kind of cultural war between nuclear and non-nuclear, at the end of the day this is about economics, because this is economically insane what they are seeking to do.”

Mr Marles said the opposition was seeking to “draw an equivalence between eight nuclear reactors, which will power eight single machines”, and nuclear reactors that would power entire cities.

“The fact of the matter is we will not need to be disposing of a nuclear reactor until the early 2050s,” he said. “They are proposing a nuclear industry which will be generating tons of high-level nuclear waste well before that.”

Anthony Albanese says the media and the Coalition are ‘very worried about some cartoons and some memes’ on nuclear power. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Defence Minister Richard Marles goes on the attack in parliament on the Coalition’s nuclear plan. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Professor Dean, who authored the DSR for co-chairs Stephen Smith and Sir Angus Houston, is one of many in the defence community warning any rupturing of bipartisan consensus on AUKUS will threaten the program.

Former defence minister Kim Beazley said recently he was “amazed” the Labor Party had reached internal agreement on AUKUS, given its concerns around nuclear power.

He told The Australian’s Defending Australia Summit last month he hoped there would be enough bipartisanship around AUKUS “to stop it going wonky”.

“It’s been an enormous ask of the Labor Party to get into this position … whether that’s on nuclear matters … or alliance matters,” Mr Beazley said. “I hope they’ll be able to stick with it.”

Former Defence Secretary Dennis Richardson told the event there was “no real consensus” on defence between the major parties. “There’s already a whispering campaign against nuclear-powered submarines,” he said.