Election 2022: John Howard stands by fossil fuels and nuclear energy

John Howard has warned against the premature phasing out of fossil fuels in a speech criticising an alliance of independent candidates contesting Liberal-held seats.

Former prime minister John Howard in Perth on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

John Howard has warned against the premature phasing out of fossil fuels in a speech criticising an alliance of independent candidates contesting Liberal-held seats with support from Climate 200.

Mr Howard said that while it was the right of cleantech investor Simon Holmes a Court to finance an organisation claiming Australia’s political system is too broken to tackle climate change, anyone who wanted to transition fast from fossil fuels without embracing nuclear energy had no sympathy for Australia’s interests.

Mr Howard made the comments at a Leadership Matters breakfast in Perth, where Curtin Liberal MP Celia Hammond is in a fierce contest with independent challenger Kate Chaney for the seat held for 21 years by Julie Bishop.

Ms Chaney is one of 21 candidates across Australia supported by Climate 200, including in Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong.

Mr Howard said it was important – as the Morrison government acknowledged – to move towards a greater reliance on renewables “but it has to be done in a way that respects the continued massive contribution of those fossil fuel industries to the Australian economy”.

“As a nation, we will do ourselves great harm and it will be very perilous if we engage in any premature phasing out of our great fossil fuel industries,” Mr Howard said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a reminder of the world’s dependence on traditional sources of energy, he said.

“How valuable it is that a nation like Australia has been given by providence these huge reserves of coal and iron ore,” he said.

Mr Howard said Australia had 38 per cent of the world’s easily recoverable uranium reserves so “those who run around saying we should get rid of the fossil fuel industry as quickly as possible and never embrace the nuclear industry have no understanding no sympathy for the long-term interests of this country”.

In a written response to Mr Howard’s comments provided to The Australian, Mr Holmes a Court called the former prime minister a dinosaur.

He said voters were excited by the prospect of a representative who shared their values and would work for credible action on climate change, a federal integrity commission and gender equity.

“The Morrison-Joyce government has continued the legacy of Mr Howard’s inaction on climate change … Morrison enters the election with no credible climate policy, and engaged voters in many seats, urban and regional, know it,” Mr Holmes a Court said.

“Australia stands on the precipice of becoming a clean-energy superpower, but will miss the opportunity if the country follows Morrison’s ‘do nothing plan’ or regresses to Howard’s 1950s view of Australia.”