Election 2025: Electrical Trades Union’s $2m attack on Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy

The union campaign ads will run in 12 key marginal electorates, including Peter Dutton’s seat of Dickson.

Peter Dutton visits the Cougar Mining Equipment factory in Newcastle on Monday. Picture Thomas Lisson/NewsWire

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The Electrical Trades Union will run a $2 million advertising campaign in 12 marginal electorates, including Peter Dutton’s seat of Dickson, attacking the Opposition Leader’s “underpowered overpriced” nuclear policy.

Under the slogan “Dutton’s Nuclear Plan: Why?”, the television, radio and digital ads feature electricians, farmers, and policy experts claiming there are serious flaws in the Coalition’s nuclear policy relating to cost, timelines and value for money.

ETU national secretary Michael Wright said the campaign would make voters aware of the “staggering costs, impractical timelines and job-killing consequences” of the proposal.

“Peter Dutton’s nuclear proposal is an expensive, impractical fantasy,” Mr Wright said. “Australia needs new generation to keep the lights on today, in 2025. A nuclear power plan for 2045 is worse than useless – it is killing energy workers’ jobs.”

The ads will run in key electorates including Dickson, Bonner, Capricornia, Flynn and Blair in Queensland; Hunter, Banks and Reid in New South Wales: McEwen, Hawke, Dunkley, Bruce in Victoria; and Moore in Western Australia.

Mr Wright said the campaign would highlight nuclear power’s “enormous water consumption”, which he said was 1.4 times greater than coal, “a point that will resonate strongly in water-stressed areas like Western Australia”.

He said 40 per cent of the grid was powered by renewables.

“Every day that Dutton pushes his nuclear fantasy for the 2050s is a day spent destroying and delaying real jobs and projects in 2025,” he said.

“Dutton’s plan would cost $600bn, take more than 20 years to get off the ground, and provide only four per cent of our energy needs. This isn’t a plan – it’s a delay tactic that puts thousands of jobs and the nation’s energy security at risk.”

On the campaign trail on Monday, Mr Dutton was questioned about his claim last year that a 450 megawatt nuclear reactor would produce nuclear waste “equivalent to the size of a can of Coke each year”.

Asked about the waste claim, he said “the quantum depends on the size of the reactor”.

Labor claims a Dutton government would cut “critical services” to pay for the $600bn nuclear policy.

The ETU attacks came as the ACTU ramped up its criticism of Mr Dutton’s pledge to force public servants that were working from home to return to the office.

In a social media post, ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the policy would result in more workers being stuck in traffic.