Peter Dutton picks the mood on nuclear but neither side is winning the cost-of-living war ahead of Dunkley

Labor and Anthony Albanese ignore community sentiment for nuclear as a net zero option to firm renewables at its peril. Picture: PMO

Labor is now at risk of ending up on the wrong side of history in its fanatical opposition to nuclear power.

The shift in community support in favour of nuclear as a replacement technology for fossil fuels is significant.

The acceptance among younger Australians is as potent as it will be surprising for the Albanese government, which has ruled a line through ever overturning a ban that was imposed a generation ago.

This is potentially dangerous territory for Labor as it attempts to overcome a growing scepticism about its policy levers to deliver what it has promised on emissions reductions and renewables.

The younger generation is unencumbered by the same fear of nuclear that still haunts older generations. They have been brought up to believe that climate change is the crisis of our time and no one is doing anything to solve it.

The support for small modular nuclear reactors to eventually ­replace coal on existing sites is universal across age groups, geography and education.

The only divergence is by gender. Women were significantly less excited about it than men. Yet, a majority of female voters were still supportive.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s argument hinges on cost and the fact that the small ­modular reactor technology is still in development.

But his frenzied opposition, which appears rooted in an old-world ideology framed by Labor’s historical antagonism, is at odds with even Labor and Greens ­voters. Pragmatic sections of the Left now embrace nuclear as a net zero option to firm renewables.

Labor ignores this community sentiment potentially at its peril.

The Coalition still has to make the case. And significant obstacles remain. It will require political courage to pursue it.

But if the selling point is the zero emissions attraction, and the low environmental footprint, then finally the Coalition may have a climate policy that younger voters believe is credible.

The nuclear option is now clearly something that resonates with younger Australians – a rare occasion where the Coalition’s point of view is in agreement with this generation.

The danger for Labor is based in its wrong assumptions about community sentiment.

At a time when power prices are feeding the cost-of-living ­pressures families are facing, the energy wars have an elevated ­significance.

So far, neither side appears to be winning the cost-of-living ­debate.

Whatever political benefit Labor may have believed it would derive from breaking an election pledge in order to redraw legislated tax cuts in favour of lower income earners, no evidence exists to support this belief.

According to the latest Newspoll, Labor’s primary vote has gone backwards in the past three weeks to 33 per cent.

This is back to where it was in early December.

It’s impossible to know what its primary vote would be had it not delivered its tax package.

Considering it fell to 31 per cent in the post referendum period, it’s not unreasonable to assume things could be a lot worse for ­Albanese and Labor had it not taken this risk.

Peter Dutton’s Coalition is not making the sort of inroads that would suggest it is in a competitive position. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

With the Dunkley by-election to be held this Saturday, the ground is fertile for a protest vote.

If the national polls suggest Labor has gained little from its tax plan, then there’s no reason to believe Dunkley would be any different. It’s a mortgage belt seat.

Albanese’s approval ratings remain in negative territory. There has been no revival for Labor nor for Albanese personally.

The only consolation is that Dutton is in the same boat.

The Coalition is not making the sort of inroads that would suggest it is in a competitive position.

At 52/48, Labor remains in a theoretical election winning ­position.

With cost-of-living pressures remaining the dominant feature of the political contest, the Coalition will need to do more to change the equation in its favour and lift its primary vote to the 40 per cent it would need to win an election.

A debate over nuclear power is unlikely to shift the dial either way, but for Dutton it demonstrates some policy bravery that he will need more of to win the greater argument over economic management.