Peter Dutton’s nuclear plans get an early thumbs up in rural electorates

The electorates of Callide and Nanango, both held by the LNP, are open – to different levels – to the idea of nuclear plants in their backyards.

Nuclear supporter and Blackbutt avocado grower Adrian Bettwieser, with the Tarong power station in the distance. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Standing on a red-soil rise on his sprawling South Burnett farm, avocado grower Adrian Bett­wieser can see the smokestacks of the Tarong coal-fired power ­station on the horizon.

Mr Bettwieser reckons Peter Dutton’s plan to convert seven ageing power stations across Australia – including Tarong – into ­nuclear reactors is inspired.

“As long as it’s Australian-owned, we should go straight to nuclear,” he told The Australian on his 140-acre property about 150km northwest of Brisbane on Wednesday, just hours after Mr Dutton’s announcement.

In central Queensland, inland from the industrial coastal city of Gladstone, the ailing Callide coal-fired power station is also slated to be converted into a nuclear plant under Mr Dutton’s so far uncosted energy policy.

The federal Coalition’s nuclear policy does not have the support of Mr Dutton’s Queensland Liberal National Party counterparts, who according to opinion polls are on track to win the October election.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli was unequivocal, saying he would not change Queensland law to allow nuclear power plants in the state if both he and Mr Dutton were elected at upcoming polls.

“No, no, no, I gotta be really clear, it’s not part of our plan,” Mr Crisafulli said.

Federally, the Tarong and Callide power plants are both in Coalition-held electorates. Tarong is in Nationals leader David Littleproud’s safe seat of Maranoa, on a 22 per cent margin, while Nationals MP Colin Boyce holds the central Queensland seat of Flynn, which also takes in Gladstone, with a narrow buffer of less than 4 per cent.

At a state level, the electorate of Gladstone is Labor’s second-­safest, held by Water Minister Glenn Butcher by a margin of nearly 24 per cent.

The electorates of Callide and Nanango (home to the Tarong power station) are both held by the LNP, on margins of 16 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.

On his farm near Blackbutt, Mr Bettwieser has struggled to get reliable power supply to his property and recently invested $120,000 in about 180 solar panels on his packing shed roof, as well as a sophisticated battery back-up system.

“At least Dutton’s doing something about it, we’ve got power problems out here,” he said.

“We lose power up here so often, so the solar panels mean I can keep operating.”

But he said on a larger scale, he backed nuclear over renewables, particularly if the latter was ­foreign-owned. “If you were to ask me about (my) solar, well it’s OK during the day, and it’s saving me money during the day,” Mr Bett­wieser said.

“But we’re wasting Australian taxpayer money on investing in those big solar and wind farms.”

About 13km west of Blackbutt in the tiny town of Yarraman, fourth-generation local cattle grazier and butcher Brad Frohloff said he felt initially anxious at the idea of a nuclear power plant so close to home.

Yarraman butcher Brad Frohloff and his daughter Isabelle. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“The first feeling is ‘holy shit, danger’. But put that aside, and we know things are going to be safe, this could be amazing for our town,” Mr Frohloff said.

He and his family own Frohlies Meats butcher in Yarraman, and recently invested in buying the next-door building which they plan to turn into a grill serving cattle grown at their nearby property, and butchered in-house.

His eldest daughter, 24-year-old Isabelle, has invested in the new business and is nearly finished her butchery apprenticeship after studying nursing at university.

“Of the nuclear announcement, now I am thinking 80 per cent amazing and 20 per cent scary. I think most people will be like that,” Mr Frohloff said.

“It’s supposed to be cleaner energy, if you can get zero emissions and it doesn’t kill us, I’ll be happier than a pig in shit.”

He said it could be the injection of funds the region needed. “Our area desperately needs some infrastructure. I wouldn’t say we’re dying, but little country towns aren’t doing it too easy,” he said.

The Tarong power station belongs to Stanwell, a state government-owned corporation, and is supplied by a nearby Stanwell-owned coalmine.

Under the Queensland Labor government’s transition to renewables and away from coal-fired power, Tarong and other power plants like it would be phased out by 2035.

But the local Liberal National Party MP Deb Frecklington, the opposition’s energy spokeswoman, told The Australian the party was still opposed to nuclear.

“We have been consistent from the start; our position has not changed, this is not part of our plan and is a matter for Canberra,” she said. “The LNP has outlined the plan we’ll take to the next election; that’s what we’ll deliver and this is not part of it.”

South Burnett mayor Kathy Duff, whose local government area includes Tarong, backed the nuclear plan and said it would ease community fears on renewables.

“There’s concern across our region with the wind and the solar, and we are looking for alternatives,” Ms Duff told the ABC.

“It’s certainly worth considering. We haven’t discussed it as a council at this point, but we’ll certainly be bringing it to the table and 100 per cent support looking at it.”

Ms Duff said transitioning Tarong from coal-fired to nuclear power would alleviate community concerns about jobs.

“If it’s done properly, it can be an exciting thing for our region … job security and potential road ­upgrades,” she said.

Further north in Banana Shire, where the Callide power station is located, mayor Neville Ferrier told The Courier Mail his council had already engaged an independent nuclear expert in case the area got “landed” with a nuclear reactor.