‘You know my position’: The other question the LNP struggles with

David Crisafulli is continuing to dodge questions on nuclear power in the dying days of an election campaign that polls suggest will likely end with him leading the state.

Speaking from Parliament House on Wednesday, the LNP leader could not say whether – or how – he would oppose a federal attempt to build reactors in Queensland.

“You know my position on nuclear,” Crisafulli told reporters when asked if he’d commit to a High Court fight against any attempt to build nuclear plants in Queensland.

David Crisafulli again dodged questions on nuclear power at Parliament House on Wednesday.Credit: William Davis

“It’s not just a scare campaign, it’s a desperate scare campaign because I’ve put my position across regarding nuclear. I did it standing beside the opposition leader [Peter Dutton].”

The federal Liberal-National coalition has promised to build seven reactors, including two in Queensland, if it wins the next election.

Labor is opposed to nuclear power at both state and federal level, and Crisafulli has previously said there would need to be bipartisan support in Canberra for him to back the idea.

The federal LNP leader joined Crisafulli on the campaign trail at the start of the month and said if elected prime minister, he would try to twist the state LNP leader’s arm.

“The first step is to get David elected as premier,” Dutton told reporters at the time.

“When the prime minister stops running scared, he’ll hold an election, and I intend to be prime minister after the next election and we can have that conversation [about nuclear power].”

At the time, Crisafulli said “friends can have differences of opinion, that’s healthy”.

Premier Steven Miles has worked to drive a wedge into the LNP on the issue, promising a “tooth and nail” High Court fight against any Commonwealth bid to impose nuclear power on Queensland.

On Wednesday, Crisafulli said his focus was on providing cheap and reliable power to the state.

“If the premier wants to go to an election talking about a future election and multiple houses of parliament, with our major power generator offline and Queensland’s power bills increasing by three times the national average … it’s another cross beside his name – and they’re mounting up,” he said.

Miles told reporters Crisafulli had given “precisely the same answer” on nuclear power as he had on other policy issues that had dominated the campaign, including abortion laws.

“He doesn’t say if he supports it or [if he] opposes it, he just says it is not part of his plan,” Miles said.

“Of course, they’re weasel words. They don’t mean anything to Queenslanders opposed to nuclear energy because we know it is the most expensive option.”

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