Ted O’Brien backs community incentives for nuclear power plants
The Coalition energy spokesman has stopped short of supporting Ryan Stokes’ call for free power for communities near nuclear plants, saying he has not encountered a high degree of nimbyism.
Opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien says business leader Ryan Stokes is right in suggesting communities earmarked to host nuclear power plants must be offered lucrative incentives.
Mr O’Brien stopped short of backing Mr Stokes’s call for free power to overcome nimbyism in the seven communities Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has nominated as sites for nuclear reactors.
“The basic principle to which Mr Stokes speaks is right in that local communities need to be beneficiaries when they are hosting such important national infrastructure,” Mr O’Brien said.
The Coalition has promised to release its economic case for nuclear power before the end of the year. Under the plan, taxpayers would build and own nuclear power plants across six states.
Mr O’Brien talked up benefits packages for the host communities under the proposal to build five large-scale power plants and two small nuclear reactors.
The Coalition has said it will create special economic zones around the communities and offer industry and businesses cut-price power.
“We are looking to establish integrated industrial economic zones in each of these communities anchored to the nuclear power plant. This will allow the local community to attract investment into those zones from businesses which want to enjoy the cheapest electricity in the country,” Mr O’Brien said.
“What will provide for the cheaper supply of power is lower wholesale and network charges. We’ll have more to say about how that will operate in due course, but it is all part of our plan.”
The opposition commitment to cheap power applies to industry but it has made no promises about residential electricity charges.
It has pledged big upgrades in infrastructure and public services in communities selected by the Coalition because they are home to or close to existing or former coal-fired power stations and transmission infrastructure.
Mr Stokes, the son of billionaire Kerry Stokes, said last week that people living near nuclear power plants could be offered incentives such as free electricity to build community support.
The Seven Group chief executive said offering free power was one way to deal with nimbyism and to encourage people to live in the communities.
“To deal with the nimbyism, that’s easy … you can find ways to incentivise people to want to live around a nuclear power environment where they get a benefit – free energy, free power, or whatever the mechanism,” he said.
Mr O’Brien said he had not encountered a high degree of nimbyism in his travels to the communities.
“I’m finding a high level of understanding about energy and industry. These communities have high energy IQ. They get it because the locations we are considering for nuclear energy have a history of powering the Australian economy for decades,” he said.
A Labor-dominated parliamentary committee started its inquiry into the Coalition’s energy policy last week, with debate focusing on how long it might take to have the nuclear power plants up and running. The Coalition has said the first plant could be rolled out by either 2035 or 2037.
Originally published as Ted O’Brien backs community incentives for nuclear power plants
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