The federal Coalition has gone silent about its plan to build seven nuclear power plants, at a cost of $331 billion over 25 years, across Australia.
But a new group, Liberals Against Nuclear, is frustrating the Coalition’s attempt to downplay its policy, wanting it to ditch its nuclear policy before the election.
Spokesman and former Tasmanian Liberal director Andrew Gregson said those involved are “desperate” for the Liberals to win government and are “not doing it out of malice or anger”.
Gregson said: “Nuclear power is the big road block preventing the Liberals getting to the Lodge. This is big government waste that betrays liberal values, splits the party, and hands Government back to Labor.”
He said the $331 billion nuclear policy “gives us bigger government, higher taxes to pay for it, more debt and less freedom as the state takes over energy production”.
Referring to differences on climate science and renewable energy, Gregson said nuclear power is “a policy that fixes an internal problem but hangs a weight around the country’s neck for decades to come”.
Liberals Against Nuclear has a “significant” war chest to fund its advertising campaign, Gregson said, including television advertising, digital content and billboards.
Liberals Against Nuclear said the nuclear policy “is driving free market and middle ground voters directly to the Teals and other independents in must-win seats”. It added that polling shows just 35% support nuclear energy, “with support collapsing once voters understand the policy details”.
Liberals Against Nuclear also opposes the policy because it “fundamentally contradicts core Liberal values of lower debt, smaller government, free markets, and less government intervention”.
It said the fact that the private market has said it won’t invest in building nuclear reactors and won’t insure it “speaks volumes”.
It said nuclear energy will require a new government agency and regulation, “adding unelected bureaucrats and tens of thousands of public servants to the government payroll”.
Security risks
The Liberals Against Nuclear states that the recent attempted attack at Chernobyl, when a drone loaded with explosives was flown onto the site, “illustrates that reactors are targets especially when waste is stored onsite”.
It cited an op-ed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which pointed out that the “Opposition’s nuclear policy would increase defence risk” because “centralising power generation makes us more vulnerable to attacks including from China”.
The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group warned in February that the nuclear reactor plan would leave Australia vulnerable to missile warfare and sabotage.
Retired Admiral Chris Barrie, former chief of the Australian Defence Force, said: “Every nuclear power facility is a potential dirty bomb … Modern warfare is increasingly focused on missiles and uncrewed aerial systems and, with the proposed power stations all located within a 100 kilometres of the coast, they are a clear and accessible target.”
Cheryl Durrant, a former Department of Defence director, said: “In the Ukraine-Russia war, both sides have given strategic priority to targeting their opponents’ energy systems, and Australia would be no different. So these nuclear facilities would necessitate expensive and complex missile defence systems as well as allocated cyber and counter-intelligence resources, making our security challenge more complex and expensive.”
Higher power bills
The Liberals Against Nuclear YouTube page had seven video advertisements referring to an estimated $665 increase in household power bills under the Coalition’s nuclear plan.
That figure may come from a study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which found that household electricity bills could rise by $665 a year on average, if nuclear energy were introduced. For a four-person household, the rise would be $972 per year.
A study by the Smart Energy Council study found that Dutton’s nuclear reactors would add $665 a year to the average non-solar household’s power bill, and that the rooftop solar systems of up to 12.5 million people would need to be shut off every day to allow nuclear to be shoe-horned into the system.
The most recent economic analysis, conducted by global consultancy firm Jacobs for the Clean Energy Council, found that reliance on coal and gas while waiting for nuclear power would increase the average household bill by $449 a year, and an $877 rise for small businesses.
Most of the Liberals Against Nuclear advertisements quote Coalition MPs — current and former, federal and state — who oppose Dutton’s nuclear reactor plan.
One quotes former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull saying nuclear power is the most expensive form of electricity generation and asks if the Coalition “is trying to lose”.
Another quotes state Liberal/Liberal National Party leaders opposed to nuclear power in Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria and South Australia.
Another quotes NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman saying that nuclear power is a trojan horse for the coal industry.
Another quotes former NSW Liberal Deputy Premier Matt Kean, Queensland LNP Senator Matt Canavan and the CSIRO, saying nuclear power is twice as expensive as benign alternatives.
The John Howard government tried to go quiet on its policy of promoting nuclear power in the 2007 election and tried to paper over divisions within the Coalition. But at least 22 Coalition candidates publicly expressed concern, or outright opposition.
The nuclear power policy was ditched immediately after the Coalition lost that election.
[Dr Jim Green is the national nuclear campaigner with Friends of the Earth Australia and a member of the EnergyScience Coalition. Abridged from a longer piece on Renew Economy and published with permission.]