National environmental justice group Friends of the Earth Australia (FoE) has slammed opposition leader Peter Dutton’s release of the Coalition nuclear policy, describing it as a nuclear nightmare and a cynical ploy to keep burning coal and gas.
Nuclear is simply too expensive and will take far too long to build to do anything useful for Australia’s energy transition, and is little more than a political tool in the Coalition’s strategy to delay renewables and maintain the profits of fossil fuel companies.
The nuclear energy industry has long been rejected in Australia and is banned because it presents significant risks to frontline workers, communities and the environment.
Most Australians agree we don’t need nuclear and this is a cynical ploy to divide the community.
“The Coalition is dumping its radioactive energy failures on to communities who deserve a safe and renewable future” said Dr. Jim Green, FoE’s national nuclear campaigner and lead author to a new report: ‘Power games: Why nuclear is not right for Australia’.
Importantly, the nuclear chain needed to make nuclear power happen (uranium mining, enrichment, transportation and waste management) disproportionately affects First Nations Peoples on this continent and beyond.
During a time of climate crisis, the focus of governments should be squarely on the transition to renewable energy, the most affordable form of new generation.
“The Coalition’s nuclear power plan is a transparent attempt to prolong the use of fossil fuels and to slow the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
“Based on the experience in Australia’s AUKUS partner countries, the US and the UK, Dutton’s nuclear plans would undoubtedly slow the energy transition in Australia, and make it more expensive”
Dutton has named seven towns around the country that would host nuclear power stations, including the Latrobe Valley in Victoria. Friends of the Earth’s Gippsland organiser and President of the Voices of the Valley Wendy Farmer said:
“Dutton is dreaming up a nuclear nightmare. The proposal to build a nuclear power plant in the Latrobe Valley on a geological faultline in a community that already suffered the impacts of the Hazelwood coal mine fire is dangerous and insulting” said Wendy Farmer, FoE’s Gippsland organiser and President of Voices of the Valley.
Friends of the Earth is firmly committed to supporting communities that would be impacted by Dutton’s nuclear nightmare.
