John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Oh, yes, it was very conspiratorial! I have only known Mr Walker for about 20 years and he has been a good fundraiser and a great contributor to our side of politics. This is the new politics. This is the above-the-ruck, new standard politics—there is something conspiratorial in John Howard talking to Ron Walker. You have got to be kidding. Heavens above, I saw the Leader of the Opposition with Ron Walker at the soccer! I will tell you what: that is only the half of it; Steve Bracks was there too.

I had a discussion with Ron Walker. I am very happy to tell the world. One Saturday morning, Ron rang me. It was not about racing tips—neither of us is very interested in racing—but it was about something else. It was about the middle of last year. He said that he, Hugh Morgan and Robert Champion de Crespigny had decided to register a company that could be interested in nuclear power. I said, ‘That’s a great idea, Ron, because you know my view on it.’ I do not know what this is all about. My view and the view of the government about nuclear power being an option is well known. Whether it ever goes any further will be a matter for commercial decision. I remind the Leader of the Opposition that the laws of the Commonwealth and the states as they now stand prohibit any nuclear power generation in Australia. We will address that issue in relation to the Commonwealth when we give our detailed response to the Switkowski report.

But let me say again to the Leader of the Opposition: if you are serious about climate change and if you want to lead the intellectual debate on this issue, you have to look at every option. You should not bring to the climate change future of Australia or the world a closed mind. You should not bring your ideological prejudices and you should not be overborne by the member for Kingsford Smith on this issue. My challenge to the Leader of the Opposition is to get out in front of the Australian Labor Party, show a bit of policy courage and show a bit of intellectual depth and acknowledge that if we are serious we will look at cleaning up coal and we will look at wind and solar power at the margin, because you cannot run power stations on wind and solar. We will examine nuclear power and we will recognise that the mandatory imposition of a high MRET will do great damage to Australian industry. That was why we were not prepared to go further when we brought out the energy white paper. It is not right for the Leader of the Opposition to say that I reject MRETs. I do not; I think they should be measured and not place an unreasonable burden on Australian industry. Let me return to the central point. If this nation is to have a sensible debate about climate change, we have to look at the cleanest and greenest power generation source of all, and that is nuclear power.

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