Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've said it before and I will say it again: the coalition cannot be trusted when it comes to nuclear power. But I can tell you this much: the people of my electorate of Gilmore on the New South Wales South Coast will never accept a nuclear power plant on our shores. We will never allow the crystal clear blue waters of Jervis Bay to be put at risk by the Nationals' obsession with nuclear. We will fight you every step of the way every day for as long as it takes. We won't forget, because no matter what the coalition say they will always try this on. They will always be working, sometimes secretly and sometimes right here in a press conference at Parliament House, to push nuclear power generation in our community. Liberal-National governments can never be trusted when it comes to nuclear, just like they can't be trusted to get it right on renewable energy.

The fact is that we do not need nuclear power. Not only is it dangerous; it's also expensive. There is no business case to support nuclear power. There is no community or industry appetite for nuclear power. What is their appetite for? It's for renewable energy. The jobs of the future are in renewable energy; we all know it. But the Liberals and Nationals are simply obsessed with coal and nuclear power. It baffles the mind. To be frank, it would almost be comical if it didn't have such serious repercussions.

In a community like mine, the reality is that we are losing the opportunities for local jobs for local people, something that we just can't afford. We have industry and the community sector leading the way with local solar farms, electric vehicle charging stations, a renewable energy cow poo farm—the list goes on and on.

Fantastic things are happening, and all in the huge gaping hole that is the government's energy policy. If we had leadership from the coalition government on renewables, just imagine the jobs and just imagine the innovation we could be seeing from local people, local farmers and local not-for-profits. Let me just say, coming from a dairy farming family, I can tell you that we have a lot of cows on the South Coast and they produce a lot of poo. We could be capitalising on that, just like the local farmers are trying to do in Nowra. Locals are desperately trying to do their bit. The government just can't be trusted on renewables. They can't be trusted to create jobs and they can't be trusted to keep us safe from nuclear power.

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