Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the words of Dorothea Mackellar:

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

But I want to know where Peter Dutton would like to put the nuclear reactors in our wide brown land. Yes, we do have a lot of land and we do have a lot of sunshine, so it makes absolute sense to say, as most Australians will say to you, 'I completely back renewables.' When you talk to them about nuclear and you say, 'Well, where do you think those reactors should go? Do you think they should go in the Hunter?' people say, 'No, Mez, I don't think that's the best fit.' 'What about Tomaree Headland in Port Stephens, a beautiful place with plenty of water around there? Perhaps Mr Dutton might want to put a nuclear reactor there.' 'No, hang on.' They're not so keen on that. People do have some legitimate concerns about wind turbines off our coast, and I understand that, and our government has been working with them on that. I'm really proud of the way my community has worked with me, and I thank them for that. But, when I talk to them about nuclear, they are definite that they do not want it. What they do want is a government like ours that is prepared to take the decisions, lay out the plan and have the policy backup. We're going to keep the lights on, and we're not going to make it reactionary.

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