Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Some people's favourite fish is salmon. Some people's favourite fish is cod. The Leader of the Opposition's favourite fish is Blinky the three-eyed fish. Blinky is happily swimming next to the Leader of the Opposition's imaginary small modular nuclear reactor. If it wasn't all such a joke, the Leader of the Opposition would tell us how much this nuclear reactor will cost. Where will it go? In what towns?

If the Leader of the Opposition were serious about clean energy, he would be supporting the cleanest and cheapest form of clean energy, and that is renewable energy. Instead, it has been 674 days since the Leader of the Opposition first said they were going down a nuclear path, and we still don't have a shred of detail.

The exuberant member for Fairfax, in one of his passionate addresses, declared:

… 'No' to old nuclear technologies but … 'Yes' to new and emerging technologies such as small modular reactors.

He went on Sky News to say:

So, by the early 2030s, when Australia might be looking at small modular reactors … there should be multiple options … there …

So, when they say they want nuclear energy, what they actually want is nine years—nine years—to do absolutely nothing. And do you know why we know that? Because when they had nine long and painful years in government, they did absolutely nothing on nuclear energy.

The cheapest form of energy is renewables, and we back it all the way.

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