Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I move, as an amendment to the motion moved on behalf of the Leader of the House:

That paragraphs (1), (4) and (11) be omitted and replaced with the following:

(1) a House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy be appointed to specifically inquire into and report on the consideration of nuclear power generation, including deployment of small modular reactors and modern larger plants, in Australia, including:

(a) deployment timeframes;

(b) fuel supply, and transport of fuel;

(c) the front-end of the nuclear fuel cycle including value-add opportunities such as fuel fabrication and uranium enrichment capability;

(d) waste management, transport and storage;

(e) cooling options including water, its use and impacts on other water uses;

(f) relevant energy infrastructure capability, including brownfield sites and transmission lines;

(g) Federal, state, territory and local government legal and policy frameworks;

(h) risk management for natural disasters or any other safety concerns;

(i) ability to complement renewables and potential share of total energy system mix;

(j) necessary land acquisition;

(k) costs of deploying, operating and maintaining nuclear power stations;

(l) the impact of the deployment, operation and maintenance of nuclear power stations on electricity affordability;

(m) the impact on energy affordability;

(n) the impact on energy reliability;

(o) the impact on emissions reduction;

(p) the impact on energy security;

(q) the impact on the environment including geographic footprint;

(r) the impact on regional communities, especially coal communities;

(s) the potential for employment and broader economic impact;

(t) the potential to leverage and expand the uranium sector;

(u) ability to leverage existing nuclear institutions and capabilities including ANSTO, ASNO, ARPANSA and ARWA;

(v) synergy with AUKUS;

(w) potential to replace coal as a source of 24/7 baseload power;

(x) global trends and lessons to be applied in the Australian context;

(y) market design options to facilitate lowest cost electricity supply;

(z) a cost comparison between alternate pathways to achieving a net-zero electricity grid including nuclear energy and the 2024 Integrated System Plan of the Australian Energy Market Operator; and

(aa) any other relevant matter;

(4) the committee consist of:

(a) seven voting members, three Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Government Whip or Whips, three Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips, and one crossbench member to be nominated by the Opposition Whip; and

(b) three supplementary(non-voting) members (one Government, one Opposition and one crossbench) who may be substituted from time to time as advised by the Government Whip or Whips (in the case of a supplementary Government member) and the Opposition Whip or Whips (in the case of a supplementary non-Government member) ;

(11) the committee:

(a) have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of three or more of its members (including at least one Government and one Opposition member) and to refer to any subcommittee any matter which the committee is empowered to examine or conduct public hearings; and

(b) appoint the chair of each subcommittee who shall have a casting vote only.

It has taken 2½ years for the Australian Labor Party and the Albanese government to make some form of attempt to engage with the debate on the potential of zero emission nuclear energy in Australia. They do that today, at a time when the Prime Minister happens to be out of the country, which might be convenient because we know he's not very good at handling this debate. It is also noteworthy that the motion being put by the Leader of the House only appeared on the papers here this morning, and therefore the opposition was given only an hour or so to have a read and come into the chamber, which makes one think about why they're doing it. In the midst of such a mess from this government, they sought to pivot yesterday and talk about the NBN. That fell flat, so today they're talking about nuclear energy. Let's see how that goes.

But for now I'm happy to stand here in this chamber and take the Leader of the House at his implied word—because I haven't heard him say this yet—and the implied word is that he is seeking to make a genuine attempt to have nuclear energy genuinely considered by this House. Therefore, the amendments that I put forward today represent a test of the Labor Party, the Albanese government and the Leader of the House. This is a test of whether or not the motion they put forward on nuclear energy is genuine or disingenuous. Is it a matter of them being interested in good public policy, or is this another example of trying to be cunning and playing politics? The test is whether or not they support the amendments that the coalition has put forward.

Let me be very clear about what those amendments do not do before I cover off what they do do. We have today not put forward any amendments which change the words or the substance of what the government wishes to cover within the inquiry undertaken by this new standing committee—that is, we have not deleted any terms of reference. For every term of reference of substance that the government wishes to cover, the opposition stands and says, 'Yes, we come to the party; let us talk about that.' But we have added other things that need to be covered.

Anyone in the energy sector talks about three big priorities: (1) affordability to consumers, (2) reliability of energy and (3) emissions reduction. It's what they refer to as the energy trilemma. Interestingly these terms of reference omit three key aspects: (1) electricity affordability for households and businesses, (2) reliability and (3) emissions reduction. So we offer our gratuitous advice and recommendation by way of amendments today to say let's include those three considerations in a new terms of reference. It's also interesting that Australia already is a nuclear nation, yet the terms of reference put forward by the government do not include the institutional capabilities of nuclear already within Australia today, including ARPANSA, ANSTO and ASNO. They've been ignored. Let us include that in any consideration. Let us also include the AUKUS deal and the synergy of AUKUS because we know nuclear technology in Australia saves lives today by way of ANSTO and we know that nuclear technology has the capacity to protect lives in the future because of AUKUS. So let's have a look at that.

Let's also compare the cost, from a total system cost perspective, of a balanced energy mix to take Australia to a net zero electricity grid, including zero emissions nuclear energy, with that which the government supports, which is the Australian Energy Market Operator's Integrated System Plan. Let's compare those two pathways to net zero. That's vitally important. Let's also look at the importance and the opportunity of ensuring we maintain a source of always-on, 24/7 baseload power in our system—the transition from coal to nuclear. Let's have a look at the impact on the environment beyond emissions and the geographical footprint of those options: the option of having a rollout of an all-eggs-in-one-basket renewables-only grid or a balanced energy mix including zero emissions nuclear energy. Lastly we need to ensure the committee is equally represented by government and opposition members, which is not what they put forward.

See this speech in context