House debates
Wednesday, 26 June 2024
Adjournment
Nuclear Energy
7:30 pm
Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I rise tonight to put on record my strong support for the coalition's nuclear power plans and the idea of having nuclear power generation within Australia. Nuclear has delivered so many benefits to so many countries around the world and humanity in general. The splitting of the atom has led to nuclear science, nuclear technology and nuclear medicine. All of us benefit inherently from nuclear fission. Nuclear power generation should not be off the table for ideological or arbitrary reasons or simply because a political party has decided that they don't like it.
The science is absolutely clear that nuclear power will be an integral part of humanity's future. That's not just my view; it's the view of many important people and scientists around the world, including in the countries that are using it. But, if you don't like listening to people from a political party, listen to Patrick Moore, the co-founder of Greenpeace, who said:
I believe nuclear energy will be one of the most important energy sources for centuries to come, long after the oil and gas and coal have run out or run down to a smaller amount nuclear energy will still be available. It is really important that we perfect this technology and make it as safe as we possibly can and constantly work on making it safer. It is the safest already of all the major technologies but it's because I believe it is here for the long term and because it's clean and sustainable that I support it.
Whatever angle you come at this issue of power generation in Australia or Australia's future, if you want to see emissions come down, or indeed Australia ever meet our emissions reductions targets, nuclear will be an essential part of the mix. I don't believe it's bold to say that. Most countries are off track to meet their emissions reductions. There is no credible plan to meet emissions reductions. Nuclear power is one way that Australia can meet emissions reductions, as well as generate power and provide for our security.
Given we have so much of the world's uranium, gas and coal, how can it be, and how can this parliament look itself in the face, that we charge our domestic population through the nose for power from any source? The government say they are succeeding at their plans, but taxpayers paying the bills for expensive energy is not success. Success will be driving the price down. Despite so much gas, coal and uranium, and so many renewables and so many billions of subsidies in renewables for solar and wind, we're still charging pensioners through the nose to heat their homes in winter. We're still bankrupting families with bills that are eye-watering at the moment. It isn't acceptable to the public; it shouldn't be acceptable to the parliament; it wouldn't be acceptable to any rational government that was focused on delivering a better benefit for Australians.
Cheap energy costs is one of the advantages that drove this nation to become prosperous and successful, and it can be again. Nuclear will play an important role in this regardless of this government's opposition. I can say I am proud of the Liberal and National parties for stepping into this space. This policy is here to stay. This policy will remain with the Liberal and National parties for decades to come. This will become part of Australia's energy mix. I think it will become integral to Australia's power generation. Labor premiers think that as well. Peter Malinauskas thinks that, and he says it publicly. He has no problem with a nuclear power generation site in South Australia. One of the sites we have announced that will be looked at for technical feasibility is in South Australia.
This is a very important point: when you look down the generations, I find that young people in Australia today are very open to the benefits of nuclear power generation. They understand nuclear science, nuclear medicine and nuclear technology. They know that this is driving humanity forward. Given that all of the top 20 advanced economies in the world have nuclear or are moving towards nuclear, it's inconceivable that Australia won't do the same. We need the states to lift the bans. We need to have a multiplicity of efforts here. We're going to have nuclear powered submarines. We already have a nuclear reactor in Australia. We have nuclear technology. We're all benefiting from the benefits of the nuclear industry worldwide. We can benefit greatly from nuclear power as well.
So I call on the government to drop the hysteria, to drop the really, really dumb arguments that are not based on science, not based on facts and are not really credible for something so important to humanity. Nuclear power will be part of Australia's energy mix. I don't believe that is controversial to say. It will happen. It is a question of how quickly can we get it to happen, because, if we don't start now, we won't have it in decades to come. If we had started decades ago we would have it today and, given its vital role that it will play in Australia's future, we need to be moving on this. I commend the opposition for bringing this policy forward.
7:35 pm
Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The Albanese Labor government came to office in 2022 with a remit to bring with us to government kindness and positivity, a remit that saw us face challenges and find solutions and bring people with us. I'm a proud member of the Albanese Labor government working hard to meet our challenges. Some of those challenges have been economic, some have been around climate change and some are around the international space in which we find ourselves, but I'm very proud to be part of a government that has taken those challenges seriously and attacked them creatively.
One of those challenges has, of course, been inflation and the cost of living. On 1 July, five of the Albanese Labor government's cost-of-living relief measures come into effect. The important one—the tax cuts for every taxpayer—as well as a pay rise for low wage earners of 3.75 per cent, a freeze on PBS medicine costs, power bill relief for every household, and a two-week extension of paid parental leave come in on 1 July. This of course builds on the work we have already done, like cheaper child care, which makes such a difference in the community like mine that I represent with so many young families.
It is less than a week until this 1 July date, until 13.6 million people get a tax cut. The Albanese government's tax cuts will provide much-needed relief for all Australia's taxpayers. In my community, that is 95,000 community members in Lalor who will save an average of $1,441. This is going to make a difference to people's weekly incomes in my community. It comes on top of a pay rise for 2.6 million Australians, the third pay rise for our low-wage earners, and on top of a 15 per cent pay rise for the aged-care workforce, which has made a considerable difference in communities like mine.
As well as that, we have cheaper medicine. It has been a big fortnight in Lalor. We had an exciting visit from the Prime Minister to discuss the government's commitment to delivering cheaper medicines, which meant that PBS medicines went from $42.50 down for the first time to $30 and now that has been frozen. When the Prime Minister came to Lalor, he attended a Terry White chemist where he met locals Susan and Stephen Foster, who, amongst many Lalor residents, will benefit from the freeze on the maximum cost of the PBS medicine. Already in Lalor, $2.1 million has been saved from the cheaper scripts. I want to thank particularly Brian Nguyen from Terry White Chemmart for his warm welcome for the Prime Minister and all those who were working in the pharmacy that night and to those customers who were there that evening too, who made the Prime Minister so welcome in our community.
We have done these things as well as the power bill rebates on 1 July, the $300 rebate for every household on their power bill and, of course, that includes small businesses. That is $3.5 billion in energy bill relief for every single Australian household and one million eligible small businesses.
In our communities on Monday, there are going to be changes that will make things easier for people in my community. With inflation running at 3.6 per cent, the decision to deliver a 3.75 per cent pay rise for low-income earners is going to actually make a difference, not just in that first pay cycle but going forward.
We know that easing the cost-of-living pressures for all Australians is our No. 1 priority at this stage. As a government we want to bring positivity to the work we do every day, as we battle, plan and implement for so many areas across the country. But our No. 1 priority, obviously, has been that cost-of-living pressure for households across the country. In my community, I know that this Monday is going to be a big day for many people and a change in the way they think and act.
7:40 pm
Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Mr Speaker—and to all who are listening before the State of Origin—Australia only has one job and that is to become as strong as possible, as powerful as possible, as quickly as possible. The world is changing. It is changing very quickly, but it's following a very reliable path in history with the waxing and waning of powers and how things ebb and flow. To become a powerful nation, you must have the feedstock of what makes a powerful nation.
Tonight, in inflation figures we hear that power prices have gone up by 6.3 per cent in the assessment of the increase in inflation. Now, I don't want that. This means in the best way—the best litmus test, rather than the to-ing and fro-ing throughout the chamber and everybody selecting things—we must ask this question: is one major manufacturer in the world making their way to Australia because they believe we've got it right? Not one. Who is actually leaving Australia? Our plastics industry, our aluminium industry, our oil refining industry—and now our food processing industry.
Those who might want to cause us harm would be sitting back and laughing at us. Now we have this intermittent power lobby that has hold of the government—billionaires wanting to turn themselves into multibillionaires. In my electorate, where a lot of this future obsolescence is going to be cast, we have the Hills of Gold Wind Farm about to be approved. The government's solution is swindle factories covering the horizon, up to 230 metres high to the top of the blade, and then fields of a new photovoltaic black in the valleys, and, connecting them, a cobweb of filth, of transmission lines. And there is this perverse belief, like tulip mania, that we are going to run a modern economy on a windmill.
Every now and then a country loses its mind, and we seem to be doing that right now. What is it going to take for people to understand the paradox, the irony, that we've just been talking about a so-called 'nature-positive bill' yet we are allowing this intermittent power lobby, who are so good at lobbying with the orange lanyards. They are so good at schmoozing their way through this building.
Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Remember the $100 leg of lamb? Remember that?
Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
What we have to ask ourselves is: how is removing all the environmental conditions—so one tower, one raptor per year is perfectly acceptable! Removing vegetation in rainforests is perfectly acceptable! Drowning people out, drowning areas out is perfectly acceptable! Completely imposing yourself on the free property rights of people in regional areas is perfectly acceptable! However, the virtue does not extend to metropolitan suburbs. Not one wind tower do they want at Middle Head or off Manly or off Palm Beach or in Parramatta—not one. It would be obscene; they would never get re-elected. So where do they dump them? They dump them in regional areas.
We have to clearly understand, this path is insanity. You have no chance—none, zero, zip—of reaching 82 per cent renewables. And there is nothing renewable about them. They go to landfill. It's just nomenclature—'windfarms'? What do they grow—spuds, carrots, peas? You have fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. But you are not going to reach 82 per cent. It is just insane.
Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Scandalous misinformation.
Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
I take the interjection from the member for Parramatta, because he wrote a brilliant article back in about 2013 in support of nuclear—
Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It was 2011; 15 years ago.
Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It was great, 96 pages of it. It was an absolute splendid rendition of why we should go down the nuclear path. In our area, we see this quite simply: if we don't have nuclear, we're going to get more of this swill, more of this intermittent power lobby running this parliament. They've guilted you into not asking the forensic questions about exactly how they operate. We've had hidden from us the actual returns they're getting, and we've made a path for billionaires to become multibillionaires because they're running on the shirt tails of our guilt trip.