David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to present a petition to the House that has been considered by the Petitions Committee and found to be in order:

The petition read as follows—

This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House that the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 currently prohibit the development of enrichment, fuel fabrication, and nuclear power plants in Australia. Nuclear power is a zero-emissions, baseload energy that must be part of Australia's energy mix to ensure Australians receive affordable and reliable electricity.

We therefore ask the House to remove all federal legislative barriers to the development of nuclear power in Australia.

from 311 citizens (Petition No. PN0627)

Petition received.

Over 300 people within my electorate have signed a petition to remove the moratorium on nuclear power in Australia. This petition is a clear indication of the sentiments within Australia. Not everyone has bought the government's renewables-only energy policy. Most Australians recognise that, in order to have affordable, safe and reliable energy, we must have a constant base-load source of power that can replace outgoing traditional fossil fuel plants, and that is nuclear.

Labor would have you believe that nuclear is some fanciful pipedream, but this petition reveals that Australians don't think that that's the case. They recognise its invaluable role in our future energy mix. It doesn't mean we're opposed to renewables; it's not a binary choice. It simply means that we have to put our eggs in more than one energy future basket.

So I call on the government to take heed of the wishes of 335 people in the Lyne electorate and start a conversation on the removal of the current prohibition on enrichment, fuel fabrication, and construction and operation of nuclear plants in Australia. The government's failure to even have a discussion on this matter is an affront to the Australian people, who hold very legitimate—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Hunter has the call.