Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Cormann, for your support on that view. Most Australians want the government to do the best job to reduce the growth in greenhouse gas emissions, noting that Australia has amongst the highest level of greenhouse gas emissions per person in the world. So how can we build on our strengths as a country and be part of the solution? Well, one of Australia’s great assets is uranium. Australia supplies 20 per cent of the world’s demand for nuclear power and has an estimated 40 per cent of the most easily accessible uranium. Surely it is hypocritical to, on the one hand, be exporting uranium for the purposes of nuclear power being developed in overseas countries—whether it be France, other European countries, Japan, the US or elsewhere—and yet, on the other hand, be doing nothing at home in Australia, where we have a federal minister saying nuclear power is part of the solution to combating climate change, using his words. And yet they are doing nothing about it in Australia. I say it is hypocritical. It is two-faced. It is duplicitous. And it is time for the government to come clean, stand up, show they are serious about these issues and make the change—bring on the debate about nuclear power. It is madness in the extreme that federal Labor have refused to consider nuclear as one of the weapons to combat greenhouse gas emissions.

A recent report showed that Australia’s population is expected to almost double to 35 million by 2049, while at the same time we are proposing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 80 per cent. How is that going to happen? Dr Ziggy Switkowski has said that there is no country of a similar size to ours that is not using the nuclear option to combat the climate change problem around the world. On page 4 of today’s Australian he says that Australia should build 50 nuclear power stations by the middle of the century, doubling the size of the sector he outlined to John Howard three years ago. That is his view. Three years ago he recommended 25 nuclear power stations. He says that, instead of the 25 civil reactors he called for in his report to the former coalition government, to produce one-third of the electricity supply by 2050 Australia should build 50 nuclear plants, generating up to 90 per cent of baseload power. He goes on to say in a report—and I understand in his address that will be released today:

It gives us clean energy. It gives us baseload electricity. It will be the lowest-cost option for Australia from the 2020s.

We know that in the past the cost option has been prohibitive, or has been limiting, in terms of nuclear power—and that is understandable. But now we are moving into a carbon constrained world. Surely it should be considered seriously as an option. In terms of developments and efficiencies: yes, there was a 15-year time frame to get a nuclear power plant up and running, but now that has been brought back to closer to 10 years. So the first nuclear power plant could be commissioned within a decade. That is in the report. That is a major report.

What do the Australian people think about this? Interestingly, I did not realise until the Age produced a report on 13 October 2009, on the front page, headed ‘Australians warming to nuclear power: Opponents now in minority, poll finds’. The article states:

An Age/Nielson poll found 49 per cent of Australians believed nuclear should be on the nation’s list of potential power options, while 43 per cent were opposed …

This is amazing, because we have not even started the debate! Federal Labor have said, ‘No, it is not an option’, so there has been no debate about the merits of nuclear power. And yet you have half the population saying it should be considered as a serious option. Hello! Wake up Labor! Bring on the debate about nuclear power and the merit of it in Australia. The article went on:

… the Rudd Government … restated its total opposition to—

using nuclear power—

to help Australia meet its future carbon reduction targets.

Ziggy Switkowski, who currently chairs the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, said at that time:

… Australia was the only developed nation that believed it could make deep cuts to carbon emissions without resorting to nuclear power. [We must] provide for the next generation of baseload electricity generation with clean energy. The only way to do that is with nuclear power.

Obviously, Mr Rudd and the Labor members and senators in this parliament think differently. But the Australian people are warming to it, with nearly half the population now saying yes, it should be considered seriously—and I am right with them. Let us bring on the debate so that we know the pros and the cons.

It is happening all around the world. Why not in Australia? There are some 450 new nuclear power plants planned or under construction globally, which will double the current number. The UK Labor government announced only last week that it would fast-track approvals for nuclear power plants at 10 sites, with the aim of a nuclear share of its total power demand increasing from 15 per cent to around 30 per cent by the end of the 2020s. Historically, nuclear power has been far more expensive—between 20 and 25 per cent more expensive—than coal. But of course that is now changing, and changing fast—as I just noted from Dr Switkowski’s comments. It is becoming close to equivalent in cost in the new carbon constrained world that we are heading into. One of the benefits of nuclear power is that it can produce a dependable baseload electricity supply—and, of course, the use of nuclear energy results in the generation of almost no greenhouse gas emissions after the plant construction is complete. So you can see it has huge benefits in that regard.

Of course, there is a public perception that uranium and nuclear power is dangerous and that its waste seeps into the community and causes cancer and other unintended consequences. That is a perception that has been held over many decades, but that is changing based on the facts and on what we know to be true. We have had major incidents such as the Three Mile Island disaster of 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, but, interestingly, I have noted more recently that the National Secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Paul Howes, supports nuclear energy as an option—good on him—as indeed do Bob Carr and other Labor luminaries. Paul Howes has said:

People are worried about nuclear waste, but they are only now beginning to consider the environmental costs of coal. There are new generation reactors being developed which will largely eliminate radioactive waste.

The Howard government made it clear that it had not ruled out a nuclear future and in 2006 commissioned Dr Switkowski to lead a task force to prepare a study into the future feasibility of nuclear power generation in Australia. The report concluded that:

The challenge to contain and reduce greenhouse gas emissions would be considerably eased by investment in nuclear plants. … The greenhouse gas emission reductions from nuclear power could reach 8 to 17 per cent of national emissions in 2050.

By providing 15 per cent of the world’s electricity, nuclear is already making an important contribution to constraining global greenhouse gas emissions. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that nuclear power annually avoids more than two billion tonnes of CO2 emissions that would otherwise have been produced through burning fossil fuels. There is no mistaking that nuclear power has enormous capacity to replace greenhouse-gas-emitting power generators.

Do we in this country want to retain and improve our standard of living and quality of life in this carbon constrained future that we face? If we do, nuclear should be considered as part of that future. So I say to the Rudd Labor government and, indeed, to the public: let us bring on the debate about nuclear power. Let us consider the merits of it. It should be considered as a serious option. The people—nearly half the population of Australia—say so in a recent poll. Nuclear should be considered as a serious option. Bring on the debate.