Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in response to comments by Senator Barnett, a fellow Tasmanian senator, who is espousing the concept that we look towards a nuclear future in this debate on the motion to take note of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation report for 2008-09. Senator Barnett has also this week been championing the issue of a wind farm in the north-east Tasmania, as indeed I do. He has been criticising measures which might jeopardise the chances for that in the future. I am not sure how those two positions are entirely consistent. We have a very efficient hydro-electric system in Tasmania. Hydro-electricity is one of the best methods of generating electricity renewably and without pollution. We are also trying to develop a strong wind power resource. Wind and dam power operate well hand in hand. When the wind is blowing, you get power and, when it is not blowing, you do not. A dam is like a battery: if you turn the water off, if it stops running through the turbines, you stop generating; if you turn the water on, if water runs through the turbines, you start generating. There is a synergy between those two technologies. We have also got at the moment a significant proposal to explore thermal resources and the suggestion that Tasmania will produce a significant amount of thermal energy from superheated granite within the Tasmanian landmass.

With all that, why would a Tasmanian senator want to go the next step and say, ‘Perhaps we should have nuclear power as well’? Won’t that threaten the viability of those other energy sources? And I am not sure how one can sell the concept that Tasmania is clean and green and nuclear, because that is effectively what Senator Barnett is proposing. I do not think you can, as a representative here, impose nuclear power generation on the rest of the country without accepting that there would ultimately be nuclear power generation in your home state. Some years ago, then Senator Ray—I think he was a senator at the time—floated the idea that Flinders Island should become the location for a nuclear power plant. I do not think the residents of Flinders Island have ever embraced that concept. Similarly, I do not think that any of the residents anywhere in Tasmania would, given the clean energy options we have, embrace the concept of nuclear power.

It is incumbent on those opposite, when they are talking about this, to demonstrate that the Australian public is prepared to accept it. We have arguments about nuclear waste dumps every time there is a proposal to establish one. Establishing a nuclear reactor in any part of Australia will be controversial, but, if a senator comes here and talks about the issue, he or she should be confident in saying that he or she would be happy to have nuclear power generation occur in their own electorate. I am not. If Senator Barnett is, he should say so.