Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I'm hearing fewer 'hear, hears' from the Greens for that question in relation to nuclear power! When it comes to that issue—and I thank Senator Lambie for the question—Senator Lambie would be aware that there is a moratorium on nuclear generation in this country. Of course, we, as a government, believe any changes to that would require bipartisan support. There's been a blanket antinuclear stance from the Labor Party I think since the 1970s. What we've said in relation to this technology, like all technologies, is we are watching developments. Last year the Morrison government released Australia's Technology Investment Roadmap. In the road map small modular reactors are identified as a watching brief technology. There is no doubt that we need to take action in this space, but, when it comes to the issue of nuclear, we all know that, when you have a blanket ban on one side of politics and given the long lead times for this type of investment, there are significant challenges to the ability to look at that type of technology. But, when it comes to other moves, we're doing it through renewables and we're doing it through a technology-not-taxes approach, which is where we're going to be taking it into the future. (Time expired)