Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just like all mothers, I want to know I'm doing the best I can to secure the best possible future for my children, my grandchildren and their children. I want to know that their energy source is affordable, secure and reliable, and I want mine to be so, too: When we flick the light switch on, we get light. When we want a cold drink, it is cold. When we want heating, we are warm.

We know that future energy demand will require more, not less. As a developed nation, Australia should have the energy mix it needs. What Australians know, though, is that our power bills have increased by more than $1,000 as a result of this Albanese government, despite that promise we remember of cutting our power bills by $275. No-one has seen the $275. No-one has heard the Prime Minister say 275 since then. And that rebate? Well, that's not a reduction.

The national energy demand dashboard available to all Australians shows that South Australia's fuel mix comprises 59 per cent wind, 25 per cent solar, 15 per cent gas and three per cent battery. Yet South Australia's electricity prices are some of the highest in the nation. Just go and check it out for yourself. It's a fact. I see my bill rising regularly, constantly and more so under this government. In the current cost-of-living crisis we need affordable, reliable, secure power. In South Australia we once saw the lights go off. Every single outlet that was powered by electricity switched off. Just imagine that happening in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth or anywhere else. Australians are doing what they can to survive this cost-of-living crisis, and people truly are on the brink. On the news this morning were reports of a Perth couple who had been hospitalised for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning after using a charcoal burner in their bedroom. Please don't do that. It's dangerous and it's deadly. What you need to do is to change the government and replace it with a coalition that has always been focused on Australian families and the cost of living, not on a voice to parliament or the CFMEU, which has been given a green light until now. Labor isn't really doing anything to help you with your electricity bills.

What we need is a focus on getting power prices down, and we need to also look at the future. We need to adopt nuclear energy, just like 30 other countries in the world have done, many of which you've likely visited if you have been lucky enough to travel abroad. Nuclear is a path forward to support a net zero emissions energy mix. What this means is that our energy mix today of renewables plus gas plus coal will shift to a future energy mix of renewables plus gas plus nuclear. It simply makes sense. To support nuclear is not to be anti renewables. Most Australian coal-fired power plants will be out of the system by 2038. It's not that far away. We're already halfway through this year. Out of the world's 20 largest economies, Australia is the only one not using nuclear energy. Australians returning home from fabulous holiday destinations such as France, Japan, Belgium and the UK ate out, strolled the streets and took in the sights thanks to nuclear in the energy mix. They all returned safe. Nuclear energy provides about 10 per cent of the world's power, safely providing zero emission electricity to billions of people in more than 30 countries. The source is uranium, much of it ours.

South Australia is unrivalled in the world when it comes to its natural resource deposits of uranium. In fact our state boasts almost one-third of the world's known deposits. South Australia's two fully operational uranium mines at Olympic Dam and Beverley-Four Mile lead the nation, producing and exporting some 97,000 tonnes of uranium oxide worth almost $7 billion in the past two decades. Uranium has been part of South Australia's mining mix for decades. Mining royalty revenue assists our state. More than 1,500 people work in the uranium industry. Uranium pays their wages. High-grade uranium is an essential ingredient for nuclear technology and to produce medicines for life-saving diagnosis and treatment every day in Australia. Every single year 560,000 nuclear medicine procedures occur across Australia, with 470,000 using nuclear isotopes generated from uranium.

One in two Australians benefits from nuclear medicine during their life. That can be by X-rays and CT scans or in diagnosing heart, thyroid, lung and kidney conditions, as well as in diagnosing infections, tumours, fractures and sports injuries. It is used to treat hyperthyroidism; breast, prostate, and lung cancers; lymphomas; and associated bone pain. Even your pets benefit. Yes, cats can have CAT scans, or CT scans, too. Pet animals and agricultural stock owned by Australians also benefit from nuclear medicine used in veterinary applications, supporting animal welfare with life-saving treatment.

ANSTO's OPAL reactor at Lucas Heights is the centrepiece of Australia's nuclear medicine and research program, and that's in the southern suburbs of Sydney. Most Australians are unaware that radioactive waste is managed at around 100 locations around Australia, including hospitals, industrial sites, mines and, of course, at ANSTO. We must, however, identify a permanent, long-term solution.

The nuclear powered submarines that form part of the AUKUS defence pathway are an exciting project for South Australia, with the submarines being built at Osborne. This will employ some 4,000 workers in construction and there will be up to 5,500 direct jobs building the nuclear submarines. Australia must manage all radioactive waste generated by these submarines, and manage it safely, informed by leading best practice, meeting Australia's international and domestic legal obligations and commitments.

Australia has a 70-year unblemished track record of operating nuclear facilities and conducting nuclear science activities. It is ridiculous and juvenile to see the three-eyed caricatures and cartoonlike images promoted by some Labor MPs and others in recent times. Nuclear energy provides Australia's only credible path to achieving net zero by 2050. Labor's 82 per cent renewables target by 2030 is way behind schedule, and its climate target of 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 has become unachievable. The coalition is providing an innovative, safe path forward. The rest of the world is way ahead of us.

With zero emissions nuclear energy as part of a balanced energy mix, to talk nuclear is not to be anti renewables. With a balanced energy mix, we can reach net zero by 2050 while getting the prices down and keeping the lights, and people can have choice as to whether they turn on the lights, they turn on the heater, they leave the fridge on and they turn the lights on for safety, and they can actually pay the energy bill when they do that. Getting power prices down is the news every Australian family wants to hear, and they want to know there's a plan for it—a plan that's proven, a plan that's workable, a plan that's achievable. Nuclear is not a strange, new phenomenon—absolutely not.