FEDERAL National Party Senators are to be commended for recently moving to amend the Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to overturn Australia's ban on nuclear power.
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I also acknowledge Queensland LNP Senator James McGrath's recent statement, that nuclear energy will be required for Australia to achieve net zero by 2050.
Such an amendment to the EPBC Act would not approve a single nuclear facility. Any such project proposals would be subject to lengthy and comprehensive assessment processes.
Lifting the ban, however, would send a signal that Australia is mature enough to consider these proposals on their merits.
The modus operandi of ideological opponents of nuclear power is to proceed immediately to misinformation and scaremongering.
The predictably inane response from Federal Labor's Resources spokesperson, Queensland Senator Murray Watt - that nuclear power was expensive and unsafe - was archetypal.
There is no logic to the legislative ban on nuclear power. It retards any incentive to develop solutions to address technical, safety or sustainability challenges associated with nuclear power.
Environmentalists who claim to be concerned about Australia's global contribution to carbon emissions - but oppose nuclear energy even being considered - are hypocrites.
Environmentalists who claim to be concerned about Australia's global contribution to carbon emissions - but oppose nuclear energy even being considered - are hypocrites.
- Andrew Cripps
Queensland LNP Senator Matt Canavan has pointed out that nuclear power is an option that must be on the table if Australia is serious about significantly reducing its carbon emissions. An Essential Poll released in September this year indicated 48 per cent of Australian voters are in favour of nuclear power, with 24pc opposed and 28pc undecided.
Setting aside the climate debate, energy reliability and affordability for domestic, commercial and industrial users should be more than enough of a policy impetrative to get nuclear power on the agenda for a serious debate. The Federal Nationals have also raised this issue in the context of their Manufacturing 2035 Plan.
Unfortunately, being an advocate for reform not only makes you a target for naysayers, but in my experience, those who should support you are not always keen to do so, especially in public. For example, as Minister for Mines in 2014, I lifted the administrative ban on uranium mining in Queensland.
I did so only after a review of the relevant regulatory frameworks, to ensure the industry recommenced in Queensland using world's best practice. This initiative of the then Queensland LNP Government, followed the Gillard Labor Government's public support for increased exports of Australian uranium to India.
Green activists immediately commenced a predicable fearmongering campaign, while Queensland Labor cynically opposed the move, despite Federal Labor's support and the industry operating in several other Labor states. However, despite private messages of encouragement, what was really disappointing was the lack of public support from Queensland's science and engineering professionals.
Australia needs a serious and informed public debate about the merits or otherwise of nuclear power. This will require not only the good faith participation of our political leaders, but strength and resolve from Australia's science and engineering professionals to address activist misinformation. We should start with this amendment to lift the ban on nuclear power in the EPBC Act.
- Andrew Cripps is a former Queensland Minister for Natural Resources and Mines and a Queensland LNP Senate Candidate.
