By The Guardian (World News) | Created at 2024-10-27 06:10:13 | Updated at 2024-10-27 08:36:09
2 hours ago
A senior federal Labor minister has accused Peter Dutton of trying to “force nuclear energy on Queenslanders” following the LNP’s state election win after which a Coalition MP claimed the federal party would forge ahead with its power plan.
The federal Nationals MP for Hinkler, Keith Pitt, on Sunday said the Coalition would have a mandate to press ahead with its nuclear policy if Dutton won the next election.
Pitt hinted the Coalition could try to build reactors despite state opposition, with the incoming Queensland Liberal National party premier, David Crisafulli, opposed to nuclear.
“If we secure [a mandate] from the Australian people then, clearly, we’ll push forward with that policy,” Pitt told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.
It prompted an immediate rebuke from fellow Queenslander Murray Watt, the federal workplace relations minister, who claimed that a Dutton government would “force nuclear energy on [Queenslanders] no matter what new LNP premier David Crisafulli says”.
“The only way to stop expensive, risky nuclear power is to vote Labor,” Watt tweeted on Sunday.
The federal Coalition’s nuclear power aspirations became a key point of debate in the Queensland election, won by the LNP on Saturday. Dutton’s plan includes two proposed nuclear sites in Queensland to replace existing coal plants at Callide and Tarong.
Dutton has previously threatened to overrule state premiers if he won government.
“Commonwealth laws override state laws even to the level of the inconsistency. So support or opposition at a state level won’t stop us rolling out our new energy system,” he said in June.
Crisafulli has said nuclear power was “not on our plan, not on our agenda”. Appearing alongside Crisafulli on the campaign trail earlier this month, Dutton dismissed the impasse as just a “difference of opinion” between friends.
The outgoing Queensland Labor premier, Steven Miles, had pledged to hold a state plebiscite on the Coalition’s nuclear power plans. Miles said state laws banning nuclear power required a referendum if the commonwealth moved towards building nuclear facilities in the state.
Dutton has not revealed costings or other crucial details of his nuclear plan, which would need to overcome the opposition of sitting state premiers and bans on nuclear power in some jurisdictions. Watt said on Sunday that voters expected “clear answers”.
Dutton “can’t arrogantly campaign for government without answering basic questions, like what his nuclear reactor plan will cost or what services he will cut to pay for it”, he tweeted.
after newsletter promotion
But Pitt, the resources minister under the former Coalition government and a supporter of nuclear power, indicated a future Dutton administration would press ahead.
“At a federal level, we will take this proposition to the people at the next federal election, and we will seek a mandate from them,” he said on Sunday.
Pitt conceded that federal legislation would need to be changed – which would require support in parliament.
“[But] if we look at Snowy Hydro Limited, they used federal powers in the constitution to make that happen. Australia needs affordable and reliable power.”
The federal energy minister, Chris Bowen, was also critical of Pitt’s comments, tweeting “Dutton would be a worse PM on climate than Morrison”.
The Labor government has sought to make the Coalition’s nuclear plan a key federal election issue.
A parliamentary inquiry into nuclear energy, which held its first hearings last week, was scheduled to resume on Monday in Canberra with witnesses including the Australian Nuclear Association, the Department of Defence, Geoscience Australia and the Electrical Trades Union.
