Matt Hewson
Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton has used a visit to Ocean Grove’s Feed Me Bellarine to continue promoting nuclear power as an alternative to Labor’s renewable energy policies.
Mr Dutton and Victorian senator Sarah Henderson visited the volunteer food relief centre Tuesday morning to highlight the work done by Feed Me Bellarine while also raising the spectre of power outages and energy bill increases under Labor’s planned transition to zero emissions.
Stating that “we’re all in favour of renewable energy” – a statement that would have been unimaginable from a Liberal party leader only a handful of years ago – Mr Dutton said he couldn’t understand Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen’s “obsession against nuclear (power)”.
“If they’re going to turn off coal and… gas, then what will keep the cold rooms running here?” he said.
“What will keep the cold rooms at the local IGA or the butcher running? What (will keep) your deep freezer at home running?
“The government just hasn’t got any answers. A lot of pensioners, a lot of Australians are doing it tough already, but will do it much tougher into the future because of Mr Bowen and Mr Albanese’s approach on energy policy.”
The alternative put forth by Mr Dutton is to repurpose coal plants as small module reactors (SMRs), providing nuclear power using the plants’ existing transmission connections.
Earlier this week Mr Bowen rejected Mr Dutton’s nuclear model as too expensive, with analysis showing such a policy could cost taxpayers up to $387 billion.
Mr Dutton demurred when asked if refitting the Anglesea Power Station, which was decommissioned in 2015, as a nuclear plant would be “a hard sell” to local residents.
“I just encourage people to… have a look at SMRs,” he said.
“It’s the same technology the government signed up to on the nuclear submarines, and it provides a firming up of renewables.
“It can be done in a safe way, and it means that those coalfire generation assets… (are) being replaced with a new technology that can distribute onto existing poles and wires.”
The Liberal leader suggested the prime minister’s attention was dominated by the referendum on the Voice to Parliament at the expense of families and small businesses.
“I think at the moment the Prime Minister’s focus is elsewhere and it’s not on families and businesses who are most in need,” Mr Dutton said.
“It’s families (and) also small businesses who are really hurting under Labor at the moment.”
