Albanese govt accused of ignoring nuclear energy as Australia becomes ‘odd man out' after New York makes huge nuclear call

Sky News AU

6 hours ago

The Albanese government's unwavering commitment to renewable energy has faced more scrutiny with Australia quickly becoming the 'odd man out' after New York announced its plan to build a huge nuclear power plant.
Earlier this week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul revealed she had directed the state's power authority to add at least one gigawatt of new nuclear-power generation – enough to power at least a million homes - to its aged fleet of reactors.
Ms Hochul's project seeks to 'catalyse' a new chapter in US nuclear reactor construction which has plateaued for decades.
Senior Policy Analyst at the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) Zoe Hilton told SkyNews.com.au the Albanese government has 'stubbornly refused' to seriously considered the option of nuclear power in Australia while continuing to 'ignore' global trends.
Ms Hilton said the New York Governor understood renewable energy 'simply cannot compete with nuclear power' which could provide cities the energy they need on demand and not when the weather 'decides to cooperate'.
'Despite the dozens of countries currently planning to build nuclear plants for the first time, or expand their existing fleet, the Albanese government has stubbornly refused to seriously consider civil nuclear power for Australia,' she said.
'Our government continues to ignore the global trend towards prioritising reliable baseload power, including coal and nuclear.'
Ms Hilton said in the recent election campaign, Labor 'promulgated false information' about the costs of nuclear from renewables lobby groups and energy market bodies who 'refuse to question government policy'.
Peter Dutton and then shadow energy minister Ted O'Brien announced in the last term of Parliament that the Coalition would take a domestic nuclear power policy to the election.
The proposal included plans for seven government-owned nuclear reactors, but the opposition failed to successfully prosecute the policy during the campaign.
Despite new Liberal leader Sussan Ley declaring all policies were on the table, part of the concessions she made to the Nationals to keep the Coalition in tact was to agree to lift the moratorium on nuclear.
However, Ms Hilton warned the Coalition would fall further out of favour with voters if it turns its back on its nuclear energy convictions.
'The Coalition lost the last election because voters sensed their lack of deeply held convictions on a range of policy issues. If the Coalition were to cave in now and abandon their commitment to reliable baseload power in favour of intermittent renewables, this will only confirm to voters that they don't believe in their own policies,' she said.
'It's highly ironic that nuclear energy has been so heavily politicised in Australia when … (it) is one of the very few policies Democrats and Republicans agree on.'
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan told Sky News host Steve Price on Tuesday night it did not matter 'how loud we scream' about nuclear, the Energy Minister had his 'head in the sand'.
Mr Canavan said it was 'not surprising' the Democrat-dominated city of New York was planning to build a large nuclear power plant as many other countries and even companies have championed the source of energy.
'We've seen the UK Labour government champion the construction of nuclear power. We've see Microsoft, Google, Amazon, all of them, back nuclear power,' he said.
'Australia is the odd man out here.
'We have abundant amounts of natural resources and energy, including uranium, the world's largest uranium reserves, and how silly is it for us to export that uranium to the world but not allow us to use it ourselves.'