June 20, 2024
South Burnett Mayor Kathy Duff has told Sky News she would not back nuclear power at Tarong, if the local community did not want it.
Mayor Duff was interviewed by Sky’s chief political reporter Kieran Gilbert on Wednesday afternoon.
He put to Mayor Duff that Nationals Deputy Leader, Senator Perin Davey, had told him that “if a community is so against it, that they won’t proceed”.
“Is that reassuring to you?” the reporter asked.
“It is reassuring to me. So if the community doesn’t want it, I don’t want it, and our Council won’t want it because we are the extended arm of our community,” Mayor Duff replied.
However, Senator Davey’s reassurances have been refuted by both Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Nationals Leader David Littleproud.
“Perin, I think, made a mistake yesterday as everybody does from time to time …” Mr Dutton told Sky News on Thursday morning.
“We’ve identified the seven locations and we believe it’s in the community’s interests and the national interest to proceed.”
Mr Littleproud also told ABC Radio that Senator Davey was wrong.
“She is not correct and we made this very clear. Peter Dutton and David Littleproud as part of a Coalition government are prepared to make the tough decisions in the national interest,” he said.
“Ultimately, we need strong leadership in this country to have the courage of its convictions to follow through and to make the tough calls in the nation’s interest.”
Mr Littleproud said there would be a lengthy consultation period with local communities, but the Coalition would seek its mandate for its energy policy at the Federal Election.
Mr Dutton said the consultation would focus on why nuclear was a good idea for the community.
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No use sitting on the fence. It would be a massive 10-year plus boost for the SBRC in economy, the likes we would never have seen before.
If you can win an election with 36 percent of the vote, is that the precedent for the community support requirement?
So, we need a moratorium on renewable projects, we don’t want nuclear power and they are phasing out coal power plants. Looks like it’s back to candles and kerosene lamps. It would appear the new administration is putting up the closed sign here at the SBRC.
As Greg said it is a huge opportunity. This has the potential to drag us out it of being one of the poorest areas in Australia raising our living standards. A jobs and tech boom.