Water Claim Labelled ‘Hypocrisy’

July 17, 2024

Claims that nuclear power uses “substantially more water” than coal-fired power have been labelled as “scaremongering dripping with hypocrisy” by the LNP.

Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, who has been speaking at the Global Food Forum in Brisbane this week, told Sky News on Wednesday there was a real question about where the extra water required for nuclear power generation would come from.

“(The question is) whether some of that water is going to need to be taken off farmers and what farmers are going to have to pay for their water if there is a competing use for that water,” Minister Watt said.

“Obviously, a number of the coal-fired power stations that are looking at closure in the next handful of years would be giving up their water rights.

“(Opposition Leader) Peter Dutton and (National Party Leader David) Littleproud are talking about having nuclear power in place for 80 years.

“We are in a drying climate in much of Australia, so I think there are some really serious concerns about where this water supply is going to come from to power these nuclear reactors and to cool their radioactive cores, and what that’s going to mean for farmers.”

Mr Littleproud responded to Minister Watt by saying the Coalition had made it clear when announcing the proposed locations that their individual capacity “would be limited by the existing coal plants existing water entitlements, so nothing was taken from agriculture or communities”.

“The Labor government’s all renewables approach which firms their renewables with hydrogen requires more water and is already taking water from farmers and towns in central Queensland,” he said.

“Labor’s cancellation of nearly $7 billion of vital dam projects and changing the Murray Darling Basin Plan to buy back an extra 450 gigalitres demonstrates the Albanese government’s hypocrisy and contempt for agriculture.

“For him to talk about water security after this Labor Government changed the Murray Darling Basin Plan to include water buybacks as well as scrapping several new dam projects is hypocrisy of the highest order.”

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