‘Overwhelming Support’ For Nuclear

January 8, 2025

Nationals Leader and Member for Maranoa David Littleproud believes only “a small minority” of people in regional areas oppose the introduction of nuclear energy.

On ABC News Breakfast on Tuesday morning, Mr Littleproud was asked if the Coalition’s nuclear energy policy was dividing regional communities.

“No, on the contrary, I think what you’re seeing in the public is a small minority,” he told host Emma Rebellato.

“What we’re seeing in the polling, what everyone’s seeing the polling in these communities, is overwhelming support for a transition of these coal-fired power stations to nuclear power plants.

“Nearly 80 per cent of the people that work in a coal-fired power station can transition across into a nuclear power plant.

“And regional Australia doesn’t want a future littered with transmission lines, solar panels and wind turbines. We all believe that we have to reduce our emissions, but we should have a say in that future and that it shouldn’t just be an all-renewables approach.

“And that’s not just for regional Australia. We should spread our risk. That’s just common sense. You shouldn’t put all your energy eggs in one basket. We need baseload power to do an all-renewables approach.

“There’s no country of the industrial scale, the size of Australia, that’s doing it anywhere else in the world. We need that baseload power. Otherwise you need over three times the amount of generation that you’ve got at the moment in baseload power. So that means a lot more transmission lines, a lot more solar panels and wind turbines. And we’re destroying the very thing we’re saying, we’re trying to protect, the natural environment, and we’re tearing up your food security, taking away prime agricultural land.

“So there is a mix. We’re committed to reducing our emissions. Regional Australia wants to play a role in that, but we also want the high-paying jobs that come with it.

“Not ones that last for 10 to 15 years, but one that leaves a legacy of 80 to 100 years. And that’s why communities are saying, I’ve got one going into my own electorate, and there’s overwhelming support in those areas for it because they see the opportunity for jobs. But in delivering that base load power to give us an energy mix that reduces our emissions and gives us reliable, affordable energy into the future.”

Tarong Power Station was named last June as one of the seven sites across Australia to be investigated by the Federal Coalition to house nuclear power generators should it win office at the upcoming Federal Election.

However details of what is proposed for Tarong – one or more Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) 0r a single larger unit – have not been announced.

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