Subjects: The Coalition’s plan to deliver cheaper, cleaner and consistent energy; nuclear power; Cheng Lei.
E&OE.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Let’s bring in the man who’s leading the charge: the Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton.
Peter, good to see you this morning.
PETER DUTTON:
‘Morning Pete.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So, I mean this question is going to dog you until you come up with a figure. Have you got a cost figure or even an estimate this morning?
PETER DUTTON:
Pete, we’ll release all of that detail. I think the approach that we’ve taken is the right one, and that is to have a staged announcement in relation to this policy so that people can understand each element of what it is we’re proposing.
The focus now is on where the sites will be, and it’s important to understand that we’re only talking about end of life coal fired power station sites. That’s a great transition for those towns and the jobs that are created there can underpin economic and jobs growth for literally 8 to 10 decades, up to 100 years. That’s the vision that we have, not just for those towns, but for our country.
At the same time, you can utilise the existing transmission wires off those sites. Under Labor’s plan, they want to roll out 28,000km of new poles and wires. Their overall plan costs $1.2 to $1.5 trillion, and I want to get electricity bills down. I don’t want to see them go up dramatically as Labor’s proposing at the moment.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay, so just one more on the costs. I mean, experts will speculate and indeed have done so already this morning – $20 billion per reactor, that’s including ongoing maintenance, is the estimated price. Total bill of $140 billion from the Australian Conservation Foundation this morning. Could that be right, Pete?
PETER DUTTON:
Oh look, I mean, why not just quote Bob Brown or Chris Bowen? I mean there are lots of crazy people out there in this debate. I just want to stick to the facts and let’s have a mature discussion about it…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay.
PETER DUTTON:
Of the top 20 economies in the world, Australia is the only one that doesn’t have nuclear. Where nuclear is present, we know that electricity is much cheaper and it’s reliable. Under this Government, over the last two years, there’s been a three-fold increase in the number of manufacturing firms who have closed because of unreliable energy and a market in which they just can’t operate.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So what about these questions that we just heard from the punters about technology that we don’t have because we don’t have the industry, the workforce that we don’t have, we can’t even get Snowy Hydro built. Why would this be any different?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Pete, a couple of points. Firstly, those critics say the same thing about the nuclear submarines, but both Parties have signed up to it. The Prime Minister signed up to the safety of the nuclear technology. They’ve obviously got submariners sleeping alongside the reactors and at sea for months at a time. So Labor’s signed up to the safety of the technology. They’ve also signed up to the disposal of the waste. So, we already do that.
I guess the other point to make, which is an obvious one, is that Australia has been a nuclear country since 1958. Lucas Heights operates in New South Wales. About one in two Australians over the course of their lifetime will benefit from that nuclear facility because of nuclear medicine. You go and have an X-ray or a CT scan, patients, obviously, with different conditions who are treated as a direct result of that nuclear reactor. People live within proximity of that reactor, the property prices have held up. So, we’ve got the basis of a skilled workforce. It will build under the AUKUS.
Yes, we’re wanting to adopt a proven technology, we’re not talking about building from scratch or having an Australian bespoke made nuclear power station. We can look to the example of those other countries, and there are over 400 reactors operating around the world now.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Yeah, okay. So Perin Davey got herself into a bit of a slip yesterday. So, just for clarification purposes, what if the communities that you’ve earmarked don’t want them? Is it too bad for them, or would you change your mind about where to put them?
PETER DUTTON:
Well Perin, I think, made a mistake yesterday, as everybody does from time-to-time. So, I think that’s been dealt with, but…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay, so you’re locked on?
PETER DUTTON:
…The proposal that we’ve got is to…
PETER STEFANOVIC:
You’re locked on in those locations?
PETER DUTTON:
We’ve identified the seven locations, and we believe it’s in the community’s best interest and in the national interest for it to proceed. We need to have a national energy market and network that operates effectively for the country, we need to make sure that there are jobs and sustainability in those communities, and we will consult about the benefits, frankly, for those communities and how we can help revitalise some of those towns at the moment that are wilting.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay, just a final one, before you go, Peter. On another matter, my colleague Cheng Lei, she claims that she was blocked from attending a second event with Premier Li in Canberra this week, which you were at. This after she was intimidated at that first event. Did you defer to the Chinese as well?
PETER DUTTON:
No. We raised the issue with the Chinese Premier, and it was appropriate to do so because the behaviour against your colleague was completely unacceptable, and we made that public at the time.
In relation to the meeting that I had, as I’m advised, Prime Minister and Cabinet had allocated eight positions for us to have, in terms of media positions. All of them, as is normally the case in a PICFAC like that, were photographers and both still and video from different networks. There were no journalists in the room otherwise. So, that was how it operated, as I understand.
I offered to have an interview with Cheng Lei after my meeting with the Premier, but as I understand it, she had a flight to catch. I think she was probably off to Perth and wasn’t able to have that interview.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Alright. Peter Dutton, we will leave it there. Appreciate your time, though, thank you. We’ll talk to you again soon.
[ends]