Family First welcomes the federal Coalition’s announcement that it will pursue nuclear energy for Australia.
For this to happen, the irrational ban on nuclear energy must be lifted.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s and his “energy” minister Chris Bowen’s assertions that nuclear energy is too costly and doesn’t stack up are absurd.
Too costly “compared to what?”, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said on Sky this morning.
Rolling out windmills, solar panels, a spiderweb of new transmission lines plus the over-priced Snowy 2.0 scheme is forecast to cost $1.5 trillion by 2030, more than enough to invest in cheap and reliable forms of power generation with cash left over.
Ever since Australia went down the path of taxpayer-subsidised windmills and solar panels under the Howard Government and then started closing cheap and reliable coal-fired power stations, electricity prices have gone through the roof.
Writing in his recently released memoir – Not Pretty, but Pretty Effective, former Queensland Senator Ron Boswell lamented that he and his colleagues did not fight to stop taxpayer money going to renewables.
“When I see homeless people on the street, I think of the billions wasted to get more expensive electricity and I shudder….I’ll regret that decision to not oppose the renewable energy regime for the rest of my life,” Boswell wrote.
The cost-of-living and inflation crisis being endured by families is politician-driven in large part because of the bi-partisan commitment to net zero policies.
Financial pressures on families are one of the leading causes of family breakdown, which of course in turn leads to poor educational outcomes for children, poverty and crime.
Family First has long called for a pause on net zero until proper engineering and economic analysis is done on the costs versus benefits.
Sadly, the major parties, Greens and Teals remain wedded to net zero despite not knowing the cost and not having invented the storage technology needed to supply baseload electricity when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.
The reckless rollout of renewables has only accelerated since the Albanese government took office, making Albanese’s election promise of a $275 reduction in electricity bills a cruel joke.
An area half the size of Victoria will need to be carpeted with Chinese Communist party-supplied solar panels, windmills and transmission lines if Labor’s target of 82 per cent of Australia’s electricity is to come from renewables by 2030.
The environment and farmland is being destroyed for an expensive and unreliable electricity system.
That’s why the Coalition’s pivot to nuclear is important.
It’s why it was even more important to hear Shadow Energy minister Ted O’Brien talking about a “coal-to-nuclear” transition.
If net zero is what the Australian people want, this can only be achieved via a coal/gas-to-nuclear transition over time without compromising affordability, reliability or the environment.
Australian emissions are negligible on a global scale so there should be no rush to renewables here while the rest of the world, particularly China and India, continue high Carbon Dioxide emissions for decades to come.
Nuclear power stations, including large scale reactors now also under consideration by the Coalition, can be built on the site of existing coal-fired power stations and plugged into existing transmission lines.
Farmland and the environment can be saved.
ACTION: Join the political party fighting for affordable and reliable electricity for families.