Matters of Interest

Nuclear Energy

The Hon. B.R. HOOD (15:22): I rise to address a topic that is increasingly gaining national attention and which forms part of both state and federal Liberal Party policy agendas, which is nuclear energy generation.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. B.R. HOOD: I know, Rob! The CSIRO only recently released their GenCost 2023-24 annual report, which included large-scale nuclear power generation in their analysis for the first time. While the headline figure suggests renewables are the lowest cost new-build technology, when you take the long-term view, is not so clear-cut.

I certainly do not profess to be an energy expert, but a rudimentary point-in-time analysis of the figures is worth highlighting. Using GenCost's data and assumptions, Australia could embark upon a continuous building program to construct 10 nuclear power plants at an estimated cost of $86½ billion dollars. For renewable energy generation they estimate annual costs could range from almost $4 billion to over $8 billion.

Even taking the CSIRO's extremely conservative and unrealistic 30-year life span of a nuclear power plant, the total cost of renewables over the same period ranges between $116 billion and $280 billion. At the lowest end of this range it means that nuclear power could in fact be generated at just 75 per cent of the cost of renewables. Again, I am no physics or energy expert, but surely if climate change and energy minister Chris Bowen was so certain that his renewables agenda is the only true path to net zero, why would the federal government not lift the prohibition on nuclear energy in Australia?

Let's take a quick look at Minister Bowen's renewable plan as he outlined in October 2022. To meet the government's 82 per cent clean energy target by the end of this decade it would require a staggering 22,000 solar panels to be installed every single day (62 million in total), a seven-megawatt wind turbine to be commissioned every 18 hours, and by 2050 we will need more than 10,000 kilometres of new transmission lines, which will run right through the backyards of our rural and regional communities.

It is no surprise to learn that these targets are not on track to be met, with renewable projects moving at a snail's pace and the transmission line project years behind the initial timetable. Consultancy firm Nexa Advisory released their analysis only yesterday with a glaring title that says, 'We Plan and Then Don't Build'. The very first sentence of its executive summary provides a concise snapshot, and it is worth quoting:

The slow pace of Australia's clean energy transition means that not only will Australia fail to meet its climate targets, but there is a significant threat to power system reliability and security, and increased costs for consumers both large and small.

Despite the Albanese government spending $20 billion on its Rewiring the Nation Fund, which provides cheap finance to accelerate works, the Nexa Advisory report finds that transmission projects are behind by an average of three years across the country.

What has happened to electricity prices over this time? That is a good question. Rather than being $275 lower, as promised by Anthony Albanese, annual electricity bills are, in fact, almost $800 higher for a typical household. Is it any wonder then that Australians are becoming increasingly sceptical of the tired old line that renewables are the cheapest source of energy?

The Lowy Institute released their flagship annual poll just two days ago, where it found that 61 per cent of Australians support introducing nuclear power generation in Australia. This is a complete turnaround from 2011, when the Lowy Institute reported that 62 per cent of Australians opposed nuclear. As our country rushes to build renewables under the guise of delivering cheaper energy bills, the Lowy poll also found a big jump in the percentage of those prioritising cheaper energy bills over reducing carbon emissions.

The Liberal Party is calling for a non-ideological open-minded investigation into nuclear generation in South Australia and across the nation. While we currently have an open-minded Premier who has made some of the right noises in this regard, we are hampered by a highly ideological federal government hell-bent on the renewables zeitgeist. Given that South Australia pays almost the highest electricity prices in the world, a new approach is needed. I will end in an unusual way by quoting Premier Malinauskas, where he said:

For me, all of the ideological opposition, the NIMBY arguments against it, I think they're ill-informed. I don't think that's doing the country much of a service.

Hear, hear!