Dutton kicks his own nuclear policy can down the road, amid reports of split in Coalition

Coalition leader Peter Dutton has delayed the release of the opposition’s proposed nuclear power policy, ostensibly because of the Sydney stabbing events and the release of the government’s defence policy last week, but more likely because Coalition MPs realise it makes no sense.

The Coalition has previously insisted that their plans for nuclear, along with their wish to stop the roll out of large scale renewables and keep coal fired power stations open, would be rolled out before the federal government’s budget due on May 14.

That will now not happen.

“Obviously the events of last week, for example, meant that part of our program couldn’t be rolled out,” Dutton said on the ABC “Insiders” program.

“That’s not unreasonable, as you would expect. News events overtake all sorts of issues. The Government had a defence policy that they wanted to spend some time on during the week, they were distracted by that as well. I think events just happen and you have to deal with that.”

But there appears to be a more fundamental problem, that of support within his own party room – some his own MPs don’t like the policy, and there is no support from the states either, which is crucial if the nuclear ban is to be lifted in Victoria, NSW and Queensland as the Coalition wants.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, citing four senior Coalition sources, the Nationals are also now baulking at the idea of the Liberals deciding which nuclear power plants should be built and where in their seats.

The SMH said National Party leader David Littleproud, who had previously voiced approval for having a nuclear reactor in his electorate – Maranoa hosts two existing coal plants that could host nuclear under the Coalition policy – had told the party room recently that “the last thing we want to do is make announcements before we have done the legwork.”

Littleproud rejected the SMH report when questioned on Sky News on Monday, claiming that the Coalition would “not be bullied” into meeting its own timeline of delivering the policy before the budget.

Federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen – who has announced the largest ever renewable energy tender in Australia on Monday – was not impressed by the Coalition’s backflip. “Tell us Mr Dutton, what towns will you be putting your nuclear plants in, how much will they cost?”

Bowen noted that state Coalition parties – who are currently all in opposition, at least on the mainland – had also rejected the technology. “If it is too radical for the Queensland LNP to support nuclear, why should the Australian people?” Bowen said.

In the interview on Insiders, Dutton talked about Twitter/X and the role of social media. “We won’t post disinformation, or misinformation …, ” he said. In that case, Dutton could start with his own Twitter account, and his own media statements, where he continues to sprout untruths about nuclear and the planned renewable energy transition.

On Sunday he repeated his claim that Australia is the only G20 country not using nuclear. That is simply not true – Germany and Italy have banned it, and Indonesia does not use it. “Dutton is lying,” Bowen noted.

Dutton also repeated his claim that the government is planning 28,000 kms of new transmission lines across the country by 2030, which he said “is equal to the coastline of the whole of Australia.”

Again, not true. The Australian Energy Market Operator’s Integrated System Plan models just 5,000 kms by 2030 and 10,000kms by 2050 in its core “step change” scenario.

The 28,000 kms reference applies only to one scenario, the green energy export one, and is an estimate for 2050, not 2030. And, if Australia is to become a green energy exporter at the scale that that scenario suggests, it would likely need more power lines whatever the source of that power.

That 28,000kms claim was repeated on multiple occasions by Littleproud in his Sky News interview, along with his claim that wind turbines “only last 15-20 years (actually closer to 30). He said the Coalition policy is about transitioning from coal to nuclear, with gas and “some” renewables.

“Batteries can’t do it,” Littleproud said. And again, that is not true. As we report here, batteries have been for most of the past week the biggest source of supply in the evening peaks in California, one of the largest state grids in the world.