Dutton names pro nuclear Queensland MP to climate and energy, promotes Taylor to Treasury

Newly appointed Opposition leader Peter Dutton has named Queensland LNP MP Ted O’Brien as his new climate and energy spokesman and promoted former energy and emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor to the role of opposition treasury spokesman.

O’Brien, the member for Fairfax, on the Sunshine Coast, is perhaps best known for losing his seat to coal baron Clive Palmer, but also headed the Environment and Energy Committee that rejected independent MP Zali Staggall’s calls for a Climate Commission to oversee climate policy in Australia.

Another inquiry headed by O’Brien advocated for a nuclear energy industry to be established in Australia, although “not without the approval” of Australians.

O’Brien is one of a number of Coalition MPs who has spoken of his support of nuclear, and warned against reliance on “intermittent renewables.” Many other pro-nuclear Liberals lost their seats at the last election, including Jason Falinski, Trent Zimmerman, Tim Wilson, Katie Allen and David Sharma.

But Dutton said on ABC Radio on Monday morning said he supported nuclear, and cited small modular reactors – which don’t exist at commercial scale, and would take a decade at least to install if they did – as a solution for Australia’s current high electricity prices.

O’Brien will be supported by Senator Holly Hughes, who on Monday blamed the current high energy prices on Labor and the Greens for not supporting new coal and gas plants while the Coalition was in power over the past decade. No, really. Dutton has also appointed climate skeptic and another pro-nuclear advocate James McGrath as his assistant minister.

In the resources portfolio, Keith Pitt, the minister who refused to mention the word battery storage in a train crash of an interview on Sky News, is replaced by Senator Susan McDonald.

Taylor – a controversial figure widely criticised over his tenure as energy minister – said in a statement, the first his office has sent to RenewEconomy for several years, that he was “humbled and honoured” to be nominated to the post by Dutton.

He said the Coalition had responded to the many crises it faced with higher spending and other supporting measures, but said this should not be deployed by Labor.

“The last Parliament was confronted with extraordinary challenges from bushfires, floods, a global health and economic crisis, and more recently, the Russia-Ukraine war which is fueling a global economic downturn,” he said.

“During this time, the Coalition stepped up and provided unprecedented economic support to keep Australians in their jobs, to support those unable to work and to keep small businesses alive.

“We were clear then and we are clear now: these measures had to be temporary, targeted and scalable to the unique economic and health challenge we faced.

“These measures supported Australia to emerge from Covid-19 in a world-leading position.

“But as we come out the other side of the pandemic, the time has passed for these kinds of government interventions in the economy. With inflation rising in Australia and around the world, it is time to restore the Budget to a more sustainable footing.”