Andrew Forrest attacks Coalition’s nuclear “bulldust”
Andrew Forrest has come out swinging against deepening support for nuclear and aversion to renewables among the Coalition.
Forrest called on the feds to speed up the energy transition via three “simple” policies, and urged the government-in-waiting to stop spreading misinformation about renewables.
In the last fortnight opposition leader Peter Dutton has doubled down on his calls for small modular nuclear reactors to be put in Australian towns, including Anglesea in coastal Victoria.
Nationals leader David Littleproud also wants to stop the rollout of large scale renewables in Australia because rural areas are apparently “saturated” with them.Instead, he wants to see just rooftop solar moving forward.
Forrest lashed the economics of their proposals, saying they would leave Australia “destitute” because of the enormous cost of nuclear compared to wind and solar.
Forrest criticised the spread of the myth that Australian farmers will have to give up huge tracts of land to enable the green energy transition.
That myth has been spruiked by the Coalition, as well as rival iron ore billionaire Gina Rinehart.
So what are the three major policies Forrest wants the Feds to adopt?
First he wants to see a test for all major projects that explicitly considers climate impacts.
Second, he wants the country to lean into least cost, firmed renewables.
Third, he wants a carbon levy on fossil fuel imports and exports.