Peter Dutton reveals seven sites for proposed nuclear power plants

Peter Dutton has told his Coalition colleagues he will pledge to build seven nuclear power stations at the next election.

Mr Dutton has promised the first two nuclear plants will be operational between 2035 and 2037, years earlier than the timetable the CSIRO and other experts believe is feasible.

As noted earlier, these power plants are located at coal mines that are being decommissioned or have ceased production.

The seven locations are:

• Talon, Queensland, northwest of Brisbane
• Callide, near Gladstone, Queensland
• Liddell in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales
• Mount Piper near Lithgow, New South Wales
• Port Augusta, South Australia
• Loy Yang, Latrobe Valley, Victoria
• Muja near Collie, Western Australia

Five of the seven are in Coalition seats: Muja in Rick Wilson’s O’Connor, Loy Yang in Darren Chester’s Gippsland seat, Port Augusta in Rowan Ramsey’s Grey seat, Callide in Colin Boyce’s Flynn seat and Tarong in Nationals leader David Littleproud’s Maranoa seat.

The Mount Piper seat is in the Carrare electorate held by independent Andrew Gee, who was elected as a Nationals MP in 2022 but quit the party.

Liddell holds the only Labor seat, Hunter, which is held by Labor’s Dan Repacholi.

Government owned, price unknown

The Coalition proposes that the government should fund and own these power plants, similar to the model used for Snowy Hydro and the National Broadband Network.

But no further details of the financing, including the total price, will be released today.

The Coalition has promised for months to release details of its nuclear policy, including specific locations and funding details, but experts have expressed concerns about costs and timelines.

Last week, Mr Dutton also revealed the Coalition would oppose the Labor government’s legislative target of a 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 and would not set its own 2030 emissions reduction target before the election.

This morning, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told The Australian’s energy conference that the Coalition’s nuclear plan was “the stupidest policy proposed by a major party” and sought to contrast the Coalition’s plan, which would likely require large amounts of public money, with Labor’s plan, which would encourage private investment in renewable energy and gas.

Coalition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien and Nationals leader Mr Littleproud will address the conference later today.

Their full statement is also expected to clarify whether financial incentives or compensation will be offered to communities near the proposed site. Anticipating the possibility of panic in the local area, Liberal Deputy Leader Sussan Ley said community consultation this morning would be “critical”.

In addition to local obstacles, the Coalition will also face federal and state hurdles in realising its plan. Currently, nuclear power is banned in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the federal government. All of these laws would need to be overturned and safety and waste management regulations introduced.

None of the major party leaders in the relevant states have expressed support for Dutton’s nuclear plan. Given Labor and the Greens’ opposition to nuclear energy, the current composition of the federal Senate is not very favorable. Even if the Coalition wins the support of One Nation, Ralph Babett of the United Australia Party and Liberal Party independent David Fan, it still lacks a majority in the current Senate by four seats.

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