GOVERNMENT MUST CLEAR THE AIR ON NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PLANS

Locals deserve to know exactly where the Morrison Government would build nuclear power plants under the intensifying Coalition campaign for Australia to develop a nuclear power industry.

In Question Time today Energy Minister Angus Taylor said he had an "open mind" on the use of nuclear energy. Industry Minister Karen Andrews and several other MPs have made similar comments, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said nuclear power is “not not’’ on his agenda and Queensland MPs Keith Pitt and James McGrath have called for a parliamentary inquiry into the issue.

Earlier this week maverick National Barnaby Joyce ramped up the pressure for change by proposing authorities could get around public concerns about safety of nuclear energy by giving people free power if they could see a nuclear reactor from their home.

Nuclear energy is banned in Australia.

But with so many Coalition MPs now advocating its use, locals deserve to know where the Government is headed on energy policy.

In particular, it should explain where nuclear power plants might be built, particularly since these facilities need to be sited near large bodies of water.

If Mr Morrison is open to using nuclear energy, would he be prepared to have a nuclear power plant built in the Sutherland Shire, in his own electorate? During 2019, Mr Morrison handpicked a pro-nuclear advocate to run in the general election as the Liberal candidate for Gilmore.

In 2007, after the Liberal government called for a ‘full-blooded’ debate about establishing a nuclear power industry in Australia, The Australian Institute published a paper titled “Siting Nuclear Power Plants in Australia: Where would they go?” This report selected Sussex Inlet and Jervis Bay among nineteen sites for an Australian nuclear power plant.

Just this week the Australian Nuclear Association called for construction of twenty nuclear energy plants and nominated potential sites including Shoalhaven & Jervis Bay as one of eighteen “regions for nuclear power stations”

Ms Phillips said “I will never accept a Nuclear Power Plant being built in our community. Our community will never accept a Nuclear Power Plant being built here”

“Let me make this very clear to Scott Morrison and the Liberals and Nationals – if you pursue any plans for nuclear energy in our region our community will fight this every day.

“My message to the Prime Minister is – no nuclear power!”

“The Liberal National government needs to come clean on their nuclear plans and reassure our local community that it won’t become home to a nuclear power plant.

“The Coalition must rule out our region as a site for a nuclear power plant.”

TUESDAY, 23 JULY 2019