No, what's laughable is that Australia is currently one of largest economies in the world with no nuclear power generation whatsoever and Dutton plans to change this. It's a gutsy move but Australia needs some real long term direction and mature leadership right now more than ever. I'm not anti renewables but there needs to be a balance and if Australia plans to phase out coal, we need a future solution for clean, reliable baseload energy and nuclear has proven it can work over many decades in many many countries. 100% renewable isn't going to deliver this and anyone with half a brain knows it.
If Australian governments opened the nuclear discussion 20+ years ago then today in 2024 we could be enjoying much lower electricity prices and reliable emissions free baseload power like countries such as the US, Canada and France that have adopted nuclear power for many decades and enjoy some of the lowest power prices in the world.
Whoever says that renewables are the cheaper form of power generation are talking total utter BS as in South Australia they claim that more than 70% of power is generated from renewables yet SA are paying the highest electricity costs in Australia - in a country with some of the highest power prices - something isn't quite adding up is it? Where's the baseload power going to come from when the wind isn't blowing or it's night time?
Also California relies largely on renewables compared to the rest of the the US yet again Californians pay some of the highest power prices in the US, I really can't see how it benefits anyone other than the 'green' solar/wind corporates filling their pockets.
The Australian Government plan of owning these proposed nuclear power stations is a good thing as we've seen what happens when State governments such as SA and VIC privatise power generation, prices just go up up and up. Also putting them where there are currently existing coal power stations makes perfect economic sense as the transmission infrastructure ALREADY EXISTS.
Labor's proposed 58 Million solar panels and 3,500 wind turbines would take up a massive amount of usable agricultural land area and have lifespans of a fraction of what a modern nuclear reactor lasts which is in the order of 80+ years. Not to mention the cost of the 28,000 kilometres of new poles and wires. The estimated cost of labors plan is between $1.2 to 1.5 TRILLION $ which will certainly be passed on to the end users and the Government won't own any of it.
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