Peter Dutton cops backlash over push to build seven nuclear power stations in Australia

Aussies have hit back at plans to build nuclear power stations in the country as the Coalition ramps up its push to establish seven sites as part of its election promise. 

Parliaments House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy is investigating the proposal and is travelling around the country hearing views from local communities.

At a meeting in Traralgon in Victorias Gippsland region on Tuesday angry locals fired up at the plan, which would see one of the new nuclear plants built at the currently winding down Loy Yang coal plant just 10 minutes out of town. 

The other six locations Peter Dutton has outlined for nuclear plants are at the coal plant sites of Tarong and Callide in Queensland, Liddell and Mount Piper in NSW, Port Augusta in SA and Muja in WA.

We do not need nuclear in Australia. We need to be pushing more renewable energy and the technology will develop more and more as we go to keep the lights on, president of community group Voices of the Valley, Wendy Farmer, told the meeting.

Shadow energy minister Ted OBrien, also the committees deputy chair, asked if it was just a no from Ms Farmer or if she was interested in studying whether nuclear could be a safe and effective form of electricity. 

The Coalition have told us that they would consult with us for two and a half years but then they would go ahead with nuclear, whether we wanted it or not and our community would have no rights of veto, Ms Farmer fired back.

How can we trust the Coalition to have an independent study when you say proposal but wheres the proposal?

Wendy Farmer (pictured) president of community group Voices of the Valley told a Parliamentary committee meeting in her area that Australia doesnt need nuclear power

The Loy Yang coal plant near Traralgon in Victoria (pictured) is one site pointed to by the Coalition for a new nuclear power plant

Darren McCubbin, the CEO of Gippsland Climate Change Network, got a standing ovation when he told the meeting renewables were ready to go while nuclear power stations would require years of consultations and reports. 

Id like to congratulate Mr OBrien for recognising that we dont have the science, that we need a work plan, that we need two and a half years of consultation, Mr McCubbin said.

Good on him for coming here and saying we dont know the answers and we need to find them because they dont have the answers.

Mr McCubbin pointed to the 2GW of Victorian offshore wind power projects slated to be online by 2032, which would increase to 5GW by 2035.

Look right now weve got a stream towards renewables, weve got targets in place. Weve got an industry waiting to go, weve got people coming from all over the world looking in Gippsland and saying we have a way of transitioning out [of coal-fired electricity]. 

Weve got the science, weve got the community [support]. Weve had Star of the South [wind farm project] here for five years doing community consultation and I appreciate that you recognise you havent done that.

So were ready to go and putting things off for two and a half years to have work plan after work plan and work plan is not a solution for jobs and growth within our region.

Peter Dutton is ramping up his push for nuclear power ahead of next years federal election

A recent DemosAU poll of 6709 adults between July 2 and November 24 found that 26 per cent of women said nuclear would be good for Australia, compared with 51 per cent of men.

But only one in three of the men surveyed were willing to live near a nuclear plant.

Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of women said they dont want to live near a nuclear plant and more than half (57 per cent) said transporting radioactive waste isnt worth the risk. 

The report card follows polling by Farmers For Climate Action that found 70 per cent of rural Australians support clean energy projects on farmland in their local areas and 17 per cent were opposed.

That support came with conditions, including proper consultation and better access to reliable energy.

Research by the Regional Australia Institute found while country communities see significant opportunities in the energy shift, net zero targets are under threat unless they are properly consulted.

Mr OBrien said on Tuesday only the Coalition was committed to delivering cheap, clean and consistent energy to all Australians.

We need a coalition government elected to build nuclear power plants and get more gas into the market to provide cheaper and consistent energy for all Australians, he said.

But Sanne de Swart, co-ordinator of the Nuclear Free Campaign with Friends of the Earth Melbourne, claimed nuclear electricity would increase power bills, increase taxes and increase climate pollution.

The independent Climate Council said it was concerned the coalition was relying on one private sector base case for nuclear costings rather than expert advice such as from the Australian Energy Market Operator.

Whats crucial is that any new investment is made at the least cost to Australian consumers, a council spokesperson said.

Only renewables - solar, wind, hydro - together with energy storage is capable of delivering on this, and its being built right now, the council said.

Minister for Climate Change Chris Bowen recently took a swipe at Peter Dutton and the Coalitions nuclear proposal saying thatit would take too long to get the plants up and running.

Net zero by 2050 is not optional. Which means the critical decade is now.

With six years to go to reach the legislated target of a 43 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, he said the nation was on track to meet it and to make 82 per cent renewable electricity in the national grid by 2030.

On Wednesday the House Select Committee was told legal requirements to make the former coal sites safe to build nuclear reactors will take decades of rehabilitation before they can be used.

Were talking significant periods of time of two or three decades, Victorias Mine Land Rehabilitation Authority chief executive Jen Brereton said.