Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has unveiled where the Coalition plans to build seven nuclear power plants should it win government at next year’s federal election, but hasn’t said how much the energy plan will cost.
Speaking at a press conference this morning, Dutton said the plants would be built at the sites of existing coal power stations: two in each of NSW (Lithgow and Liddell) and Queensland (Tarong and Callide), plus Victoria’s Loy Yang, Collie in Western Australia and Port Augusta in South Australia.
Dutton claimed two plants will be up and running between 2035 and 2037 – a far shorter timeframe than what some experts believe is possible – and said the nuclear stations would be publicly owned.
However, he refused to say how much the plan would cost taxpayers, although admitted it would be a “big bill”.
“We will have more to say in relation to the cost in due course and, as you know, we’ve done this in a step-by-step process,” he said.
“The focus today is on the sites.”
When questioned about how the Coalition would get the power plants up and running in as little as 10 years from the next election, Dutton said the energy plans would rely on overseas expertise.
“We want to rely on international experience,” he said.
“We don’t want to be the purchaser of the first in class or have an Australian-made technology.”
The much-anticipated announcement was approved at a full meeting of the Coalition party room this morning.
Dutton planned to make the announcement during next month’s parliamentary break, but recent strong poll results for the Coalition prompted him to bring it forward.
The opposition leader says nuclear power will be needed for Australia to meet its target of net zero emissions by 2050.
