Nearly two years ago, Peter Dutton said he wanted an intelligent conversation on nuclear energy.
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It's hard to have an "intelligent conversation" when you do not respect your audience enough to provide any facts.
The Coalition's announcement amounts to no more than a list of possible sites. There have been no answers about what type of reactors they want to build, how much they will cost, the impact to bills or the quantity of energy that might be produced - let alone how capacity will be guaranteed over the next 17 years.
When pushed on the details Mr Dutton said he wanted to provide information in "bite sized bits". Australian are so much smarter than he gives them credit for. It's just the latest example of the Opposition shamelessly ignoring inconvenient facts and ducking hard questions.
Analysis by the Smart Energy Council sheds some light on the questions the opposition have refused to answer.
It reveals the cost of building the seven nuclear reactors proposed by the Mr Dutton could cost taxpayers as much as $600 billion of taxpayers' dollars, while securing just 3.7% of Australia's energy mix in 2050. Expert after expert and report after report say nuclear is the most expensive form of energy. Even members of Peter Dutton's own frontbench, like Simon Birmingham, acknowledge renewables make economic sense. By contrast, nuclear is a recipe for higher bills and unreliability.
On the Coalition's own estimates, reactors won't generate power until 2035-37. But Australians will be paying through their taxes and through higher energy bills from day one.
The Australian Energy Market Operator says that we need to replace coal capacity before it exits, and that reliable renewables are the best way to do so. The Opposition have failed this test before.
When the Coalition were last in government, 24 coal power stations announced or brought forward their closure dates. They allowed four gigawatts of electricity to leave the grid, while only one came on. We can't afford to make this mistake again. We can't wait to the 2040s to secure our energy system - we must act now to secure reliable and cheap power for energy users and households.
That's what the Albanese Government is doing. Under Labor we've had a 25% increase in renewables in the national grid, record investment in batteries and storage, greenlit more than 50 renewable projects, enough to power 3 million homes, and over 330,000 rooftop solar installations last year alone. Right now, the world is undergoing its biggest economic transformation since the industrial revolution - the transformation from old to new fuels.
With this comes more secure jobs and opportunities for businesses and regional communities that have powered our nation for generations. Facts and details matter. The reliability of our energy system matters. It's why we are helping households with cost-of-living pressures now through a $300 energy bill rebate, while building a reliable, resilient, and more affordable energy system of the future.
All Mr Dutton has offered Australians is a policy that fits on the back of a napkin, with no cost tag. Under his plan the bill will be met by energy users, the risks borne by taxpayers, and the costs carried by the communities that miss out on the clean energy boom and the jobs that come with it.
Senator Jenny McAllister is assistant minister for climate change and energy
