Ziggy Switkowski chaired NBN Co and advised the Howard government on nuclear power.Credit:Paul Jones
“Co-operation is always helpful,but even when states are ideologically opposed to things,the Commonwealth can frequently persuade them to be helpful because they know in the end that legally they are not going to win.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed the Coalition energy pledge as a “so-called plan that hasn’t lasted a day” because state leaders were opposed to nuclear.
“This is a mob that,when they were in government,couldn’t build a commuter car park,” Albanese said,in reference to a furore in the previous parliament overgovernment grants.
Dutton defended his plan against critics who said he should have revealed more about the cost or design of the proposed nuclear power stations.
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“I think the approach that we’ve taken is the right one,and that is to have a staged announcement in relation to this policy so that people can understand each element of what it is we’re proposing,” he said.
Switkowski called for a considered debate and said there was time for Dutton to reveal more about the policy.
“I think it’s unreasonable for anybody to expect the opposition leader to come out with a fully documented and costed plan at this stage,” he said.
Switkowski gained a PhD in nuclear physics before a business career in which he became chief executive of Telstra and chairman of the NBN. He also chaired the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation,which operates the country’s only nuclear reactor,and became chancellor of RMIT University,as well asadvising the Howard government on nuclear energy in a key report in 2006.
While Switkowski acknowledged the lower cost of solar and wind power,and praised the CSIRO for its work on thehigher relative cost of nuclear power,he said the outlay on nuclear could be justified by the value it could bring to the reliability of the grid.
“The cost curve for solar and wind has moved aggressively down to the benefit of all of us – industry and households,” he said.
“But you need to have nuclear as well for baseload power and for the grunt that comes with these big reactors and how well they perform once they’re built.”
A Victorian government spokesman said it would probably take about five years to develop a planning approval process for sites,casting further doubt on Coalition timelines that experts have described as unrealistic.
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“There is no framework for environmental and planning approvals of a nuclear reactor in Victoria,let alone the depth of expertise required in Australia,” the spokesman said.
NSW Premier Chris Minns conceded the state’s prohibition on nuclear energy could be circumvented by federal legislation. But he suggested his government could use other means to prevent the construction of reactors in NSW.
“What I would say is that we’re not going to remove the ban,” he said.