Nuclear for Australia founder Will Shackel appeared on News24's Opinionated, hosted by Danica De Giorgio, with an editorial on Australia's energy policy at COP31 in Turkey. He argued that the Government's clean-energy-superpower plan is falling short, that Australia is failing to use its uranium advantage, and that "ignoring nuclear is a cop-out."
Editorial Transcript:
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Australia's energy minister, Chris Bowen, is leading climate negotiations at COP31 in Turkey this week, and I've no doubt we'll be hearing a lot about his aspirations for Australia to be a clean energy superpower. However, that plan isn't going well for him so far. The 82% renewable target is facing around a 20% shortfall, with Rystad Energy predicting wholesale prices would have to nearly double to meet the government's target in time. The bulk of solar panels and wind turbines used in Australia are still made in China. And plans to produce green commodities such as hydrogen for export have been a disaster, with billions of dollars wasted. Meanwhile, energy demand is soaring, particularly in the context of data centres and AI. The truth is, no country has reached 100% renewables for energy, let alone be a renewable energy superpower like the government is proposing. Yet, I actually think that Australia can be a clean energy superpower, and I'd argue in one way, we already are, but not through renewables. Australia has the largest uranium reserves in the world, the fuel used to produce nuclear fission for clean, abundant power. Yet, we have never truly acknowledged this strategic advantage. The uranium we already export is used to produce electricity worldwide, equivalent to around 70% of Australia's annual electricity generation. If I was Chris Bowen, that's one of the biggest bargaining chips Australia brings to the table at COP, and something I'd be talking about all the time. Yet neither him or the Prime Minister mentioned the words uranium or nuclear once in either of their speeches this week at COP31. By ignoring nuclear and uranium, our arguably biggest climate advantage, Australia appears out of touch on the global stage. As this year's deal with India demonstrated, the world needs Australia's uranium to decarbonise. 39 countries representing over 70% of the world's GDP have signed a global pledge to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050. This week, a joint letter was sent to Chris Bowen calling on him to sign the pledge, which among others was signed by Dr James Hansen, referred to by The Guardian as the father of climate change awareness. Nuclear shouldn't be politicised. Other global progressive parties are pragmatic about nuclear power. The US Democrats, UK Labor and Finnish Greens all support nuclear. The Greens in England and Wales just overturned their opposition as well. The Australian Labor Party also has its supporters. The late Bob Hawke said nuclear would be an essential part of attacking global warming. The South Australian Premier, Peter Malinauskas, has said he's not ideologically against it, and 58% of Labor voters in South Australia support it compared to just 21% who are opposed. If we're going to have affordable clean power, whilst meeting rising electricity demand, we need to be pragmatic about nuclear and celebrate our uranium abundance. YouGov polling found 58% of Australians support joining the global pledge to triple nuclear energy. Australia must play to its energy strengths. Ignoring nuclear is a cop-out.
This transcript was generated with the assistance of AI and may contain errors.