Will Shackel appeared on The Bolt Report to discuss his evidence to the Information Integrity Inquiry.
Watch Will's full interview:
Interview Transcript
Andrew Bolt (Host): Joining me is Will Shackel, head of Australians for Nuclear (Nuclear for Australia), which has tried for years to get out the truth about nuclear power to fight the lies. Will, great to see you again. What does the potential reopening of this giant plant, the biggest in the world, tell us?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Well, there's been a seismic shift on nuclear attitudes worldwide. Whether it's here in Japan where you have them moving on from Fukushima, taking the lessons learned to restart some of the reactors at the biggest nuclear power plant worldwide or even in the United States restarting the Three-Mile Island uh one of their reactors in a deal with Microsoft to power their data centers. And the reason they're restarting is because the world realizes that we need nuclear power in the mix to provide affordable energy and to meet this moment to power the rising electricity demand for future industries such as AI. So Australia is falling behind the rest of the world as they go to the depths of restarting older reactors to meet these needs.
Andrew Bolt (Host): Well, it's interesting you mentioned the Three-Mile Island one because uh uh an accident there again that killed nobody. Uh inspired that movie China Syndrome to spook the whole world into, you know, oh we got to ban nuclear power and now it's being reopened. Um well, there was another reason I wanted to talk to you tonight. Now, as I said, activists back then were claiming the Fukushima reactor would kill thousands of people. I remember being uh then on the Channel 9's the Channel 10's The Project, and being yelled at by producers for saying we shouldn't be listening to extremists saying, "Oh, you know, people with two heads and all that." One Irish professor even said more than a million would die. In fact, it killed none. Now, this is the misinformation that your Australians for nuclear were was formed to fight. But what really got my goat last week was the extraordinarily hostile treatment you got from Greens and Labor members of federal parliament's select committee on information integrity on climate change and energy. They treated you as a stoge of fossil fuels in the nuclear energy industry, as a liberal stoge, as a sinister influence of the last election campaign. I just want to give viewers a taste of that shameful pylon. Here it is.
Video Source: Peter Dutton during the campaign walked around telling anyone who would listen um platforming on a national stage that the amount of waste from nuclear um plants would be would fit into a coke can. Why did you not use your platform and your own voice during the campaign to refute um that information that Peter Dutton was propagating? Well, it's a well-known fact that the amount of fuel needed to power someone completely over their lifetime with nuclear power is the size of a coke can. But that's not what Peter Dutton said, but I only believe that he said that on one occasion. Now, I I you obviously have to go through my social media records. I would hope that I would have responded to that. Did anyone from the Liberal Party with your indulgence, Chair, um uh advise you against correcting Peter Dutton's record? No, I'm not I'm not sure. uh who who you'd been implying would have that connection. No, that's fine. I'm just asking. But...
Andrew Bolt (Host): And then questions, you know, are you being funded by this and that and mate, what did you make of that treatment of you?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Look, it felt like a massive stitch up and a waste of time. And I was there to talk about one of the biggest disinformation campaigns we've ever seen, the over $3 million nuclear scare campaign where there was lies like nuclear would cost $600 billion, be 3.7% of the grid, three fish, all the rest of it. And I wasn't asked once. Instead, they seem to not understand that a young person could take an informed and educated position on energy and climate policy in Australia. Australia is the only member of the G20 with a ban on nuclear power. For them to instead of asking me about my informed opinions on nuclear power, what experts think and uh why I think this disinformation campaign we recently saw uh was so terrible for Australia's energy debate. They instead tried to, you know, drill me down on um and make all of these conspiracy theories about me and my organization, Nuclear for Australia.
Andrew Bolt (Host): I found it extraordinary that a Labor senator of a party that lied about the cost of uh nuclear power again and again and again and again and again should nail you or try to nail you for not allegedly not correcting one misspeak once by Peter Dutton. I mean really. Now to your point about nuclear power in Australia, can Australia keep affording to ban nuclear power?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): Well, look, I would have loved if we'd built a nuclear reactor a decade ago, but the next best time is now. Australia is very well placed, especially with all the developments with the Orcus nuclear submarine program. We're starting at a strong foundation and we should start now to meet our current energy challenges whether it's with rising power bills, rising electricity demand and also the decarbonisation challenge.
Andrew Bolt (Host): Now, I don't want to um uh create coniptions among the Greens and Li labor senators that were demanding to know who your donors were. So, you know, that would have had you delivered the names, no doubt they'd be harassed at home as you've been harassed at your home and at your father's home. Uh, how can people supporting your work? And you've got climate scientists, renowned climate scientists on your body. How can they donate?
Will Shackel (Founder of Nuclear for Australia): People can visit our website at nuclearforaustralia.com to sign up or donate to support Nuclear for Australia's work. I'm incredibly grateful to the over 115,000 Australians who support our work to help educate Australians about nuclear power and help cut through some of this disinformation we've been seeing.
Andrew Bolt (Host): Well, let's hope this then makes that monstering of view last week backfire. Will she thank you so much indeed for your time.
[End]