Ted O’Brien Shadow Minister For Climate Change And Energy speaks with Richard King, 2HD Newcastle.
TED O’BRIEN – SHADOW MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR FAIRFAX
TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD KING, 2HD
NEWCASTLE
14/10/2024
E&OE…
SPEAKERS
Ted O’Brien, Richard King
TOPICS: Parliamentary Inquiry into Nuclear Energy,
Richard King
Good morning, Richard. Okay. The federal government announced a parliamentary inquiry into nuclear energy. You’re not happy about the makeup of the inquiry. It’s certainly very much stacked with government MPs, Ted?
Ted O’Brien
It is Richard. It is. So, the government did this last week in Canberra in Parliament, basically, the Labor Party gave themselves twice as many members on the committee than the Coalition. Which basically means every single decision made, Labor will decide everything, including the final report. They also refused to add to the terms of reference really important factors that should be looked at if a committee is formed on nuclear energy. So they don’t want to compare the cost of an electricity system with nuclear to a system without it. They don’t want to include consideration of modern larger plans, a ‘coal to nuclear’ strategy, impact on regional Australia, environmental impact, energy reliability, energy security, emissions reduction, they voted against consideration of all that.
Richard King
Well, what will the Committee be looking at Ted?
Ted O’Brien
Well, basically, the committee is going to be looking at a very narrow scope of things. Labor only wanted to look at small modular reactors, which I think is ludicrous, because if you if you look at the seven locations that the Coalition has announced for nuclear energy across Australia, five of those seven could very well have the modern, larger plants, and then they’re only wanting to look at a narrow scope of sort of technical aspects around around small modular reactors. Nevertheless, Richard, we’re not going to spit the dummy and walk away. Rest assured, the Coalition will absolutely participate. We will constructively participate. You know, we will, we will get involved in a very constructive manner, and today I’m calling on the government to confirm that we will visit the seven locations so local communities can at least have their say in this process.
Richard King
But surely, first and foremost, there should be a bit more detail about your plan though, Ted? At the moment, other than the locations, there’s no detail as to what sort of reactors you want to build or how much they’re going to cost. Surely that ought to come first.
Ted O’Brien
Richard, if Labor would like to wait until we have our economics out, they won’t have to wait long. What I’d love to see is Labor presents the economics of the plan they’re implementing today, because they haven’t put that out. They’ve been in government for over two years. Richard, everything else is, is largely out there. I mean, we’ve been very clear about the type of plants we want to build. We’re talking about generation three and beyond. We’ve talked about the community engagement process, which is a very comprehensive two and a half year community engagement process on the ground, a community partnership model. We’ve laid out the regional deal that would be negotiated with each local community. We’ve detailed the integrated economic development zones.
Richard King
When you, when you say the deal, Ted, what do you mean by the deal?
Ted O’Brien
So Richard, this is part of the benefit to host communities. So, those communities which will host a nuclear power plant, in recognition that, you know, they will be hosting an asset that will last for 80 years, maybe more, and underpin our energy security as a nation. A part of the benefit they will receive is to negotiate what we will call a regional deal. Now the idea here is that these host communities will need to ensure they’ve got transport infrastructure, community infrastructure, public services, all modernized. Because once you have a major power plant like this, you need to build infrastructure and services ahead of time so that that local community can make it a success.
Richard King
Okay, but surely cost is the big stumbling block here at the moment, there’s no idea of well so far that you put forward as to how much this is going to cost, given that, at the moment, it seems we, the taxpayer, will be footing the bill for all of this?
Ted O’Brien
Richard, we’ve been very clear that we will be releasing the costs, and we have committed to release the economics of our plan before the end of this year. The problem we have at the moment is we still, even though we’ve made that commitment to the Australian people – and I confirm that again with you today by the way Richard – the Labor Party will not release how much it’s going to cost Australia under their plan. Which means, and by the way, they denied this being looked at in this very inquiry by this new committee. We wanted to, well, let’s at least compare it? Let’s compare Labor’s plan to the Coalition’s plan. The Coalition wants a balanced energy mix. So we want renewables as coal exits the system over time, we believe in in nuclear, and we’re still going to need gas, okay, Labor wants all renewable. So let’s compare the cost. I’m up for that, Richard. I’m lining up every day and calling for that.
Richard King
Fair call. Look, you mentioned gas again. I noticed there was a rally here in Newcastle yesterday, and I think people came down from Narrabri and all over the place, and traditional owners. And this is the fight against Santos’s Narrabri gas project. And there’s also been, I think, rallies of landowners about where the gas pipeline connected to well, for instance, here to Newcastle will go. Are you still very much.. I know, under Scott Morrison the Coalition were gas, gas, gas.. is still that very much a part of your plan Ted?
Ted O’Brien
Very much it is. Richard, yes, 100% You know, our approach really is one that says we need to ensure all technologies are on the table for for consideration. And the more that we have researched this, the more we see the importance of gas. Not just for electricity. I mean, anyone who wants to see renewables succeed, of course you need gas to firm them up. But also for industry. And I think I mean that the Hunter region is one of those regions in Australia which has been powering Australia for decades. And I think most residents have high energy IQ. They get it. They know the importance of energy. Gas is critical to our economy, critical to industry. And if we want to keep manufacturing things in Australia, we need a lot more of it.
Richard King
Another hot issue, I think, the last two government assisted flights left or are due to leave Lebanon yesterday, Penny Wong, the foreign minister, warned at this stage, no further flights are scheduled. Interestingly, the Coalition, and certainly, James Patterson echoed the thoughts again yesterday on ABC TV’s insiders that the coalition won’t support a ceasefire push in the Middle East until things like the degradation of Hamas and Hezbollah. I mean, surely that’s already occurred, and what level of degradation would meet the requirements for your Coalition parties to support a push for a ceasefire in the Middle East at the moment.
Ted O’Brien
Look, I mean, I think everybody really wants to see Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, being given the best chance of peace. And when it comes to ceasefires, well, we would need to be sure that those terrorist organizations, Hamas Hezbollah, that they surrender their infrastructure, their capability, their leadership, otherwise you would be prematurely seeking a ceasefire, and these terrorist organizations would simply be given time to rebuild and attack again. We’re not talking here, as you know, Richard, about decent human beings, decent organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah, are inherently evil. They are terrorists, and that is recognized here in Australia. But we need make sure their capabilities are dismantled.
Richard King
I mean, you know, degradation of Hamas and Hezbollah. I mean, they’ve obviously already been degraded, because the leaders of both Hezbollah and Hamas have been killed. At what level will will satisfy your parties that you should be pushing for a ceasefire? I mean, surely they’re degraded already. You agree with Israel, they’ve got to be wiped out completely?
Ted O’Brien
Well, when you say they’re already degraded, Richard, they continue to be using very sophisticated weapons to continue to fire missiles into Israel. They continue to hold innocent people hostages, innocent Israelis are being held hostage today. They continue to attack, the repeated barbaric attacks on Israel. Now that to me, is not a Hamas or Hezbollah, which has been disabled, and so you know you’re going to call for today a ceasefire, if, in truth, you know that that is only going to give time for evil terrorist organizations to to come back together, get ready for the next attack. Remember, they want to wipe out the Jewish people, and this is why we do believe that Israel has a right to defend itself and a right to respond.
Richard King
I appreciate your time this morning, Ted. I know, being a Queenslander and a Brisbane Broncos fan, are you upset about the departure of Kevin Walters as coach of the club?
Ted O’Brien
Yeah, mate, I think Kevvy’s got a wonderful history behind him hasn’t he, as a player too, but yeah, mate, we didn’t do as well as I was hoping to be honest last season. Nor did the Knights I have to say.
Richard King
Thanks, thanks for talking. Have a great day pleasure talking to you as always, thank you.