Why Dutton’s nuclear power plan is so Soviet

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Peter Dutton’s newly unveiled nuclear manifesto is a peculiar fit for the party of free enterprise, private investment and entrepreneurialism. But what will the political fallout be?

has a distinct Russian flavour. First is its Soviet economics. The seven nuclear facilities envisioned in the Coalition plan are to be financed entirely by the Commonwealth. There is no place for private investment or market forces. It’s central planning, Soviet-style. Indeed, electrification was a Stalin priority from his first five-year plan.

The nuclear power plan is more a National Party affair. They’ve never quibbled about state-led development or government intervention so long as it occurs in the regions. The undesirable reality here is that, as a Coalition frontbencher put it to me privately, the nuclear policy “is an alternative, not a solution”.

Well, Marilyne, you can kiss that idea goodbye. Peter Dutton isn’t interested in investor bleatings. “I’m not too worried about the billionaires who want to make more money off Australian taxpayers,” he told the Nine network on Friday. So if new investment dries up, where does the extra electricity come from over the quarter-century until the Coalition’s reactor fleet is fully online? The Nationals have the answer to that, too.This is why the new Coalition policy cancels Australia’s existing commitment to a 43 per cent emissions cut by 2030.

But at least Dutton assures us that, if and when we get nuclear energy, it’ll be cheaper: “I want to bring Australians’ power prices down.” But nuclear isn’t likely to achieve that, unless the government-built nuclear reactors supply government-subsidised electricity indefinitely.this week that “the cheapest form of new generation is wind and, above all, solar PV. The energy sector knows that and has zero interest in building new coal-fired power stations.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

 

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