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Political Corrections with Margo KingstonPolitical Corrections

with Margo Kingston

Nuclear power back in the debating ring

Should Australia go nuclear? The question has been bubbling along under the radar for a while now, what with greenhouse and all, but now Rupert Murdoch's Australian newspaper has decided it is to be brought onto the mainstream political stage.

Bob Carr, king of the falling-apart state, said yes quickly. Too quickly? Need a quick fix yet again, Bob? Sensible way to go in the circumstances, Bob?

One interesting irony is that some of the big nuclear pushers are also climate change skeptics - or say they are. Huh? There's big money and big power behind this push, and if citizens aren't careful they'll get nuclear in Oz without a solid merits debate and the chance to have a good think about whether that's the right choice.

Still, there's a merits debate to be had alright, no doubt about it.

The ALP's Lindsay Tanner delivered a speech to Parliament on the issue last week trying to get some decent grounds rules for the debate to follow. He's a passionate member of the "No" school of thought, but he can't say any more on the topic because late last week he got back onto the front bench, as finance spokesman, and he doesn't want to speak outside his portfolio area.

His speech sets out who needs to prove the case and what they need to prove. Tanner advises us all not to let proponents of Australia going nuclear railroad the debate by forcing the no advocates to defend their position. The yes case must prove going nuclear is right for Australians and their children and grandchildren. It's called "the precautionary principle".

Bottom line - there needs to be a respected public inquiry on the merits to give Australians a chance to get the facts and the costings, learn about the pros and cons and consider the other alternatives. No back-door decision then taxpayer funded spin to sell it on this one, John. This matter is far too important for that. For example, Lindsay pointed out that there is some tension, to say the least, between Australia going nuclear and maintaining its brown coal exports. Think about it.

"The crucial point is that the onus is on those who are advocating change to demonstrate why that change should occur. As a member of the Labor Party I know only too well that that onus rests on all of us who advocate change. Advocates of nuclear power have an onus to demonstrate a genuinely commercial market for energy without the huge subsidies that have characterised nuclear power in other markets particularly in Europe and with genuinely accounted for external costs, such as the additional cost required to protect installations from terrorist threats, the cost of waste disposal, decommissioning and other issues, properly factored into the equation. In other words, the proponents of nuclear power have an onus to demonstrate how Australia would benefit economically as a result of a move to nuclear power, taking into account the primary rationale which is currently advanced, which is of course to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

"They also have to explain how they would deal with issues such as the location of nuclear power installations in Australia and how waste disposal would be dealt with."

Tanner also has a swipe at Bob Carr:

"Unfortunately, we do not always get consistency in these debates. New South Wales Premier Bob Carr has recently called for a rethink about nuclear power. But on June 7 he said that he refused to have any nuclear waste dump established in New South Wales. This to me is an amazingly contradictory and confused position. If nuclear waste is so bad that we cannot even contemplate having it stored in a state, how can we advocate introducing the process that creates it?

"Clearly, this is a perfect illustration of one of the key issues with nuclear power: in order to advocate it you have got to include all of the aspects of the issue within your proposition. You cannot pretend that issues like nuclear waste are going to be somebody else's problem.

"... I would be interested to see what their view is on the issue of nuclear proliferation and whether or not Iran should be enabled to develop civilian nuclear capability, which of course many feel is linked to a desire to develop nuclear weapons."

To end, Tanner raises the crucial question, one in which all Australians need to be involved. Do we want to keep our current lifestyle at all costs? Would we be prepared to make some trade-offs to avoid having to go nuclear?

Tanner:

"The fallacy that always permeates these debates is the failure of those involved in them to deal with the consumption question. For years Australians have debated issues like new power stations and alternative energy sources - be it wind or nuclear power - but have often overlooked the fundamental question of how we reduce our consumption of energy and how we make our existing consumption more efficient by using new technology."

And he even makes a practical suggestion:

"This one (is) designed to eliminate or reduce the need for new power stations through using smart metering based on digital metering technology and modern telecommunications technology, enabling consumers to manage their own use and to choose when they use particular appliances and ensuring that they can manage the costs of their own electricity consumption.

"... Bayard is proposing something that I describe as a reverse user-pays model where customers will voluntarily agree not to use certain appliances like air conditioners at particular times of the day or on specified days and, as a result, they will get a standard rate reduction in their electricity rate. The same principle applies to congestion charging on roads..."

Smart man, Lindsay Tanner. A future Labor leader, perhaps.

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