Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham weighed in on the nuclear debate, saying there needed to be serious discussions within the coalition about renewables.
“Politically, I admitted that we had problems and that really led to our political demise. In terms of policy, we've overseen a period of significant investment in clean energy, looking at Australia's emissions and how they've been reduced over that time,” he said on ABC Radio Melbourne this morning.
He said much still needed to be done to achieve net-zero emissions, and that the alliance had „difficult discussions” and decisions on how to monitor the path to net zero.
Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham.debt: Alex Ellinghausen
„Including topics that have not been discussed in Australia before, such as questions about nuclear energy,” he said.
Host Raf Epstein asked if that was the problem, saying the coalition was „obsessed” with the most expensive option.
„Of course not,” replied Birmingham.
He said the alliance wants to achieve reliability on the grid and ensure the lowest possible energy production cost and net zero.
Australia is one of the few G20 countries that does not have nuclear power, Birmingham said, or does not see nuclear power as an energy mix.
„We will elaborate on the policy we will take for the next election… In a world environment where many countries are seeking nuclear weapons, given Australia's capabilities with uranium reserves… why are we banning this? Technology,” he said.