Queensland LNP splinters from Feds, rules out nuclear

L-R: Sam O'Connor, Queensland Shadow Environment Minister; Dave Copeman, QCC Director

The Queensland Opposition has distanced themselves from their federal counterparts by ruling out nuclear power for the state, a move that has been welcomed by the Queensland Conservation Council.

Yesterday at the Queensland Environment Round Table, Sam O'Connor, Queensland's Shadow Environment Minister, publicly guaranteed that nuclear will not be a part of the State LNP's energy transformation plan, citing that the cost just doesn't stack up.

Mr O'Connor also raised doubts about communities' willingness to accept nuclear reactors in their local area.

Dave Copeman, Director of the Queensland Conservation Council, said: 

This is a very promising sign that the Queensland LNP is going to look at genuine climate action and energy solutions instead of playing politics.

No Queenslander who is struggling right now with high power bills would think that building the most expensive form of electricity is the solution, but that's exactly what Peter Dutton and the Federal Coalition is suggesting.

Nuclear energy is not a climate action solution for Australia because it will take two decades or more to build a power station. This is much too slow when the critical time to reduce emissions and avoid the worst impacts of climate change is now.

The Federal Opposition gets the privilege of peddling unrealistic energy policy because managing the energy system is mostly a state responsibility. The next Queensland Government will have to manage the energy transformation, so neither major party can afford to rely on false solutions.

We encourage the Queensland LNP to follow up this announcement with support for Queensland's clean energy and climate targets, and deliver their own plans for reaching those targets.