Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy – “One announcement, four blokes and 17 falsehoods” says Labor MP Patrick Gorman

Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy could make or break his chances of becoming Prime Minister at the federal election which is due by May 2025.

But Peter Dutton tells so many lies that it is impossible to know when he is telling the truth and the same can be said with his nuclear power plant policy.

So, I thought it was worth publishing a response by federal Labor MP Patrick Gorman who says Peter Dutton’s nuclear power announcement was “One announcement, four blokes and 17 falsehoods”.

And then see if any of the readers of this website, with better knowledge of the topic than me, can work out if Patrick Gorman is telling the truth about Dutton’s lies or playing politics and lying himself.

I should declare that I published an article on the 23rd of June 2024 titled, “Peter Dutton colludes with greedy billionaire coal and gas miner Gina Rinehart for the fake “Nuclear policy” scam”. (Click here to read the article) 

Labor MP Patrick Gorman published his opinion on Twitter on Friday the 13th of December 2024 as per below (Click here to see on Twitter) (Any spelling mistakes are his and if there is more than 3 he should resign from parliament)

ONE ANNOUNCEMENT, FOUR BLOKES, 17 FALSEHOODS – An #auspol thread on four senior members of the Coalition and their repeated falsehoods about nuclear reactors:

Let’s start with Peter Dutton, who had nine false claims in this morning’s press conference on nuclear energy.

FALSEHOOD #1: Peter Dutton pointed to Ontario as a supposed example of cheaper power bills resulting from nuclear energy.

TRUTH: Professor Mark Winfield from Ontario’s York University said: “The story around nuclear and electricity in Ontario is complicated and not necessarily a pathway other people would want to follow.”

Professor Winfield also said: “You have to remember in Ontario we are artificially lowering rates to the tune of $7.3 billion a year out of general provincial revenues to make people’s bills look lower than they really are.”

FALSEHOOD #2: Peter Dutton claimed that the Prime Minister was “only promising” to further increase electricity costs.

TRUTH: The Australian Energy Market Commission concluded that residential electricity prices across the National Electricity Market could be around 13% lower over the decade, if renewable energy and infrastructure development proceeds as expected.

FALSEHOOD #3: Peter Dutton argued against closing coal fired power stations on the basis that “[w]e shouldn’t be closing our base load power stations prematurely.”

TRUTH: Let’s be clear: this government’s energy plan is a response to one simply reality: 24 of the nation’s 28 ageing coal fired power stations – with a total capacity of 27 GW – announced their closure, not on Labor’s watch, but under the former Coalition government.

Our Government is the only one with a plan to keep the lights on. And our plan is working: Our grid is now 42% renewable energy and we’re bringing on enough batteries to meet 90% of peak demand. More than 50 renewable energy projects greenlit … enough to power more than 3 million homes. And 330,000 rooftop solar installed last year alone.

FALSEHOOD #4: Peter Dutton has claimed that: “Labor’s plan was going to cost about five times more than what they were telling you.”

TRUTH: We have full faith in the work done and costings produced by the people who have been responsible for keeping the lights on under both Coalition and Labor Governments: the experts and engineers at the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

FALSEHOOD #5: Peter Dutton claimed that “every other comparable economy around the world” has “adopted or have signed up to a use of nuclear energy.”

TRUTH: That’s not the international experience. EVERY country is moving toward renewables. Why? Because they’re cheaper. The fact is nuclear energy has been in decline globally.

Nuclear energy peaked as a proportion of global energy in 1996 and it has been falling ever since. Number of reactors worldwide peaked in 2002 – 22 years ago; there are now fewer. Last year, the world added 460GWs of new non-hydro renewables, and nuclear energy generation went backwards by 1 GW.

Last year, the US added 39GW of new renewables and no new nuclear. Last year, China added 217GW of new renewables and only one gigawatt of new nuclear. Four other G20 countries do not have nuclear in their energy mix: Germany, Italy, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared: “Nuclear energy is over. … [it’s] a dead horse”. In December 2023 the Spanish Government announced it will phase out their last 7 nuclear plants by 2035, with the first to close in 2027.

FALSEHOOD #6: Peter Dutton was pretty optimistic this morning that Australia’s nuclear projects will not be subject to cost blow outs and delays.

FALSEHOOD #7: Peter Dutton was referring to what he called “Labor Blackouts” as justification for his dodgy nuclear reactors.

TRUTH: To date under the Albanese Labor Government, there have been no blackouts caused by a lack of supply. In fact, AEMO said in a report just a few months ago that “Compared to last year’s report, the reliability outlook has improved.”

FALSEHOOD #8: Peter Dutton proposed so-called ‘small modular reactors’ for his nuclear plans here in WA, and South Australia, too.

TRUTH: Firstly, small modular reactors do not exist commercially anywhere in the world. Secondly, as recently as last year Peter Dutton was dead set against large-scale nuclear power plants:

FALSEHOOD #9: Peter Dutton claimed there was “a threefold increase in the number of manufacturing businesses which have closed in our country over the last two and a half years.”

TRUTH: According to the OECD, manufacturing jobs in Australia have grown faster than in most G7 nations as well as the Euro Zone since Labor came to power. More than 60,000 manufacturing jobs have been created under our government. Over 80,000 jobs were lost under the former government.

There are 1,200 new manufacturing businesses. Almost 2,500 manufacturers went out of business under the former government. Private capital expenditure in manufacturing is up since the election.

DAVID LITTLEPROUD FALSEHOOD #1 David Littleproud said that an energy mix is needed so that “regional Australia isn’t littered with transmission lines, solar panels and wind turbines.”

TRUTH: According to a report commissioned by the former NSW Coalition Government: “… analysis of likely and worst-case land use changes, with the renewable rollout to 2051, does not indicate a material impact on agricultural production. It seems unlikely that the conversion of land currently used for production will exceed 80,000ha, and more likely be in the vicinity of 55,000ha. This is 0.1% of rural land.”

About 97% of land under onshore windfarms is either grazed or cropped. And more than a dozen solar farms have already introduced sheep grazing. In the US and Europe there are examples of co-locating solar panels and horticultural crops, particularly berries and leafy greens. Hosting a renewable energy project allows farmers to diversify their income and increases resilience through unproductive years.

ANGUS TAYLOR FALSEHOOD #1: Angus Taylor said: “Let’s not forget, at the turn of the century, Australia had one of the cheapest electricity prices in the industrialised world. Now we have among the highest.”

TRUTH: Far from true, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). In its latest Electricity 2024 report, the IEA found wholesale electricity prices in Australia in 2023 were comparable with the US and significantly less than in the European Union, Japan, India and the Nordic countries.

Notably, Australia’s prices were almost half those in France, which sourced 65 per cent of its electricity from nuclear. The report said: “In Australia, wholesale prices averaged AUD 82/MWh (USD 55/MWh) in 2023, down more than 50 per cent from their 2022 highs and 10 per cent below the 2019 average.”

FALSEHOOD #2 Angus Taylor claimed that Australia had seen “GDP per person going backwards for seven quarters in a row; almost two years of household recession.”

TRUTH: Just last month the RBA Governor Michele Bullock dismissed the Coalition’s “per-capita” recession rhetoric as unhelpful.

“I don’t really like that term per capita recession. … I think defining it in that way actually abstracts from what’s important here and usually in recessions you’re experiencing high unemployment rates, people are losing their jobs, it’s just really, really bad, and I think in the current environment we’re not in a recession.” – Michele Bullock, RBA Governor

TED O’BRIEN FALSEHOOD #1 Ted O’Brien claimed that if “We continue down the path of Labor’s renewables-only approach we will become poorer, weaker and more dependent as a nation.”

TRUTH: Labor is taking a balanced approach involving renewables firmed with storage and backed up by gas-powered generation, which according to AEMO is “the lowest-cost way to supply electricity to homes and businesses as Australia transitions to a net zero economy”.

FALSEHOOD #2 Ted O’Brien also falsely claimed “Australians are hurting right now and businesses are closing. Nearly 25,000 businesses have gone insolvent since Labor came to office.”

TRUTH: According to ASIC data, under this Government insolvencies as a proportion of all companies have been the lowest on record – averaging 0.25%. That’s half the rate recorded under the Howard Government (0.50%). And lower than the wasted decade of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments (0.32%).

RBA GOVERNOR MICHELLE BULLOCK – From appearance before House Standing Committee on Economics in August: “If you take it as a proportion of the number of businesses, which is growing over time, it is not at historical highs. In fact, if you look at the trend of insolvencies over time, we’re not even back to where we were pre-pandemic, trend-wise.”

FALSEHOOD #3: Ted O’Brien falsely said “We’ve learned the lessons from overseas. There’s a reason why over 30 countries today use nuclear energy and over another 50 are looking at introducing it for the very first time. That is because nuclear in the mix brings prices down.”

TRUTH: That’s not the international experience. Ted O’Brien is repeating Peter Dutton’s falsehoods but the truth remains the same: EVERY country is moving toward renewables. Why? Because they’re cheaper.

FALSEHOOD #4: Finally, Ted O’Brien falsely claimed: “They are going to be rolling out tens of thousands of kilometres of transmission lines.”

TRUTH: This isn’t going to happen because it’s not part of Labor’s policy in the first place. The real figure is less than one-seventh the figure parroted by Peter Dutton and a small addition to the 40,000 kms of transmission lines already in operation across the National Energy Market.

According to the Australian Energy Market Operator, only 4,000kms of new transmission lines will be needed in the next decade, and a further 1,000kms of existing lines will require upgrading. Of that 5,000-km total, 1,200kms of transmission lines is already in operation or under construction.

One announcement. Four senior members of the Coalition. Seventeen falsehoods. Absolutely nothing to offer the Australian people but lies, spin and dodgy nuclear reactors. (End of reply)

The bottom line is that Labor MP Patrick Gorman has done his own fact checking of Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan announcement and the question is if Patrick Gorman’s fact checking is true and correct.

Nuclear power will be an issue that will chew up a lot of time during the federal election whether we like it or not.

Because Peter Dutton is pushing nuclear power, Labor will be happy for him to push it as it allows them to respond on an issue they believe is a loser for Dutton and the opposition. 

The bonus for Labor is the distraction of nuclear power takes focus away from other issues they don’t want to discuss like the failed National Anti-Corruption Commission, whistleblower protection and cost of living.

If Peter Dutton loses the federal election, I think it will go down in history as the election that “Gina and Rupert lost it for the Liberals”.