Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has copped fierce backlash after attempting to slam a push to build nuclear reactors in Australia.
Mr Albanese called out Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister shared pictures of eight ‘beautiful’ locations across the country and asked social media users what the sites had in common.
‘They’re at risk of a nuclear reactor in their backyard under Peter Dutton,’ Mr Albanese wrote.
‘Australians have waited 673 days for details on Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan. He still won’t say what cities and towns he’ll put under threat.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has faced fierce backlash after attempting to slam a push from the Opposition for nuclear energy
Mr Albanese called out Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan on platform X, formerly Twitter , on Wednesday
Mr Dutton has unveiled plans to build large-scale nuclear reactors across the country, a policy which was backed by Nuclear for Climate Australia.
He has argued that nuclear power has the potential to reduce electricity prices and achieve zero carbon emissions.
Nuclear plants use the process of fission – splitting atoms – to heat water from a dam to create steam, which powers a turbine that creates electricity.
Opponents of nuclear power argue it is too risky to put a plant near any population centre because of the risk of meltdown.
Social media users slammed Mr Albanese for his post, with many claiming Labor’s wind turbine and solar panel farms are doing just as much damage to the scenery.
‘But filling up thousands of acres of solar panel “farms” is perfectly ok? WHAT A HYPOCRITE YOU ARE ALBO,’ one person wrote.
‘Everywhere in Australia is beautiful, including where you are dumping those f***ing windmills,’ a second person commented.
A third added: ‘Funny, I’d prefer a nuclear reactor over the thousands of kilometres of clearing your government is green-lighting to make way for solar and wind turbines in those pristine and protected areas’.
Others scoffed at the locations Mr Albanese labelled ‘under threat’ in his post, including South Australia’s Barossa Valley, Queensland’s Whitsundays and NSW’s Hunter Valley.
‘Ahh yes the Hunter Valley. Where the coal mines literally make the place look like a wasteland,’ one person wrote.
A second commented with a laughing emoji: ‘A nuclear reactor in the Whitsundays?’
Another added: ‘Where is the proposed location, right on the tourist beach?’
Social media users slammed Mr Albanese for his post, with many claiming Labor’s wind turbine and solar panel farms are doing just as much damage to the scenery (pictured, wind turbines south of Goulburn in NSW’s Southern Tablelands)
Some Aussies argued solar panel farms and wind turbines had destroyed thousands of kilometres of pristine agricultural land
One user said Australians had waited even longer for Mr Albanese to fulfil his promise to reduce electricity costs.
‘What do these beautiful places have known common? They are at risk of being cleared for solar panels and windmills,’ they wrote.
‘Like this government has done to farm land all around the country. Killing eagles and reducing agriculture land.
‘Australians have waited 745 days for you to keep his promise of reducing electricity costs by $275. Instead prices have increased by over 25 per cent.’
Labor and the Greens are resolutely opposed to establishing a nuclear power industry in Australia, preferring renewable energy sources to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has previously admitted that, to meet the government’s net-zero goal, Australia would have to install 40 large wind turbines a month and 22,000 solar panels a day.
As of January, there are currently 81 renewable energy projects under construction or due to start construction across Australia, according to the Clean Energy Council.
The projects include wind, solar, hydro and bioenergy, and aim to deliver more than $21.9billion in capital investment.
Mr Dutton unveiled a plan to build large-scale nuclear reactors across the country. He argued nuclear power had the potential to reduce electricity prices and achieve zero carbon emissions
Mr Dutton earlier this year unveiled a plan to build large-scale nuclear reactors across the country and flagged the idea of potentially converting five disused coal-fired power stations into nuclear reactors.
He claimed Australia could not entirely rely on wind and solar energy to meet its target of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
Mr Dutton added the existence of electricity transmission lines from coal-fire power stations meant nuclear power could be delivered affordably – unlike Labor’s $20billion Rewiring the Nation plan.
Nuclear for Climate Australia has been endorsed by Coalition MPs and its founder has also been advising the Opposition on nuclear energy policy.
The group’s 13 recommended potential reactor sites include seven existing coal-fired power stations: Callide, Stanwell, Tarong, Gladstone, Millmeran, Kogan Creek and Collinsville, along with gas-fired Swanbank in suburban Ipswich.
Nuclear for Climate has also suggested Ross River in north Queensland, the existing site of a solar farm near Townsville that is also close to the sea.
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