Nat Barr demands answers from Albanese government as French president urges Australia to lift nuclear ban

Nat Barr has questioned why Anthony Albanese's government is stubbornly refusing to import nuclear power, saying Australia is now an “outlier”.

It comes as French President Emmanuel Macron calls on Australia to lift its nuclear ban.

“I hope you (Australia) will succeed in lifting the ban,” Macron told Nuclear for Australia founder Will Shackel at the 2023 UN climate conference in the UAE.

“I mean, nuclear energy is a source that is necessary to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050,” Macron said.

France, Britain and the US are among 22 countries committed to tripling nuclear power capacity by 2030.

Barr asked Environment Secretary Tanya Plibersek why her government opposed nuclear energy if world powers adopted it.

“Because it's slow to build and expensive,” Ms. Plibersek said.

“But it sounds like we're an outlier,” Barr interjected.

“We have endless amounts of cheap solar and wind energy in Australia and we are going to work on that,” the minister continued.

“We have a target of 82 percent renewable energy because this will reduce energy prices and do so in a way that does not harm our environment.”

“Tanya, it's going slow. We're not going to do this overnight, we all know that. So should we take on more options, as major countries like Britain, America and France are doing around the world?' Barr struck back.

Ms Plibersek said nuclear power is much slower to build and “fantastically expensive”.

National MP Barnaby Joyce challenged Ms Plibersek to lift bans on nuclear power at state and federal levels and “let the market decide”.

“If it's fantastically expensive, no one will bother to build it,” he said.

“You've banned these, but what we have is France, England, the United States and Sweden all saying you should use nuclear energy.”

Barr asked Barnaby why he did not put nuclear power plans into action when he was deputy prime minister and in power for more than a decade.

“Because at that time we had coal-fired power stations all over the country and they produced cheap electricity,” he replied.

However, Ms Plibersek reminded viewers that nine power stations had been closed under the opposition, which had “no plan to replace them”.

'That is the problem. No plan for the future,” she said.

Australia was one of more than 100 countries to support declarations that will strengthen climate action in agriculture and healthcare at the Cop28 climate summit held in Dubai from November 30 to December 14.

However, it refused to sign a commitment to triple nuclear power by 2050, despite support from world powers such as France, the US, Canada and the UK.

The fierce clash comes after millionaire businessman Dick Smith said it would be impossible for Australia to run entirely on renewable energy and urged Anthony Albanese's government to invest in nuclear power.

His comments came after Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the idea of ​​Australia using nuclear power to achieve Labor's goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 was a “fantasy wrapped in a delusion accompanied by a utopia”.

Mr Boween told the ABC's Insiders program last Sunday that the government would focus on renewable energy projects such as wind, solar, battery and hydro projects.

However, Mr Smith argued that 'there is no way we will be able to reduce our carbon emissions without going to nuclear power'.

“The Liberals support it, but the PvdA is against it,” he told Radio 2GB.

'The worst thing they think is that the country can run entirely on sustainable energy.'

Mr Smith described himself as an expert in renewable energy sources and revealed that he owns electric cars that he powers with the solar energy on his roof.

But he added: 'I can tell you that in a huge country like Australia it would be impossible to run entirely on renewable energy sources.'

The businessman noted that France gets 70 percent of its energy from nuclear power. He switched his energy system to energy for the first time in the 1950s.

“We need to replace our coal-fired power plants with nuclear power and get on with it,” he said.

The idea of ​​going nuclear in Australia has long faced community opposition following the disasters at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and Fukushima – despite the country's large reserves of uranium, which is the crucial fuel.

However, a Resolve poll released this weekend found that fewer than one in five Australians are against ending the country's nuclear power moratorium.

About 49 percent of Australians were in favor of a review of the nuclear moratorium, while only 18 percent were opposed and 33 percent were unsure.

Labor aims for the country to reach 82 per cent of renewables by 2030 – up from around a third now – to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

The government will introduce an expansion of a taxpayer-funded investment program for clean energy projects, including wind, solar, battery and hydropower projects.

The scheme guarantees that companies receive income if they commit to sustainable energy projects, but also offers taxpayers benefits if prices rise.

States can continue to invest in new gas generation under their own capacity plans, but not under the federal plan.