The six words from The Voice referendum that could come back to haunt Peter Dutton’s nuclear dream

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament campaign was won thanks to a catchy slogan that destroyed Anthony Albanese’s hope that Australians would vote with their hearts: if you don’t know, vote no.

Campaign managers and analysts within the Yes camp could not compete because they did not have the details with which Peter Dutton could convince the Australian public that they needed to make an informed decision.

According to Mr Albanese, that detail would have come after the yes vote.

Now the Prime Minister and his Labor government have the chance to take that sentence back on the Opposition Leader.

Mr Dutton on Wednesday unveiled his vision for a future Australia powered by nuclear reactors.

He delivered his speech to the voting public and even went so far as to say he would be happy if the next election became an “energy referendum.”

The six-word Voice referendum slogan is trending again on

‘Somewhere in Australia there is a warehouse full of ‘if you don’t know, vote no’ articles. I’m happy to take that off your hands, I think there might be a market for it,” said one critic.

‘No information? If you don’t know, vote No,” said another.

During the Voice campaign, that phrase was constantly used by Coalition politicians during interviews, shared on the Liberal Party’s social media pages and even turned into merchandise by the official No campaign.

The Yes camp tried to defuse the slogan’s sting with their own, telling the audience “if you don’t know, find out.”

But Dutton and the No camp argued that there were no details available to ‘sort out’ as many of the details would not be determined until after the referendum result.

Now Mr Dutton has fallen straight into a similar trap, having failed to provide sufficient answers to a number of key questions in the nuclear debate.

Mr Dutton spoke at length on Wednesday about his plan to open seven nuclear reactors across Australia if he is elected at the next election.

Lithgow and the Hunter Valley are the proposed NSW locations, Mount Murchison and Tarong in Queensland and Traralgon in Victoria. Mr Dutton is proposing a location in South Australia, in Port Augusta, and another in Collie, WA.

Each of the sites contains current coal-fired power stations that are about to be closed or decommissioned.

Mr Dutton said these would be owned and operated by the government, but he had no answer as to how the government would acquire them as they are all currently privately owned and some have already been identified as future sites for renewable energy.

But the main concern among critics and the government is that Mr Dutton has not disclosed any costs for the ambitious project.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen said: ‘The reason Mr Dutton did not reveal the cost of his nuclear fantasy yesterday is because he knows it would increase bills. Nuclear energy is the most expensive form of energy there is.’

And Labor MP Julian Hill added: ‘The biggest scam in decades! Peter Dutton wants Australians to pay for his nuclear reactors, and more for electricity.

‘Nuclear energy is the most expensive form of energy. He won’t even say how many hundreds of billions of your dollars this fantasy would cost.”

Dutton also did not go into detail about how he plans to win over state premiers who are strongly opposed to nuclear power in their backyard.

Nuclear reactors have been banned in NSW, Queensland and Victoria, and all Labor premiers in those states have categorically ruled out overturning this for Mr Dutton.

When asked about that hurdle, the opposition leader said, “We will work with the state chief ministers. There is a debate about that. I see, as you know, someone famously said I wouldn’t stand between the Prime Minister and a bucket of money.’

Finally, the government of the day would need a majority in the Senate – or a policy supported by the crossbench – to pass legislation.

The Greens are against nuclear energy and will not make any concessions to facilitate its passage through the House.

Labor has already spoken out against Dutton’s proposal, describing it as “economic madness” and “ideological stupidity”.

Labour’s Julian Hill became the first Labor MP to use Dutton’s famous line, sharing a photo of a nuclear reactor with the message ‘Don’t know?’ Vote no’.

The opposition leader is already bracing himself for ‘the mother of all scare campaigns’, according to his announcement.

‘“We know the Prime Minister and his government will run the biggest fear campaigns over zero-emission nuclear power,” he said.

“But we believe Australians are open to this discussion and open to including zero-emission nuclear technology as part of a balanced energy mix.”