Labor has launched a “special campaigning fund” to fuel an anti-nuclear fake news blitz as it begs members for cash to finance the move, amid growing backlash against the Albanese Government for responding to the Coalition’s energy proposal with a string of memes on social media.
In a newsletter briefing emailed to Labor’s membership database, ALP National Secretary Paul Erickson labelled the Coalition’s nuclear policy a “scam” and revealed it had launched a “special” fund to finance a fear campaign against the proposal.
The letter is filled with hyperbole describing nuclear reactors as dangerous and “risky” and ironically calls the Coalition’s policy “fear mongering” against renewables.
“Experts agree nuclear is too expensive, too slow to build and too risky – in fact the CSIRO estimates that the cost of a single nuclear power plant is as high as $16 billion,” Mr Erickson said in the email.
“We can’t take anything for granted in this debate – Peter Dutton will go straight to the Tony Abbott playbook and lie with a straight face every day.
“That’s why we’ve set up a special campaigning fund where 100 per cent of donations will be going towards our campaign to expose Dutton’s nuclear scam.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton unveiled the Coalition’s nuclear plan on Wednesday amid mounting pressure to unveil his policy following weeks of heightened climate change debate.
Mr Dutton said the Coalition, should it be elected next year, would build seven nuclear reactors across regional Australia as the country transitions to net zero emissions by 2050.
The plan has come under fire from several Labor politicians, some of whom have responded by sharing cartoon memes of three-eyed animals and toxic wastelands on social media.
Associate Professor Tony Hooker from the University of Adelaide told SkyNews.com.au there no evidence to suggest nuclear was any risker than wind or solar produced energy.
“I note that the website doesn’t elaborate in regard to what aspects of nuclear are risky,” the director of the university’s Centre for Radiation Research, Education and Innovation said.
“But speaking from the safety perspective, even taking into account Chernobyl and Fukushima, there is no evidence that nuclear is any riskier than wind or solar /TWh energy produced.
“All forms of solar, wind and nuclear production are comparable in safety.
“Nuclear is however much cleaner than both wind and solar in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Asked whether Australia should be moving to use nuclear power in its energy sector, Mr Hooker thought there was a “clear need for all options on the table for reliable clean, base load power to be used in the national grid”.
“Australia is not blessed with options to use hydro power as base load, and therefore nuclear provides the next best ‘clean’ option,” he said.
“Most countries that have significant reliance on renewables have access to hydro to secure their baseload requirements.
“There are no countries reliant on wind or solar alone.”
Mr Hooker supported placing large scale nuclear on sites of existing coal-fired power stations, as proposed by the Coalition.
“The transmission infrastructure is intact and will not require acquisition of large tracts of arable land,” he said.
“In addition, there is usually a ready workforce at hand at coal fired power stations as all the staff involved in a coal fired power station will be able to transition across to nuclear (e.g. engineers, trades, ancillary staff).
“All we will need to provide is nuclear engineers, nuclear security and safety personnel.”
Shadow minister for climate change and energy Ted O’Brien accused Labor of “running around with scare campaigns” instead of engaging in “meaningful debate about Australia’s future energy security”.
“Nuclear energy is the world’s most proven source of zero-emissions electricity and is already used in 33 economies around the world with 50 more looking to introduce it for the first time,” he told SkyNews.com.au.
“Meanwhile, Labor’s all-eggs-in-one-basket ‘renewables only’ experiment has not been successful anywhere on the planet.
“The biggest risk facing Australia is higher energy prices and blackouts if Labor continues to double down on its failing energy plan.”
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen was approached for comment in relation to the wording of Labor’s new campaign and recent social media commentary, but his office did not provide an official response.
On Wednesday, Mr Bowen shared a video on social media platform X, labelling the Coalition’s energy proposal as a “risky nuclear scam”.
“Peter Dutton’s risky reactor plan has no detail, no costs and no modelling,” the caption read on the post.
“It’s too slow, too expensive and too risky for Australia. It’s not a plan. It’s a scam.”
During an interview with Sky News Australia on Thursday, the Prime Minister was asked if he would urge his Labor colleagues to refrain from engaging in a scare campaign and instead focus on the facts at hand.
“We’re not going to take lectures from the Coalition that are out there running scare campaigns about everything,” Mr Albanese told Sky News Chief News Anchor Kieran Gilbert.
“Everything issue is an opportunity for them to steer away from the facts.
“This is an announcement without any detail.”
Mr Albanese said he could not recall an Opposition government “coming out with a policy such as this with not a single costing”.
“This is a mob that have not produced a costing for policies in the more than two years now with three budget replies form Peter Dutton,” he said.
Mr Dutton has not revealed the price tag of his nuclear proposal, but claimed it would cost a “faction” of Labor’s renewable energy plan.
The CSIRO’s recent GenCost report estimates the construction of one large-scale nuclear power plant in Australia could cost about $8.6 million, or even as high as $17 million.