Newly-appointed chair of Australia’s Climate Change Authority Matt Kean has completely backflipped on nuclear energy after endorsing small modular reactors in 2021, Sky News can reveal.
Sky News Australia Political Editor Andrew Clennell on Monday revealed that Mr Kean told him in an interview, while NSW energy minister three years ago, he thought nuclear would have a role to play in the future.
Formerly a proponent of nuclear power in the country’s energy future, Mr Kean has now appeared to have dismissed it as “too expensive”.
The change in opinion comes after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appointed him to lead the independent authority consulting government on Australia’s pathway to net zero emissions.
At the press conference on Monday, where Mr Kean was announced as the new chair, he expressed skepticism about nuclear power.
“I can only talk about the role that I saw it play as the New South Wales Energy Minister… We looked at all options, including nuclear,” Mr Kean said.
“In order to bring nuclear into the system, it would take far too long and would be far too expensive for New South Wales.”
The statement stands in stark contrast to his previous endorsement of nuclear during an interview with Clennell while acting as energy minister in 2021.
“There are some exciting things happening on the nuclear front. A company in the United States is developing technology around small modular nuclear reactors,” Mr Kean said at the time.
“So that’s effectively a nuclear power plant in something the size of a shipping container. Right now, the prototype of that is being developed, but we’re not expecting that to be developed until the mid-2030s.
“Into the future, will nuclear have a role to play? I think so and I hope so but right now I can’t bet on technology that isn’t readily available.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and the Coalition’s nuclear policy has envisioned a mix of traditional large-scale reactors and small modular reactors of the kind Mr Kean previously endorsed.
The small modular reactor technology is still currently under development and is not yet commercially viable.
Although Mr Kean had been hopeful about the technology just a few years ago, his new perspective has aligned more closely with the Albanese government.
Mr Albanese, who appointed the former NSW Liberal politician, has dismissed nuclear and focused on renewable energy as the path towards net zero emissions in Australia.
The appointment of Mr Kean has been flagged as a “political wedge” for the government against the opposition.
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell said on Monday: “People… have been pointing out to me, Matt Kean’s kind of gone renegade on the Libs here.”
“So, what’s to say he won’t come up with his own opinions for the government?”
During his resignation speech last Tuesday, the former NSW Liberal politician vowed to “make sure Liberal governments were elected at the local, state and federal level”.
However, Clennell suggested he has been employed by the Labor government as part of their “anti-nuclear, pro-renewables push”.
As a leading moderate within the NSW Liberal party, Mr Kean was an outspoken critic of climate denialism and had campaigned for greater national action on climate change.