Data centre boom reignites nuclear debate in Canberra

Nationals Leader Matt Canavan, speaking on Sky immediately before Bowen, hit out at the government for opposing nuclear at a time when AI and data centre demand for power is rising.

“We’re going to need more energy, so we should be mindful of that,” Canavan said on Sky News, ahead of Bowen’s appearance.

He said 30 countries around the world are building large-scale nuclear reactors and “we remain really the only continent on earth without a nuclear reactor, except for Antarctica” despite having an abundant supply of uranium.

“You can see the Googles, the Amazons, the Microsofts of the world are all supporting the building of nuclear power stations to power their data centers. So why has Chris Bowen got it right and Microsoft got it wrong? Why is Chris Bowen right to say no to nuclear but Google is supporting them in the United States?”

The context: Canavan also took a swing at the government over the government’s solar share deal to provide three hours of free power in the middle of the day saying it’s like “the free set of steak knives”.

“Giving three hours of free power in the middle of the day means prices will go up every other hour of the day,” he said.

“Nowhere has succeeded with this approach, this renewables-only approach, yet the government remains committed to something that is not working.”

He also hit back at the default market offer, which as reductions of up to 10% for households.

Canavan said the default market offer isn’t something that ends up directly in the bill, noting a “10% reduction after a 40% increase is next to nothing”.

“Ever since we obsessed over this wind and solar stuff it’s been a disaster and so we need to change course, or we need to make a choice”.

Bowen said when the Coalition was in government more gigawatts of dispatchable energy left the grid than came online.

He said the figure being cited by Canavan, suggesting electricity bills are collectively $23 billion worse, is hypocritical as a significant portion of this was due to the actions of the Coalition.

“Energy bills are too high,” Bowen conceded, noting it’s a result of both the international energy crisis and “10 years of denial and delay”.

“No one’s suggesting mission accomplished,” he said, but he outlined some of the progress including 460,000 households with cheaper home batteries and progress on solar. He also noted he has a “sensible middle ground approach” on gas, noting it is necessary to back-up renewables before getting to heavy industry and home heating that are “separate matters”.

He said Australia is at the forefront of electrification and needs to “keep our very focused approach on this transition”, hitting back at “rhetoric from the Coalition”.

What they said: Canavan said that “in the government’s rush to increase taxes on Australians, they seem to have forgotten that the biggest issue raised with me is the cost of living. The government doesn’t have a plan now to lower living costs for Australians”.

“I want us to take forward a targeted focus to the next election of delivering cheaper energy, lower taxes, and fewer migrants,” he said.

“I want to see more cities built, I want to see more babies, I want to protect Australian values,” he said, warning that if Australia continues on its current path it’s “going to end up like Singapore”.

Bowen pointed out there “was a debate at the last election ... the Coalition had a nuclear plan”.

“The Australian people had a pretty strong view about it just over a year ago. If they want to have that debate again in the next election, I’m very happy to have it.”