Communities vent frustration at Coalition's nuclear plan for their towns

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Wait for ‘the facts’Jobs promise Renewables rift

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has promised his vision to build seven nuclear reactors around Australia will “keep the lights on”.

But people in the communities earmarked to host the plants feel they are being left in the dark as to what the Coalition’s plan means for them.

“What are we actually signing up for?” New South Wales Hunter Valley resident Tony Lonergan said.

Hunter Valley landowner Tony Lonergan in front of the Dartbrook mine evaporation ponds. — Tony Lonergan says the Coalition has not released enough information. (ABC News: Sue Lannin)

“A lot of people are very enthusiastic about it without having any idea about what’s involved.”

Mr Dutton has so far released the locations of the proposed reactors and the costings.

The Coalition wants to build nuclear plants on the sites of seven coal-fired power stations which have shut, or are earmarked to close, at Tarong and Callide in Queensland, Mount Piper near Lithgow and Liddell in NSW, Port Augusta in South Australia, Loy Yang in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley and Muja near Collie in Western Australia.

“I can’t help but feel that politicians see our region as apathetic, desperate and an easy target,” Lithgow resident Tom Evangelidis said.

A power station with a column of smoke blowing up into a blue sky. — The Mount Piper Power Station supplies about 15 per cent of NSW’s electricity. (Supplied: EnergyAustralia)

In the absence of few other details, Labor established a federal inquiry into nuclear power which generated more than 800 submissions from individuals, business owners, industry groups and MPs.

The House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy, which will cease to exist after the inquiry, has toured Australia to hear from the residents whose towns have been selected to host the nuclear reactors.

Wait for ‘the facts’

A repeated request throughout the inquiry has been for the Coalition to explain what technology would be used, how much water would be needed, where the waste would be stored, how it would be transported and whether the infrastructure and technology were safe.

“Even after [the Lithgow hearing] there’s very poor details on will there be one here? When? And those concerns [about] land, safety concerns, environmental concerns; those are all very major concerns and I’ve seen no answers here today,” former NSW mining union executive Wayne McAndrew said.

“The Coalition is proposing the seven sites and I’ve seen nothing from them either.”

People sitting on chairs in an audience setting — People are frustrated by a lack of detail in the Coalition’s plan. (ABC Central West: Lani Oataway)

The inquiry’s deputy chair, Liberal MP Ted O’Brien, repeatedly told witnesses their communities would have access to a two-and-a-half year “on the ground” consultation process where people’s questions would be answered.

Outside the Port Augusta hearing, SA Liberal MP for Grey, Rowan Ramsey, urged people to wait.

“Before you condemn something, make sure you have all the facts. At this stage we don’t have them all available. We’re in opposition,” Mr Ramsey said.

But these assurances have not pacified witnesses.

“That’s not adequate in supporting the general public in forming opinions on things that affect everyone and nor is it adequate for people just to be expected to read or interpret a lengthy report,” Patsy Wolfenden from the Mingaan Wiradjuri Aboriginal Corporation in NSW said at the Lithgow hearing.

Woman stands smiling, in front of flowering bush — Naomi Godden says the nuclear plan has been “imposed” on communities without their “consent”. (Supplied)

“We have agendas that are political and are imposed upon communities without their engagement and without their initial consent in the first place,” Associate Professor Naomi Godden from Edith Cowan University told the Collie hearing in WA.

Jobs promise

One of the Coalition’s key promises is secure employment for coal industry workers who will be out of a job when their power stations close.

In the Latrobe Valley, the Loy Yang power station in Traralgon is due to shut in 2035, which is the same year the Coalition wants its first reactors to be operating.

Local resident Adrian Cosgriff said power station workers were being given false hope, and instead should be encouraged to consider transitioning to the burgeoning renewable energy industry.

“Get our coal workers involved, attract other industries as much as we can, so that when they start coming out of those power stations there’s actually work for them,” Mr Cosgriff said.

A long exposure shows a nuclear plant illuminated at night, with a white cloud of steam emerging from the top of two reactors. — The power stations selected to host nuclear have shut or are earmarked to close. (Unsplash: Nicolas HIPPERT/CC licence)

At Collie in WA, Daniel Graham from the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union shared some of the questions and concerns being posed by members.

“What am I going to do? Looking at the nuclear timeline, [I’m] just not sure how that matches up and how that’s going to help Collie,” Mr Graham told the inquiry.

Renewables rift

Like nuclear energy, the renewables industry attracts diverse viewpoints in parts of regional Australia.

The nuclear inquiry has given farmers a chance to express their anger with consultation for the rollout of solar and wind farms.

An image from the air shot from behind a wind turbine, looking over paddocks and a number of other turbines. — The construction of wind and solar farms has split farming communities. (Supplied: Infigen Energy)

Nigel Wood is a landholder near the Liddell power station in the NSW Hunter Valley, and described the process as “like living through hell”.

“It was traumatic. We were told lie after lie after lie,” Mr Wood said.

His sentiments about renewable projects are echoed by farmers in other parts of Australia including Therese Creed, who is a beef cattle producer from Queensland’s Callide Valley.

“It’s using up and consuming large tracts of agricultural land,” Ms Creed said.

“In a country like Australia where we have so much uranium, we have the ability to be self-sufficient in power production rather than outsourcing our power to foreign companies.

“I think it’s clearly a choice that nuclear is going to be preferable [to] the move towards renewables if we’re trying to reach net zero.”

A worker looks up at Liddell's smoke stacks. — Coal and power station workers are being promised jobs in nuclear. (ABC Upper Hunter: Bindi Bryce)

Despite the concerns raised, the inquiry’s chair Labor MP Dan Repacholi is confident some questions are being answered.

“This is about getting a balanced view from people and then also hearing from the experts,” Mr Repacholi said.

Eleven hearings have been held in capital cities, with most set down for a full day, but in regional communities seven half-day sessions were organised.

Mr Repacholi said the different formats were due to a range of factors including logistical challenges for the committee.