‘We’re not serious’: Coalition senator says nuclear ‘ain’t the cheapest’

Footage has emerged of prominent Nationals senator Matt Canavan saying nuclear power isn’t the cheapest energy a week after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton released long-awaiting costings claiming it would save taxpayers money.

In footage first uncovered by the ABC today, Canavan bluntly criticised nuclear during a podcast appearance with the National Conservative Institute in August.

“Nuclear is not going to cut it. We’re as guilty of this too, we’re not serious,” he said.

“I fully support getting the ban (on nuclear energy removed), we’ve got a bill in the Senate to get rid of it.

“We should build some nuclear power stations. They’ll help our system.

“But we’re latching onto it as a silver bullet, as a panacea, because it fixes a political issue for us – it’s low-emission and it’s reliable.

“But it ain’t the cheapest form of power.”

In response to the comments surfacing, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said: “I don’t agree with Matt Canavan about much but he’s right about this.”

”We’ve always known their expensive nuclear scheme was a stitch-up. Now one of them finally admitted it.”

He claimed it would be $263 billion cheaper than the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s renewables plan and would likely reduce power bills, although failed to specify by how much.

“This will make electricity reliable, it will make it more consistent, cheaper, for Australians and it will help us decarbonise as a trading economy as we must,” he said.

“Similar cost savings can be achieved with shorter-lived technologies, including renewables, even when accounting for the need to build them twice,” CSIRO chief energy economist Paul Graham said.

“The lack of an economic advantage is due to the substantial nuclear re-investment costs required to achieve long operational life.”

The federal government has also said the figures don’t stack up.

“This will totally be funded by taxpayers because no private sector investor will go anywhere near this,” Albanese said over the weekend.