Acting PM Richard Marles confronts nuclear barrage after Labor snubs allies in new energy pact

Labor has been forced to defend its staunch resistance to nuclear energy as the Coalition doubles down on claims the Federal Government has turned Australia into international pariah by rejecting the power source.

The Coalition escalated pressure on Labor over its decision to refuse an invite to join a new US and UK-led nuclear pact, using question time on Wednesday to push acting Prime Minister Richard Marles to explain the Government’s rigid anti-nuclear stance.

The Opposition directed all six of its allotted questions to Mr Marles on the topic of nuclear, challenging him to justify the Government’s refusal to lift Australia’s nuclear power ban and follow dozens of other nations in embracing the fuel source.

The barrage came after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Labor of turning Australia into an “international embarrassment” after snubbing its AUKUS allies at this week’s UN climate summit.

A fired-up Mr Marles — in his final day as acting PM before Anthony Albanese returns from South America — said the Federal Government wasn’t interested in establishing a civil nuclear industry because it “made no financial sense”.

“The reason we don’t seek to establish one (nuclear industry) is because to do so would be to pursue the single most expensive form of electricity in the world today,” Mr Marles said.

Mr Marles repeated Labor’s line that nuclear energy would add up to $1200 to household power bills, take 20 years to get up and running and even then contribute just 4 per cent of the nation’s energy needs.

The Coalition’s laser-focus on nuclear during question time is a sign it is confident it is winning the energy argument ahead of the next Federal election.

But Labor is happy to keep debating the Opposition on the merits of nuclear in contrast to its plan to flood the grid with renewables.

After receiving his sixth and final question on Wednesday, Mr Marles said he was “very happy to stay on this topic all day and indeed every day between now and the next election”.

Earlier, Mr Marles accused Mr Dutton of spreading “misinformation” and conflating the new nuclear pact with the AUKUS deal to fan outrage about the Government’s refusal to sign the agreement.

“I think the Opposition Leader is intentionally seeking to conflate two ideas here and frankly spread a form of misinformation really,” Mr Marles told the ABC.

“We don’t have a civil nuclear industry.

“This is an agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States to cooperate in respect of their civil nuclear industries. And so it’s simply not an agreement which would apply to that.”

He turned the tables on Mr Dutton, saying what was “embarrassing” was the Opposition’s desire to establish a civil nuclear energy industry in Australia despite warnings about the eye-watering cost and timeframes.

Coalition frontbencher James Paterson said Labor’s anti-nuclear stance meant Australia was an outlier on the world stage.

“And it is a discredit to our country that others who are serious about acting on climate change and providing reliable, affordable energy for their countries are moving on this and that we are being left behind,” he said.