Compare the pair: PM reignites nuclear energy debate

The prime minister will launch his attack in a contest of energy policies, as he draws on hard-learned lessons from the Queensland election.

With a federal contest on the horizon, Anthony Albanese will waste no time pivoting strategy to court regional voters.

Mr Albanese will help open a new TAFE facility on Tuesday in NSW's coal heartland, where he will emphasise its role in bolstering the area's renewable energy workforce, before revealing a new renewable energy project in the Victorian city of Wodonga.

The two announcements invite Australians to draw direct comparisons between Labor's clean energy transition plan - which includes a host of specific renewables projects - and the opposition's nuclear proposal.

"Creating jobs, investing in our regions, reducing emissions and bringing down power prices - that's what we're delivering," Mr Albanese said.

"Peter Dutton and the coalition want to deliver the most expensive form of new energy - nuclear - in two decades' time, but refuse to tell Australians what it will cost them."

These lines echo Queensland Labor's campaign in the run-up to last Saturday's election.

Although the party ultimately lost government, the margin between the two major political players narrowed when Labor turned its attention to the Liberal National Party's plans and pointed to apparent holes in policy.

And now, the prime minister is taking this approach to the national stage.

The federal and NSW governments will invest $60 million across five years for the Hunter Net Zero Manufacturing Centre of Excellence at the TAFE in Newcastle, and another $17 million to help fund Australia's first commercial concentrated solar thermal heat plant, slated for completion in Wodonga by 2026.

Meanwhile, the opposition's plan to establish nuclear power plants in seven locations, including the Hunter Valley, has been met with scepticism and doubt.

At a parliamentary inquiry on Monday, Australian Nuclear Association secretary John Harries warned Australia might need to build twice as many nuclear power plants as currently planned to meet energy demands in 2050.

This could require as many as 100 nuclear reactors, Dr Harries said.

Energy will be a key issue at the upcoming federal election and the policy battle is expected to play out in the resource-rich electorate of Hunter.

Though Hunter has always been held by Labor, as a major coal hub, it remains a marginal seat that is easily swayed by energy issues.

And now, Hunter's MP Dan Repacholi is leading the government's charge against nuclear power.

As chair of the nuclear power select committee, he has vowed to act on behalf of his constituents and demand answers to questions raised by the opposition's plan, drawing a clear frontline in the energy wars.

A federal election must be held by May 2025.