Greenwash Political Action Party and Urban Grassroots Movement for the Green Party

Monday, June 05, 2006

The real nuclear debate

Finally we appear to be about to stop having a debate about whether to have a debate about nuclear power. It has been a clever tactic by Howard and his supporters to try label those opposed to nuclear power as opposed to even discussing the idea. To try and describe the anti-nuclear movement as almost religious for refusing to even talk about the topic.

So, if we’re going to have a debate, let’s have the real debate - the debate that puts the problem - climate change - not one supposed ‘solution ‘ - nuclear power - at the centre of the discussion. Because I think that Howard’s current nuclear push is in part his attempt to switch to the ‘good’ side of the climate debate without losing face from yet another backflip.

Since coming to office, both Howard like President Bush have been on the wrong side of the climate debate - lining up with the coal, aluminium and oil industries. Both right-wing leaders have at various times have denied aspects of climate change science, denied the seriousness of its impacts or denied their policies were responsible for the developing calamity that is engulfing our planet.

Yet all of a sudden both leaders are so concerned about climate change they want a nuclear debate. They are effectively being forced to switch sides, because their polling is no doubt showing the same thing that polling everywhere shows - that the vast majority of the population (somewhere between 80-95%) is deeply concerned about the consequences of the rapidly changing climate.

Of course the nuclear push is also an attempt to detract from the real debate that was just starting to heat up in Australia – whether to risk our future with coal or go renewable. But now the waters are being cleverly muddied by including the nuclear power option that Australia is never going to accommodate anyway.

I thought Lenore Taylor’s comments on Insiders on ABC TV on May 24 were spot on. She noted that Australia’s transport and industry sector greenhouse emissions were set to increase by 53% and that if Howard was really bringing on a debate about nuclear power because of climate change, then we should be seriously discussing those sectors.

Of course Howard had other reasons for bringing on nuclear debate, including wedging Labor (with Martin Ferguson’s help), the need for something to talk about on his recent overseas lap of honor, and overshadowing other troubling domestic issues like AWB and Costello’s leadership aspirations.

However with the PM determined to bring on the debate on nuclear we should take him head on, showing the insanity posed by any further expansion of any aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle in Australia and the urgent need to tackle climate change with renewable energy and energy efficiency.

So yes, let’s have a debate – but a debate about the real solutions to climate change and why nuclear power will not get us there.

Tomorrow: the real issues: uranium exports and enrichment, why nuclear wont help with climate change and the big one - the terrorist threat.

posted by Ben Oquist # 5:29 PM 0 comments