08-07-2024: Liberal National Party (LNP) opposition leader Peter Dutton has fired the first shot in the run up to the next Australian federal election, which is due by May next year. On June 19, Dutton outlined the locations of seven proposed sites for the building of nuclear reactors across the states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. The LNP proposal is essentially to replace coal fired power with zero carbon nuclear energy.[1] The reactors will either be traditional large-scale reactors OR the much more compact small modular reactors. Peter Dutton may well be one of the most politically conservative politicians Australia has ever seen, but this move exposes the Australian Labor Party (ALP), the Australian Greens and their reformist left tails. These parliamentary and non-parliamentary “left” parties jump up and down about the eminently correct need for climate action – but reject the enormous potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when it comes from nuclear technology. What is more, the right-wing leader of the opposition outflanks the faux left from the left by insisting that the newly built reactors will be government owned.[2]

Election gimmick?

Some have claimed that this LNP position is an election gimmick, given that the proposed reactors may not be operational until the 2030s, and that the claimed lowering of the power bills as a result will remain sky high for the next ten years. This may be somewhat true, but it is also the case that the ALP and the Greens drive for “renewables only” is impractical and basically impossible. In reality, both the ALP and the LNP will drag their feet to the last minute before putting in place serious measures to replace coal fired power entirely with zero carbon energy sources. Yet, Dutton is correct to say that emissions reductions targets, let alone net zero, will not have a chance of succeeding without the implementation of a nuclear energy rollout. Make no mistake, the climate crisis is accelerating which in Australia particularly is leading to more notably frequent and intense floods, bushfires, droughts, storms and cyclones. Australia was hit with five cyclones during 2023, and 2023 was the hottest year in the 174-year record of kept data on climate, by a huge margin. The ten warmest years since 1850 have all occurred in the past decade. Polar sea ice coverage in the Antarctic was the lowest on record in 2023. It is now 47 years since planet Earth had a colder than average year.[3]

The climate crisis is just one of the environmental crises facing the world. Yet it is critical that all zero carbon energy sources need to be brought online, in the “right mix”. Some solar and wind power may be the most appropriate in some areas, but for serious zero carbon energy generation, nuclear energy cannot be ignored. The antiquated anti-nuclear stance of the 1980s should be left in the past, and even nuclear fusion – the fusing rather than the splitting of the atom – should have assigned resources. In recent decades, working people have lost their fear of nuclear energy. Even the event at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan in 2011, while a serious accident, resulted in zero deaths from radiation exposure.[4] Despite this, the ALP posted memes on social media in response to the LNP proposals of the three eyed fish from The Simpsons fame, as well as a three eyed Blinky Bill.[5] Such levity is easily debunked with even a cursory awareness of recent advances in nuclear technology.

AUKUS

Peter Dutton has cornered the ALP with its claims of nuclear safety concerns by pointing out that the ALP is driving the AUKUS (Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America) military alliance, which has a central proposal of the development of nuclear-powered submarines. If animals grow three eyes from being within kilometres of a nuclear reactors, perhaps the same fate will befall Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel, living and sleeping next to a nuclear reactor in a submersible! Despite this, both the LNP and the ALP are in lockstep with the insane plans of US imperialism for provocations and ultimately a hot war with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This is despite the PRC being Australia’s largest trading partner by far, in both imports and exports. The only use for nuclear powered submarines eventually coming to Australia is for long range sorties thousands of kilometres to the north into the South and East China Seas. Not only does the US and the token ADF not stand a chance in any type of military confrontation with the giant and technologically advanced PRC, the Australian economy would likely collapse overnight if Beijing decided, in response to attacks, that it no longer needs access to Australian markets.

Working people in Australia and internationally have no interest in confrontation, let alone conflict, with Red China. On the contrary, the socialistic PRC’s economy is setting an example by leaping ahead in seven league strides while the Western capitalist economies flounder in its wake. This above all, is one reason why Washington, London and Canberra are tilting for a war they cannot win. Some members of their respective ruling classes are well aware that a war on China, especially with its allies such as Russia, Iran and the DPRK, is indeed futile and would prefer to continue to profit from commercial engagement with Beijing. Moreover, arguably Peter Dutton’s plan for public ownership of at least a large part of Australia’s energy generation is a nod of recognition towards the PRC. The “Middle Kingdom” and its economic success of the past forty years is due in no small part to the fact that almost all of its major and strategic means of production are state owned as a huge gain of its triumphant 1949 socialist revolution. This doubly applies to the PRC’s vital infrastructure, such as its roads, railways, ports, water, electricity and telecommunications facilities. None of these crucial sectors operate solely for profit, but rather enable vast amounts of economic activity to flourish.

Workers should not join the woke left in opposing the LNP’s plans for zero carbon nuclear energy, given the dire climate crisis waiting in the wings. At the same time, the LNP and the ALP’s unconscionable drive to World War III (with China, Russia and other Washington named “rogues”) must be stridently opposed. AUKUS must be abolished, the ADF must be withdrawn from the South China Sea, relations with the Russian Federation must be re-established, and weapons shipments to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan must be terminated. Not only must one section of Australia’s energy generation be publicly owned, but so should all energy sources from generation to distribution to maintenance. All infrastructure – energy, roads, railways, ports, airports – should be immediately returned to public ownership. This will at least be a first step towards driving down the horrendous cost of living expenses now endured. Ultimately, energy and infrastructure need to be publicly owned and held in trust by a workers’ state, the fruit of a successful revolution. Led by a Marxist vanguard party, the labouring masses will ensure that socialism forever ends needless wars and capitalist chaos.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] https://www.9news.com.au/national/coalition-nuclear-energy-policy-explained/e3b0cabb-9b46-49f1-87f2-acecdb6d1aea (03-07-2024)

[2] www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2024/06/19/dutton-plans-nuclear-reactors-at-seven-sites-in-five-states/ (03-07-2024)

[3] www.noaa.gov/news/2023-was-worlds-warmest-year-on-record-by-far (03-07-2024)

[4] www.unscear.org/unscear/en/areas-of-work/fukushima.html (03-07-2024)

[5] www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-21/albanese-reponds-to-nuclear-meme-critics/104005762 (03-07-2024)

Image: Cooling towers for nuclear reactors, which release only steam. http://www.skynews.com.au