Do some research Tim
Tim Quilty suggested on November 13 that Australia should spend a small amount of money on a transition to nuclear energy. He should have read the 2006 Switkowski report on nuclear power in Australia, the 2015 South Australian Royal Commission and the 2017 Finkel review. These publications make it clear that nuclear power in Australia faces several hurdles, the biggest being cost.
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Nuclear power is significantly more expensive per kilowatt hour than coal and renewable resources. Switkowski and the SA Royal Commission were unequivocal that nuclear power would require a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme to make it competitive, thereby increasing power prices for Australians.
This leaves physical inertia within our power systems to provide power security as the only reason to pursue nuclear. Physical inertia can be more cost effectively provided by pumped hydro. Without commercial viability, nuclear power in Australia would require big government action and socialisation of power production to the detriment of consumers - in other words, Ayn Rand's worst nightmare, an erosion of individual economic freedoms and a betrayal of the libertarian free market values that Mr Quilty claims to stand for.
Australia is currently the world leader in the adoption of renewable power despite political efforts to embrace coal and nuclear. If our politicians could stop being victims of the Tullock paradox and truly embrace free market capitalism, renewable energy would flourish in Australia and we would rapidly leave fossil fuels behind.
Ross Hamilton, Albury
Bishop has it right
The Bishop of Riverina Donald Kirk has described water as "the essence of life" and argued that the water market is infringing on the spiritual needs of people in the Murray-Darling Basin.
In his opening address at the diocese of Riverina's annual synod, the Bishop stressed that water should not simply be available to the people with the deepest pockets, saying: "We've lost sight of what water is; it's not a commodity, it the very essence of life, we cannot survive without water."
Bishop Kirk sees the ongoing damage from our federal government's failed water management, in particular the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. Yet we continue to have a Water Minister in denial, acknowledging the plan is not perfect but it's the best we've got so we will plough on and deliver it "in full and on time" regardless of the damage.
What a sad and sorry state we have in our nation when a federal minister and his government is unwilling to admit that mistakes have been made, nor have the courage to take the steps necessary to rectify if. Meanwhile, farmers and communities which rely on them are sacrificed like lambs to the slaughter, because the political ramifications of decisive action may be too great.
There are short and long-term solutions, if only the government would listen. But all we get are the well-paid bureaucrats and the Water Minister telling us that everything is fine; let's keep going with this 'plan'. It is for these reasons that I will be joining the Convoy to Canberra on December 2 and 3. We need the Prime Minister to intervene so Basin Plan 2.0 can be developed to achieve the right balance in water management that protects our farmers, communities, environment and food security.