Barnaby Joyce claimed intermittent power was “destroying” Australia’s landscape and said a possible future site for a nuclear plant suffered only minor damage from a 4.7 magnitude earthquake, sparking a heated debate with his fellow panellists.
The National MP and former Deputy Prime Minister joined Associate Trade Minister Tim Ayres, business chief and former ACT First Minister Kate Carnell and campaign strategist and author Dee Madigan on the ABC Q&A show on Monday night, which was hosted in Newcastle.
Audience member David asked Mr Joyce if recent earthquakes, including a 4.7 magnitude quake near Muswellbrook, New South Wales, last month, had changed his view of Muswellbrook as a potential site for a nuclear power plant.
The shadow minister responded that alternative options were intermittent power, which he said was “destroying” Australia’s landscape, or solar and wind power, the responsibility for which rests with ordinary Australians, he said.
Mr Joyce also said he was in Muswellbrook the day after the earthquake and that only minor damage had occurred.
But Mr Joyce said this is taken into account when designing a nuclear power plant.
“Remember that 30 countries in the world use nuclear energy, they are serious economies and they all face problems like this. So they design for those circumstances,” he said.
“I had lunch at the RSL club. The damage was that a chimney fell down and a couple of windows were broken.”
Barnaby Joyce (pictured) said intermittent power supply is “destroying” Australia’s landscape
However, Ms Madigan intervened, stating that there have been around 36 accidents involving nuclear power plants worldwide.
“Even the slightest increase in radiation means an increase in miscarriages and stillbirths; in the case of childhood cancers, I certainly wouldn’t want my children anywhere near one of those,” she said.
Mr Joyce was quick to ask him where he had gotten his testimony, asking him to “give it some substance” and “what are you quoting?”
“Literally science,” Ms. Madigan replied to cheers from the audience.
“And while we’re talking about wind farms, who was the politician who promoted the Sapphire wind farm in New England? Oh, that was you,” he continued.
‘How can you change your mind so quickly?’
Mr Joyce replied: “When the facts change, I change my mind.”
However, Ms Madigan hit back again, saying: “When the polls change, you change your mind.”
Dee Madigan (pictured) said there have been around 36 accidents involving nuclear power plants worldwide.
Ms Carnell also joined the nuclear debate, calling it an “incredibly cheap and very carbon neutral option”.
However, he said it was “too late” for nuclear power.
“The problem is that it’s not what happened 20 years ago, it’s what happened now. And we’ll have a problem with baseload power in 10 years, maybe in some states before that,” he said.
“So we can’t wait for nuclear now, it’s too late… we have to have another option for baseload power, and it has to be gas.”
Host Patricia Karvelas invited 18-year-old audience member Miles Punch to the debate.
Former ACT First Minister Kate Carnell (pictured) said it was “too late” for nuclear power
The Maitland teenager is studying maths and physics with the hope of studying engineering next year, and has already learned about different types of energy through his studies.
“After looking at all this from a non-political, purely scientific standpoint, our best option would realistically be to diversify our power grid to take on as many forms as possible so that we don’t lose our economy and our power grid when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining,” he said.
“We need nuclear energy, we need solar energy, we need wind energy.”
Asked about the cost of nuclear power, Mr Punch said coal was simply not sustainable forever.