Is nuclear dead? Signs Coalition's policy isn't buried despite election loss
The Liberals and Nationals will review their policy platforms as they assess their sweeping election defeat, which resulted in Labor claiming a majority government.
May 25 2025
SBS News
Some Coalition politicians have signalled their continued support for nuclear energy despite it being what an expert described as "electoral suicide".

Liberal MP Tim Wilson said Australia will have to "de-industrialise" without nuclear power as he backed the energy source during his victory speech this week.

The Liberals and Nationals will be conducting reviews of their policy platform as they take stock of a sweeping election defeat, which resulted in Labor claiming majority government.   



The Coalition has lost a number of its moderate MPs as metropolitan areas turned away from the Liberals. 

Wilson has bucked that trend, re-claiming the seat of Goldstein in Melbourne from independent MP Zoe Daniel, and throwing his support behind a future in which nuclear energy plays a role.

"I, in my core sense of belief, believe in the role of nuclear power," he said.
'Many' in the Coalition are pro-nuclear
Nationals MP Michael McCormack said many members of the Nationals and Liberals remain "very pro-nuclear".   

When asked if nuclear power could cause a split between the Liberals and Nationals, he told Radio National on Thursday morning: "We'll have to wait and see."

Asked to clarify his response, McCormack said: "There are many people within the Liberal Party who are very pro-nuclear, just like the National Party, and obviously there will be people who will now want to review all the policies."

"Everything will be on the table, there will be reviews by both parties," he said.
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McCormack said it's a "matter for the parties" whether a nuclear energy policy will be taken to the next election in three years' time.

"People do believe that if we're going to get to net zero, that it [nuclear] has to be part of the energy mix, there are a lot of Liberals on board with that too," he said.

However, Liberal senator Maria Kovacic said she wanted the policy to be dumped.

"The Liberal Party must immediately scrap the nuclear energy plan and back the private market's investment in renewable energy," she said on Tuesday.

How feasible is nuclear power in Australia and what would it cost? CSIRO and experts take a look



What was the Coalition's nuclear policy?
In mid-2024, then-Opposition leader Peter Dutton announced that if elected, he would create seven nuclear power plants across NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia, pledging it would lead to cheaper energy.   

The Coalition estimated the project would cost $331 billion and had planned to build the plants in the following electorates:
Liddell in NSW, electorate of Hunter
Mount Piper in NSW, electorate of Calare
Tarong in Queensland, electorate of Maranoa
Callide in Queensland, electorate of Flynn
Port Augusta in SA, electorate of Grey
Loy Yang in Victoria, electorate of Gippsland
Muja in WA, electorate of O'Connor
The party's plan to build the reactors faced opposition from members of the public as well as state premiers who were against nuclear facilities in their home states.

Dutton didn't visit any of the proposed sites during the five-week election campaign.


Blocked by the law and the states, how can Peter Dutton's nuclear proposal go ahead?

'Electoral suicide'
There were swings against the Coalition in nearly every seat where it proposed a nuclear plant, except for Flynn in Queensland, according to Australian Electoral Commission data.

Meanwhile, Labor recorded positive swings in every seat where offshore wind projects have been announced.

Adam Simpson, a senior lecturer in international studies at the University of South Australia, described pro-nuclear policies as unpopular "electoral suicide".


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But the Coalition didn't have much of a choice when it came to election promises around energy, Simpson told SBS News.

"The Coalition had to come to the election saying something about energy policy if they were going to oppose Labor's policy, and there's not really that many options," he said.

"They could have come out and said, 'We're going to use gas and or coal for eternity', but then they would have to abandon their commitment to net zero."
Fewer moderates in the party
Simpson said there are a couple of reasons the Coalition could come back with a version of the policy for the next election.

"In 2022, they lost all those teal seats. They lost a lot of moderate voices from the Liberal Party. And then that's just been exacerbated in this recent election," Simpson said.   

"There are very few voices going to be coming from metropolitan urban areas in the Coalition party room. So that's why I wouldn't be surprised if, after they do the post-election wash-up and assessment of what went wrong, they come out again with another pro-nuclear policy."

When brown-outs start happening on a regular basis as Coal powered plants die off and renewables fail to provide 24/7 electricity, then people will come around to the idea of SMRs.

Just wait.

Even China is going nuclear.

"China has expanded its nuclear power capacity at the fastest rate of any country in the 21st century, according to new data from Global Energy Monitor. Despite a moratorium on inland nuclear plants imposed after the Fukushima disaster, China is building enough capacity to overtake France within the next few years and hold the world’s second-largest nuclear fleet. Nearly half of the world’s nuclear power under construction is located in China. Its government has promoted nuclear power to shore up baseload capacity in the electricity sector and to help achieve its targets for carbon peaking before 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. But not all of the proposed buildout may come to fruition. Less than one-third of China’s planned nuclear capacity has begun construction, and China already has more cancelled nuclear capacity than any other country as a result of its pivot away from inland nuclear plants. By contrast, China has about two-thirds of the world’s utility-scale solar and wind power under construction, which, along with promising advancements in utility-scale battery technology, may reduce the need for continued additions of nuclear power."

https://globalenergymonitor.org/report/china-is-building-half-of-the-worlds-new-...

Is building as opposed to proposed buildout later in the story.

Spuds plan made up less than 4% of the grid load , we were talking about smrs on the west coast as we dont have the water to actual cool it ... then their was dry cooling which was a massive outlay ... anyway the companies well and truly have embraced renewable energy and liberals have chosen their hill to die on when we all know they couldnt deliver a watt of energy in 9 years and presided over 4gwh leaving the grid , we had Angus gas led recovery back in 2020 and prices were 4.20gj day of election may 22 34gj , now around 13 ( on east coast) in WA we enjoy a domestic gas supply agreement .. thanks WA Labor whilst the rest of the country getting absolutely gouged by the gas giants after Howard sold us out with contracts that dont expire until 2031 , the only country on face of planet without a domestic gas supply agreement... never ever ever ever vote lnp on energy policy... ever

Quote:


It should be but the Americans elected Trump so who knows.

Frank wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2025 at 12:25am:


You are forgetting about batteries. Plenty of people already live off solar alone with battery storage.

The price of all renewables is trending down, and is already cheaper than coal and nuclear.

Tasmania already has plenty of hydro power and could be connected to the eastern seaboard grid.

freediver wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2025 at 9:21am:



Ah, the south Australian solution.

You are aware that on a weekly basis they need to obtain power from the Victorian grid to prevent blackouts.
Power from coal fired plants.

You are also aware they have the dearest power in Australia.

aquascoot wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2025 at 10:12am:


Indeed. The biggest hurdle is the overcoming the ignorance and fear created by decades of misinformation.