Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

I can only repeat what I said. They are not allowed under law. There is no proposal before the government for a nuclear power station. We are well short, probably decades short, of any contemplation of a particular site for a particular power station. We only have one nuclear reactor in Australia; it has been operating at Lucas Heights safely for decades. But there is no proposition before the government or contemplation of particular nuclear power stations or sites. What we want is a sober, sensible debate about the role that nuclear power may play in Australia’s energy future if we are to meet the huge demands for extra energy that will accumulate over the years ahead and how we do that without adding to our greenhouse gas emissions. We invite the Labor Party to play a sober, sensible part in that debate.