Ukraine Invasion Should Push Australia to Embrace Nuclear Energy: Former State Leader

Men work at the construction site of the so-called Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Lubmin, northeastern Germany, on March 26, 2019. Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a lesson to Australian leaders on the need for energy independence and should spark the development of its nuclear energy industry, according to Australian Senate candidate Campbell Newman.

The former Queensland premier and now-candidate for the Liberal Democrats was also critical of tech billionaire and green activist Mike Cannon-Brookes’ attempts to continue calling for more renewable technology as a means to shore up Australia’s energy sovereignty.

Newman said the slow response by European leaders to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was in part due to an over-reliance on Russian energy sources, which they were reluctant to disrupt.

“I believe very strongly that one of the big reasons that Putin has gambled on this is because he thought that the energy dependence of Western Europe, particularly Germany, meant they wouldn’t oppose him,” he told The Epoch Times. “He thought he had them on the energy issue, and he does have them on the energy issue.”

Former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman speaks to media at Qld Parliament House in Brisbane, Australia, on Jan. 6, 2015 Glenn Hunt/Getty Images

“If we then turn to Australia, we have plentiful fossil fuel resources, which the green movement and indeed now sadly, large sections of the (Australian) Labor Party and potentially the [governing Liberal-National] Coalition want to shut down while not even being prepared to embrace nuclear power.”

The former engineer said Australia’s abundance of gas, coal, and uranium should make it the producer of the “cheapest baseload electricity in the world.”

“It’s a problem not only for independence, but it’s also a problem of competitiveness when businesses are competing against companies paying [for electricity] in places like Texas,” he said. The southern state has some of the cheapest electricity prices in the United States and the developed world.

Australia’s energy providers have responded to increasing pressure to shut down emissions-heavy power sources, like coal, for the sake of climate change action.

Yet, ongoing concerns have been raised that the move to renewable energy such as wind and solar will prove costly and end up being an unreliable source of electricity.

The issue has been exacerbated by strong opposition to emissions-free nuclear energy development in Australia, which is currently banned under a 1990s moratorium.

Electricity poles in Ayr, Queensland, Australia, on March 27, 2017 Peter Parks/Getty Images

National energy sovereignty has come under the spotlight amid increasing threats to global supply chains in recent times.

For example, since 2000, the German government, led by Angela Merkel, has sunk over 189 billion euros (US$222 billion) into renewable energy subsidies while moving to shut down all nuclear power plants by this year and coal plants by 2030. Yet, emissions levels have remained the same since 2009.

Further, the policy contributed to Germany’s increasing reliance on Russian LNG imports—a potential diplomatic lever against German authorities if a geopolitical dispute arose.

Over the course of last week—amid Putin’s invasion into Ukraine—current Chancellor Olaf Scholz was forced to make sweeping changes to its energy policy, announcing on Feb. 27 that Germany would build two terminals to import LNG from other sources, begin building a national gas reserve, and consider prolonging the operation of its nuclear and coal power operations.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine crisis has led tech billionaire and Atlassian co-founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, to claim that if European nations had a heavier reliance on renewable energy, it would have freed them from their dependence on Russia.

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes is pictured during the announcement of a new Tech Hub near Central Station in Sydney, Australia, on June 25, 2020. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

“A reminder as petrol, gas and coal prices soar due to a horrible war … the price of the sunshine and wind powering 30 percent of our grid and all our electric vehicles … hasn’t changed. It’s still a $0 cost input. Energy independence comes from renewable abundance,” he wrote on Twitter.

Cannon-Brookes has led the charge for Australia’s energy transition, which culminated in an ambitious AU$8 billion takeover bid—along with asset manager Brookfield—for AGL Energy, responsible for providing energy to 4.5 million households and businesses. He was hoping to buy-out the company to speed-up decarbonisation efforts. The bid was rejected, however.

Steve Baxter, tech investor and star of Australia’s Shark Tank television series, responded to the move saying Cannon-Brookes needed to prove it was viable.

“I have no problem with it unless on their path to this clean energy utopia they need the government to tilt the field in their favour,” he told The Epoch Times in an email.

“This could be more or continued energy subsidies for green energy, requirements for transmission investments that favour unreliable energy projects over others, and in general anything that requires the government to favour any interference in the energy market.”

Solar panels are seen on the rooftop at AGL's new Docklands office in Melbourne, Australia, on August 20, 2015. Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Newman meanwhile said the bid was not driven by an altruistic motivation based on climate change action, but was in fact driven by profit.

“When someone’s making money, I would suggest in this case that the Australian people are going to be worse off and lose money,” he said.

Newman also pointed out that Australia’s renewable energy industry was still heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing.

“If he’s advocating for solar panels to be purchased from the People’s Republic of China, then I fail see how that provides energy reliability,” he added.

“My challenge to Cannon-Brookes is to put your money into producing solar panels here in this country—it has to be a big plant to provide our needs and employ Australians here—not import stuff, all the stuff has to be made here.”