Our coal fired power stations are nearing the end of their life, making them more expensive and less reliable to run. Replacing them with new coal fired power stations would severely drive up energy prices at a time when the cost of renewables is rapidly declining. New South Wales has a plan to transition electricity supply to renewables backed up by battery storage and renewables already represent 37 percent total power generation. But our progress is at risk by the federal Coalition’s proposal to abandon renewables, extend dirty coal power into the 2040s and then replace it with nuclear power. The CSIRO estimates that nuclear power costs two to six times as much to build than renewables and extending coal will cost more, lead to service disruptions and raise greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear power’s baseload delivery would also require rooftop solar to switch off to avoid overwhelming the network. In Parliament, I called on all sides of the house to continue our multipartisan support for the roadmap to renewables.

My speech > HERE