By Cliff Reece
In 1947, the Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Ben Chifley (pictured above left next to Bob Hawke) – famous for his ‘The Light on the Hill’ speech, which has resonated down the years as epitomising the Labor philosophy – first guided the thinking of Australians towards nuclear power.
The establishment of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission was well on the way when the Chifley Government was defeated in 1948.
At no stage during the earlier years of the Labor Party were they against nuclear technology. The Uranium-Australian Policy which was formulated by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) during those years included the following:
“To this end Labor will establish a National Fuel and Energy Commission to assist the Australian Government in developing and implementing a co-ordinated fuel and energy policy. The Commission will, together with the Department of Minerals and Energy, provide the Australian Government with expert advice on energy.
“The Fuel and Energy Commission will: . . . monitor the exploration, development, transport, price, marketing and use of energy hydrocarbons, fissionable materials and generative water, with the object of achieving the best energy balance for Australia”.
Frank Stewart MP, who was a Labor Minister in the Whitlam government, is recorded in Hansard (22 September 1977) as having said the following in relation to the ALP’s Uranium-Australian Policy:
“I think that many honourable members in this House and many people in the media ought to direct their attention back to the years between 1969 and 1972 to see just how consistent the Labor Party has been in its policies on nuclear energy in Australia.
“At no stage have we in our policies ever been opposed outright to the development of nuclear technology.”
Former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke also supported nuclear energy. He said in 2016, nuclear power “would be a win for the environment and an essential part of attacking dangerous global warming”.
Recently, the new UK Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (pictured above with PM Albanese) described nuclear power as a “critical part” of the UK’s energy mix and pledged to get stalled projects over the line, as Labour positions itself firmly behind the technology.
He said it would “push forward” nuclear to boost energy security, cut costs for consumers and create jobs.
He accused the Conservatives of a “shambolic” failure to open any nuclear power plants during 13 years in power. He also visited Hinkley Point C in Somerset, one of a number of new plants still not operational despite having been identified in 2009 when Labour was last in power.
“My government will lower household energy bills, create jobs and ensure Britain’s energy security. Nuclear is a critical part of the UK’s energy mix,” said Starmer, who claimed Tory failure to approve the new plans had cost 7,000 British jobs.
Given the enormous support nuclear energy has received from these stalwarts of the Labor/Labour Parties both in Australia and the UK, why is the Albanese government so opposed to it?
Despite their propaganda, surely it can’t be about issues such as cost, reliability and safety because nuclear energy scores very highly on all of those factors. It’s also CO2 emissions-free, which should encourage genuine environmentalists.
The simple fact is, the Albanese government has now moved so far to the hard-left side of politics that its policies are now totally unrecognizable from those that previously existed within the ALP. Nuclear energy is just one of them.
In doing so, it has completely abandoned its traditional working-class roots.
Unsurprisingly, its supporters are now flocking in droves to the LNP Coalition.
Ironically, it has also gone out of step with similar socialist governments in the UK and other countries in Europe and elsewhere. It’s attitude towards nuclear is now out-of-date and entirely based on Albanese’s ‘Ban the Bomb’ university activist stance.
It’s hard for anyone to know what its values are and what it believes in.
What is clear, is that it is now following the direction of the Greens and Teals on climate change/global warming and other issues.
As a consequence, the ALP has now become just as climate obsessed as the Greens and Teals – and with the dopey and obnoxious Chris Bowen leading the charge as Energy Minister it’s only going to get worse!
They are hell bent on destroying our economy with their fanciful dream of a renewables-only approach that’s not being considered by any other country in the world – and is doomed to fail.
Intermittent sun and wind backed by short-life batteries simply won’t provide the 24/7 electricity we need to run our homes, factories and farms.
Meanwhile, most major countries are expanding their use of nuclear energy.
Once again, as with so many policies introduced by the Albanese government, they are completely out of step with our country’s needs and community aspirations.
Article source: https://harryr.substack.com/p/labor-prime-ministers-ben-chifley