Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken aim at opposition leader Peter Dutton during a four-day tour of Western Australia, slamming his counterpart’s plan to “do nothing until the 2040s, and then have nuclear power”.
As part of his four-day visit to Western Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the Collie big battery construction site, where the Coalition has proposed building a nuclear plant by 2050.
Dutton revealed the Australian Liberal Party’s plans to build seven nuclear power plants at the Diggers & Dealers Forum in August.
“If we look at what’s happening across the world in relation to uranium demand, of the top 20 economies in the world, Australia is the only one that doesn’t have or hasn’t signed up to nuclear power,” Dutton said at the time.
“So, all of that tells you that there’s going to be an insatiable demand for uranium.”
But it’s a stance Albanese pushed firmly back against as he stood in the shadow of the coal power station where the Coalition would construct one of its seven sites.
“What Peter Dutton wants to do is stop all this, do nothing until the 2040s and then have nuclear power.”
“It’s too late, too expensive, and doesn’t provide enough energy for what West Australia needs.”
It comes after Albanese told The West Australian that he is prepared to make changes to the planned environmental watchdog in order to get it through parliament before the next election, likely to be next year.
“We’re prepared to talk and engage to make sure that we get it right, and we want to get it right with industry as well,” Albanese tells The West.
“One of the things that we’re considering is whether the new EPA would be compliance-only.
“That enables the legislation to get through the Parliament, but we’re talking with not just the Coalition but crossbenchers as well about that to see if we can get agreement.”
However, he also indicated that it was unlikely the third tranche of the Nature Positive laws could be put to Parliament prior to the election.
While in Collie, Albanese inspected International Graphite’s (ASX:IG6) processing and research and development facility to see the contribution the company has made to the development.
The Collie facility is the first downstream graphite pilot and product qualification plant in Australia and a key link in the company’s mine-to-market development strategy, including downstream processing at Collie and development of one of the nation’s largest graphite resources at Springdale.
International Graphite, which has a market capitalisation of $12.58 million, has secured $13.2 million in funding from the Australian and Western Australian governments for its role in building the battery minerals capability and supporting Collie’s economic transition.
Chairman Phil Hearse says hosting the Prime Minister and Ministers’ Bowen and Wilson, alongside the Western Australian Minister Whitby was a great privilege and illustrates the commitment and interest the government is bringing to the industry.
“We are seeing growing demand for Australian products, particularly in allied markets like the US, Europe, Japan, and Korea,” Hearse says.
“The knowledge International Graphite is acquiring from its qualification plant operations here in Collie, along with valued support from both the commonwealth and state, has been critical in helping to develop our downstream processing strategy.”
International Graphite says sample graphite products are currently being transported to potential customers in the battery materials, defence, plastics, lubricants, and aerospace industries worldwide.
Since Collie’s commissioning earlier this year, 2,000 person hours have been completed with no lost time incidents recorded.
The company adds that there are plans underway to expand the facilities to achieve nameplate capacity of 4,000 tonnes of micronised products per annum, following securing $4.5 million in funding from the Western Australian government.
The plant will be tailored to process graphite mined at the Springdale Graphite Project. International Graphite plans to develop one of Australia’s first anode production facilities for the lithium-ion battery industry.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: International Graphite
