Howard Determined to Make Nuclear Energy an Election Issue in Australia

Australian Prime Minister John Howard seems determined to make nuclear energy an election issue in his country:

A ROBUST election-year debate over nuclear power is assured after John Howard backed its role in meeting Australia's future energy needs.

Releasing the final report of his nuclear energy taskforce - chaired by Ziggy Switkowski - the Prime Minister attacked Labor for being locked into the past, and said he was confident he could win over a sceptical public to the merits of nuclear power.

"If we are interested in the future, if we are looking into the future and not looking back over our shoulders to the past, we have to factor in nuclear power as part of the solution," Mr Howard told reporters at Kirribilli today.

While nuclear energy was not a "silver bullet" to meeting the nation's energy needs, Mr Howard said it would be "nationally indolent" of him to put it forward.

"A nation like Australia with all our uranium reserves, and given our power needs and the fact that they will double between now and 2050, we would be crazy in the extreme if we didn't allow for the development of nuclear power,'' he said.

For more on that nation's debate about nuclear energy, click here, here and here. For a look at how his position plays out politically, visit The View from Benambra.

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