Ex-Treasurer says nuclear energy inevitable

Former Treasurer Joe Hockey says Australia will inevitably have to embrace nuclear energy, appearing to support the Coalition’s plan to build seven nuclear energy plants.

Mr Hockey told the National Press Club on Thursday power-hungry data centres spurred by the growth in artificial intelligence would force Australia to reconsider its energy needs, and pointed to the incorporation of nuclear technology in the US.

“I don’t know how we’re going to meet the massive demand for energy over the next few years,” said Mr Hockey, who now runs a Washington-based advisory firm Bondi Partners, and was Australia’s US ambassador between 2016 to 2020.

“My view is small nuclear reactors are coming and we’re going to be buying. Whoever’s in government will be buying.

“Other than that, I don’t want the lights to go out on my kids, my grandkids.”

Mr Hockey also pointed to Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates, who had recently signed a deal to reopen a unit of the infamous US nuclear power plant Three Mile Island to power Microsoft’s data centres by 2028.

While the Coalition has yet to release its costing for its nuclear strategy, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he believed Australia had a “huge play” and was a “natural home” in supplying data storage for other countries, however we currently lacked the energy output.

“The reality of AI is that it is going to need that baseload power. It’s not going to rely on intermittent power. It’s not going to rely on the storage capacity that we have now,” Mr Dutton said on Monday.

“At the moment, I think we’re playing ourselves out of that game.”

Mr Dutton has previously said the first of the government-owners generators would come online from 2035, with sites proposed in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has repeatedly called on the Opposition to release the costings and modelling of the plans.

“It’s been months – more than three months – since Peter Dutton announced his nuclear sites,” Mr Bowen said on Monday, following Mr Dutton’s speech.

“He said the costings and details would follow, and the Australian people are still waiting. The Australian people deserve better. They deserve the details.”

Mr Hockey also shared his opinion on the upcoming US election, saying that while Ms Harris was winning the “enthusiasm battle,” Republican candidate Donald Trump was “very competitive”.

“I think out of every 100 people voting for Trump, four to five would not admit it. They’re just going to do it,” he said.

“And polls have just been consistently wrong about Trump. Take Wisconsin: They underestimated Trump’s vote by 7 per cent in 2016 and they underestimated by 5 per cent in 2020.”

Despite this, he didn’t go as far to tip a winner, stating: “You’d be a fool to call it now”.

Mr Hockey said he also believed Australia was in an “incredibly good position with both candidates,” and backed the work of current US ambassador and former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd.

“I was hoping to get through the National Press Club without mentioning his name, but Kevin Rudd is doing a pretty good job,” he said.