Dear Committee Secretary,
The purpose of this brief letter is to share recent research and analysis conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs (“the IPA”) into Australian energy policy with the Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications (“the committee”) as it conducts its inquiry into the Environment and Other Legislation Amendment (Removing Nuclear Energy Prohibitions) Bill 2022 (“the bill”). Attached to this letter are two research reports, one from April 2022 titled Australians Back Nuclear Power, and one from June 2022 titled Australia’s Net Zero Energy Crisis: An Analysis of the Electricity Price Implications of Net Zero Emissions by 2050.
The IPA strongly supports the bill because repealing prohibition on the construction and/or operation of nuclear installations would, over the medium-to-long term, expand the availability of usable and reliable baseload power in Australia.
Australia is currently experiencing significant and structural disruptions to the national energy market, with wholesale and retail prices rising rapidly as a result of the closure and expected further closures of coal and gas power plants…
