By Emily Kaine

Copyright brisbanetimes

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has said that “nuclear has to be part of the mix of a rich and prosperous country,” in response to Liberal MP Dan Tehan’s claims that Labor’s net zero policy was not working, and that nuclear energy should replace gas and coal.

“But the reality remains that if you want to be serious about reducing emissions, that nuclear has to be part of the mix in a rich and prosperous country, just like the other nations around the world,” said McKenzie this morning on Sky.

“Like so many other industrial economies around the world, it needs to be part of our mix if we’re going to keep thousands of jobs onshore and our sovereign capability.”

McKenzie said her party plans to “have conversations” with Tehan about what a specific nuclear policy might look like.

“I don’t want to get to 2035 and wish that we had have removed the moratorium on nuclear power generation in 2025 that’s the scenario. We’ve got a backyard full of uranium that we’re exporting to the world to make them richer in a low emissions environment. We should be using it here at home to drive down the cost of energy and also maintain our industrial price. That’s actually what’s at risk on the Labor Party policy. So we’re going to have conversations about what a specific policy will look like with Dan,” the Nationals senator said.