15 May 2024

Topics: University of Melbourne protests, Labor Senator’s comments on Israel / Palestine, Christmas Island, Oberon windfarm, Snowy 2.0, nuclear

EO&E

 

Peta Credlin:

Let’s get into things with my panel, Shadow Environment Minister Senator Jonathon Duniam and senior fellow at the Menzies Research Centre, The Australian’s Nick Cater. Well, I want to start if I can, with some exclusive footage of a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Melbourne, they’ve been asked to shut down and go, but look what happened when the Deputy Vice Chancellor Pip Nicholson, asked them to peacefully move on.

 

Deputy Vice Chancellor Nicholson:

Can I have your attention, please? My name is Pip Nicholson.

 

Protestors:

(Interjections)

 

Deputy Vice Chancellor Nicholson:

I come in peace and ask you to respect your peers across the university, some of whom are deeply traumatised by the ongoing escalation…

 

Protestors:

(Further interjections)

 

Peta Credlin:

Jonno, that’s from today. Pretty shocking.

 

Senator Duniam:

Peta, it is. I mean, they’re supposed to be at university for education, not indoctrination. And to see that sort of behaviour, this loving, peaceful, tolerant approach they’re taking to this, I think is just appalling and good on the Vice Chancellor for stepping in to try and bring some sense here. What was more alarming today though, Peta, was the pre-organised approach taken by a Senator, a Labor Senator, who gave a speech to a group of assembled journalists to call out her Prime Minister to stand up for Palestine, calling out Israel as perpetrators of genocide and that we must stand up to this evil. The fact that we now have a parliamentarian willing to stand up in a pre-organised speech to say these sorts of things means that there is something very wrong in our country and the Prime Minister actually now needs to show some spine and address this head on and not try and have a bet each way. It’s too late now and he’s got to fix this.

 

Peta Credlin:

You’re not wrong. Hey, Nick, I mentioned before Christmas Island, the talk is that they’re taking out mothballs, a whole lot of interpreters have turned up. They’ve been there for five days. Residents are spotting border force activity around the old centre. This tells me they are now admitting the people smugglers are back in game.

 

Nick Cater:

This is chilling, Peta. I mean, I just hope that place would never be open again because, you know, it just carries those terrible memories of that boat being dashed ashore at the rocks and people dying before our eyes. We don’t want to see this. And the fact that Labor has let our borders get out of control to a point where they having to reopen Christmas Island really tells you something. As you know, it’s a very expensive facility to run. It’s not the ideal way to a border policy, but that’s what you’re driven to do if things get out of control. So, I think the fact that they’re opening it is a clear sign that things are out of their control and they just don’t know what to do about it.

 

Peta Credlin:

Jonno, it might sound like a little issue, but it’s really important. Locals in Oberon are up in arms that an ANZAC monument, which is an avenue of trees that was planted, they’re 100 years old now in honour of fallen diggers, will be bulldozed in order to put in a wind farm.

 

Senator Duniam:

This is not a little issue at all. Where do we stop? Where do we draw the line with what expense is appropriate to foot when it comes to this pursuit of transition to renewables? In Victoria, we saw Jacinta Allan saying that we’ll destroy a RAMSAR listed wetland, trash the environment to save the planet to build this terminal for an offshore wind farm. And now in Oberon, it’s ok to desecrate a monument to our fallen diggers, people who sacrificed their lives for our freedom and liberties for a wind farm. Honestly, the world has gone crazy if we’re going to allow that to happen. There is again something very wrong that needs to be addressed and the Premier should actually take some action.

 

Peta Credlin:

That boondoggle from Malcolm Turnbull, if I can Nick, Snowy 2.0 promised, we were told it would cost $2 billion. Another $7 billion in the budget last night. I think the total something like $12 billion. You’re in Finland. They’ve just opened up their latest nuclear reactor last year. That’s obviously the way to go.

 

Nick Cater:

Yeah, I was at the a reactor on Monday talking to the people from TVO, which is a Finnish-led consortium. It’s entirely private sector run. It’s entirely 100% Finnish-owned and I said to them, well, how much did this this baby cost? You know, it came online last year, it was very, it was late, it took longer to build – €5.6 billion. That’s 9.6 billion Australian dollars at the current rate, ie. considerably cheaper than Snowy Hydro. And for that you get a state of the art, third generation, pressurised water reactor. Best in Europe and it’s producing 1.6 GW of power which is, you know like a spare sized coal fired power station 24 hours a day. So, we are obviously going for second best and Chris Bowen’s continual claim that renewables are cheaper just doesn’t stack up as soon as you get to a country like Finland where they’re actually doing the sensible thing and pushing ahead with nuclear.

 

Peta Credlin:

We’re lucky to have you on the ground there at the moment, Nick. Gents, thank you as always. See you both next week.