Editorial-30 December 2006

 

 

 

 

Has John Howard's Hubris Overwhelmed His Political Acumen?

 
 
 
 

 

 

The Weekend Australian, following a commissioned Newspoll, reports that "Just 35 per cent of voters support the construction of nuclear power plants across Australia - down from 38 per cent in May [while n]early 40 per cent of voters remain strongly opposed to nuclear power."

 

Furthermore, "[o]nly 24 per cent of women support nuclear power compared with 47 per cent of men. Support is also stronger among Coalition voters, with 51 per cent backing nuclear energy - compared to just 29 per cent among Labor supporters".

 

It would be surprising if those members of the Federal Coalition in marginal seats aren't raising a sweat with an election in the offing and a quick witted leader of the Labor opposition being given a campaign issue on a platter, so long as he and Julia Gillard don't overplay their hands, get distracted from the real issues affecting the nation or dampen down the internal squabbling that has significantly damaged the Labor Party in recent times.

 

Mr Howard appears to have ignored the cautionary advice of the international expert group chaired by the Chief Scientist Jim Peacock who said, "we really don't have the right sort of training courses in our universities or other institutions now, and even if we choose the option, which we probably should, while we're developing such courses, of sending people away to other places in the world where that training could be taken right away, we still think it's quite a challenge and it will involve much larger numbers than was mentioned in the draft report."

 

And the group also commented in its brief to Dr Switkowski's taskforce, "Expansion of nuclear fuel cycle activities need not be part of a response to climate change".

 

It will be interesting to see how Mr Howard stands up to the opposition within his own party to his backing of the use of nuclear power within Australia.

 

But it just may be that what started out as a ploy by the Prime Minister to strangle support for renewable energy technologies as well as R&D for geothermal initiatives in order to advance clean coal technologies, increased mining of uranium and possible onshore value-added processing, has become an obsession, and with what appears to have become an almost Napoleonic arrogance Mr Howard believes he can force through despite being an election impediment.

 

Who knows, the 2007 election may even reach the heights of becoming an intriguing spectator sport.

 

 

Alex Reisner

The Funneled Web