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Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly O’Shannessy said the ACF had supported the Coalition for Conservation when it was founded and helped it set up some of its early conferences, but it opposes the group’s shift towards nuclear and no longer has anything to do with it.
Cristina Talacko speaks with former European Parliament MP Stanley Johnson during an event at the Glasgow climate talks in 2021.Credit: Getty
O’Shannessy said it was the foundation’s view that the small modular reactors being advanced by the organisation are decades away from commercial deployment, and advocating for them delays the transition to renewable energy.
The group has also lost the support of Environmental Leadership Australia.
At its outset the group appeared to have only loose ties with senior members of the federal Coalition, but since it started advocating for nuclear and opposing renewables, its standing appears to have increased.
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Talacko travelled to the Dubai climate talks late last year with seven Coalition MPs, including energy spokesman Ted O’Brien, Bridget McKenzie, Andrew Bragg, Perrin Davey, Dean Smith and Kevin Hogan.
Talacko said the MPs’ travel was paid for by the Coalition for Conservation.
While in Dubai, O’Brien appeared at a side event hosted by the group and the World Nuclear Association and gave a speech endorsing nuclear energy for Australia.
In February, Talacko was part of another delegation that included O’Brien which travelled to Canada to visit Ontario Power Generation. Coalition figures often cite Ontario as a state that is successfully integrating nuclear energy into its power system, but OPG is also a business seeking to export its technology.
The company’s head of new nuclear growth, Gary Rose, posted on LinkedIn in February: “Today we had an opportunity to share with a delegation from Australia information regarding OPG’s New Nuclear/SMR program. The world is watching the great things that are happening here in Ontario.”
Last year Rose told a podcast: “My job is to look at what other nuclear opportunities exist … we’re also supporting new nuclear deployment in places like Poland, Estonia and a number of other discussions going on with a number of different countries like Australia, Czech Republic and others.”
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