Past failures and current mistakes to haunt Labor

LET’S take a trip down memory lane. First stop: 2008. Then PM Kevin Rudd’s assistant treasurer was Chris Bowen, who devised a scheme for keeping a lid on cost of living pressures called ‘Grocery Watch’.

It was an unmitigated disaster and was shelved within months. In 2010, Rudd was shelved by his colleagues in favour of Julia Gillard.

Second stop: 2011. Bowen was immigration minister and there was no end in sight to unauthorised arrivals, some meeting a tragic fate. Who could forget those scenes off Christmas Island and the needless loss of 50 lives?

Bowen’s response was the “Malaysian Solution”, where for every 800 unauthorised arrivals Australia sent to Malaysia, the Malaysians would send 4000 unwanted refugees in return.

The High Court, in a 6-1 decision, declared the “solution” was illegal. In less than two years, Gillard was gone and the Tony Abbott-led Opposition swept into office on a promise of stopping the boats.

Third stop: 2019. Chris Bowen, as then shadow treasurer, devised a policy to abolish franking credit refunds, which would have hit selffunded retirees and older Australians hardest. Bowen’s slogan at the time would have to be one of worst of the modern era: If you don’t like our policies, don’t vote for us.

A majority of Australians agreed. Now Bowen, as energy minister, is at it again. Bowen insists nuclear power would push up prices and crowd out cheaper and cleaner technologies, adding that people who seek to argue for it “perpetuate the climate wars”. So much for emotion. Let’s have a look at the facts.

Just ask anyone in the UK and Europe how renewable energy has worked out for them. Power prices have increased at least five times over the last year. Germany, which once held itself out as the leader in renewable energy, is scrambling to reopen coal-fired and nuclear power plants just to limit the damage.

Japan is reversing its moratorium on nuclear power plants, instituted after the Fukushima disaster.

What is more, according to the International Energy Agency, nuclear power plants present one of the most cost-effective opportunities for low-carbon generation.

There is increasing evidence to suggest Australia could have competitively priced electricity generated by nuclear power well before 2030 with the building of small modular reactors, which, importantly, lend themselves to use particularly in remote communities.

All of this must be called out by any opposition leader worthy of the name. Peter Dutton has nothing to lose by offering a clear policy alternative on energy that means we don’t have to worry about turning on the aircon. In this endeavour, Chris Bowen, and his record of failure, is Dutton’s most potent weapon.