It is heartening to see that the nuclear debate is being reopened in Australia, one of the most coal dependent countries in the world. Julie Bishop, Foreign Affairs Minister has said that nuclear energy remains an option for Australia, describing it as an “obvious direction” as it considers how to cut carbon dioxide emissions after 2020.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Ms Bishop called for an open discussion about the feasibility of nuclear power, given Australia’s abundance of uranium, but accused Labor of resorting to a scare campaign when the issue was raised during the Howard government years.

Ms. Bishop flies to Lima, Peru, in just over a week to attend the annual United Nations climate conference. Australia will face pressure to announce its post 2020 climate targets.

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Ben Heard is a leading Australian environmentalist, who changed his mind nuclear in light of climate change. He founded Decarbonise SA, which aims to end the trench warfare between renewables and nuclear in Australia, and pull together in the national interest.

As the nuclear debate thankfully reopens in Australia, we can look back at Ben’s closing statement at the Big Ideas event titled “We’ve Seen the Future and It’s Nuclear” in Sydney in 2012 and hope to see more events of this kind in future! The debate was written up by John Morgan here. He shows the dramatic shift in attitudes to nuclear amongst the audience before and after the discussion.

In this short video, Ben makes a closing statement, where he explains that when asked to compare renewables and nuclear:

It’s like comparing bicycles with trucks. Frankly, I prefer bicycles. But when I moved house, I didn’t strap 40 bicycles together. They do different jobs

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Australia retains one of the most coal dependent electricity supplies in the world. How can proponents of renewables and nuclear power respectively get out of our trenches and pull together for the national interest in a responsible path for decarbonisation?

Find out more about Decarbonise SA here.