❓ Minister Logan confirms a previous Liberal government considered and acquired land for a nuclear power station at Breton Bay. The current government intends to prevent nuclear development on the site, favouring renewable energy or disposal.
AnsweredQoN 905Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Has any previous state government seriously considered nuclear energy for Western Australia? Mr F.M. LOGAN
Has any previous state government seriously considered nuclear energy for Western Australia? Mr F.M. LOGAN
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Kingsley for that question. It may be a surprise to the member for Kingsley and to many people under the age of 40 that the answer to that question is yes. In 1978 the then Court Liberal government commissioned a report to study the most appropriate and likely sites for the construction of a nuclear power station on the coast of Western Australia. A 234-hectare site at Breton Bay, just north of Seabird and south of Ledge Point, was identified as a result of that report. Mr C.J. Barnett : Your history is wrong. Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
Mr F.M. LOGAN replied: I thank the member for Kingsley for that question. It may be a surprise to the member for Kingsley and to many people under the age of 40 that the answer to that question is yes. In 1978 the then Court Liberal government commissioned a report to study the most appropriate and likely sites for the construction of a nuclear power station on the coast of Western Australia. A 234-hectare site at Breton Bay, just north of Seabird and south of Ledge Point, was identified as a result of that report. Mr C.J. Barnett : Your history is wrong. Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
I thank the member for Kingsley for that question. It may be a surprise to the member for Kingsley and to many people under the age of 40 that the answer to that question is yes. In 1978 the then Court Liberal government commissioned a report to study the most appropriate and likely sites for the construction of a nuclear power station on the coast of Western Australia. A 234-hectare site at Breton Bay, just north of Seabird and south of Ledge Point, was identified as a result of that report. Mr C.J. Barnett : Your history is wrong. Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
Mr C.J. Barnett : Your history is wrong. Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
[The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
Mr F.M. LOGAN replied: I thank the member for Kingsley for that question. It may be a surprise to the member for Kingsley and to many people under the age of 40 that the answer to that question is yes. In 1978 the then Court Liberal government commissioned a report to study the most appropriate and likely sites for the construction of a nuclear power station on the coast of Western Australia. A 234-hectare site at Breton Bay, just north of Seabird and south of Ledge Point, was identified as a result of that report. Mr C.J. Barnett : Your history is wrong. Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
I thank the member for Kingsley for that question. It may be a surprise to the member for Kingsley and to many people under the age of 40 that the answer to that question is yes. In 1978 the then Court Liberal government commissioned a report to study the most appropriate and likely sites for the construction of a nuclear power station on the coast of Western Australia. A 234-hectare site at Breton Bay, just north of Seabird and south of Ledge Point, was identified as a result of that report. Mr C.J. Barnett : Your history is wrong. Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
Mr C.J. Barnett : Your history is wrong. Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
Mr F.M. LOGAN : I am not wrong at all. The site was identified in a report and then purchased from a family trust by the then Court Liberal government in 1981 with the express intention of building a nuclear power station on it. The government also put in place the planning regulations required for that to be done. It put a three-kilometre buffer zone around the entire site and it sterilised land that had been owned by the people in that area for the past 25 years. As I discovered on Sunday - the member for Moore would appreciate this because it is in his electorate - it is an absolutely beautiful site. I have a photograph of the site where the then Liberal government wanted to locate a nuclear power station. It is a beautiful site. I table the photographs. [The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
[The photographs were tabled for the information of members.] Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
Mr F.M. LOGAN : That site would be appreciated by the public as a camping site and it certainly is appreciated by the public as a good site for fishing. I have met quite a number of people who pass through that site on their way to very good fishing spots. The reservation of this land for a nuclear power station was very nearly a secret chapter in the WA Liberal Party’s history in the creation of nuclear power in this state. It was the Liberal Party’s experiment. I intend to bring that dark and sorry chapter in WA’s history to a close. Given the fact that the Switkowski report has identified Western Australia as an appropriate site for at least two nuclear power stations, and given that the federal government is committed to building nuclear power plants in Australia, and probably two in Western Australia, we are going to remove the opportunity to build a nuclear power plant on the Breton Bay site from the federal government and from any future Western Australian Liberal government. I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
I intend to put a series of options to my colleagues in cabinet; that is, to either use that site for the generation of renewable power by wind turbines or dispose of that site and put that money where it should be; namely, in renewable energy in Western Australia. As the Premier said, we will fight the federal government every step of the way on nuclear power, and we will bring to an end the dark and sorry chapter of the Liberal Party’s experiment with nuclear power.
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