Union slams “false hope” in nuclear push, warns energy jobs at risk


Queensland’s sparkies have been warned of the “huge risk” to thousands of jobs in renewable energy posed by nuclear plans.

The Electrical Trades Union told electricians and apprentices in a mass mailout on Wednesday that nuclear energy was a “radioactive pipe dream” that could not replace coal-fired power stations.

National policy director Katie Hepworth says the “false hope” offered by the LNP on the premise that coal-powered stations can keep running is “letting down coal communities”.

“The ETU members, our maintenance workers, who work in these power stations know that they’re being held together by all the will in the world, but they know they can’t hold on forever,” Dr Hepworth told AAP.

“There is a huge risk that if what they’re being given is a fantasy of a nuclear power station without an entire industrial plan and a renewable plan, that they’re just going to be thrown on the scrap heap again.”

Apprentices are among those voting for the first time on Saturday when Queensland goes to the polls.

Dr Hepworth said the ETU was trying to give them a vision of the economy they were stepping into as the next generation of workers.

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