Resources minister Matt Canavan reinforces the case for coal as Turnbull battles Coalition energy policy critics
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| The Nationals federal council passed a motion calling on the government to back high-energy, low-emissions coal-fired power stations. |
The Nationals have urged the federal government to support new coal-fired power plants and lift the ban on nuclear energy.
The party’s federal council in Canberra on Saturday passed a motion calling on the government to back building high-energy, low-emissions power stations to provide reliable and affordable power.
A separate proposal from the Young Nationals urging federal and state governments to abolish rules stopping nuclear power plants being built and uranium mining also succeeded.
The call for new coal-fired power station comes as the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, fought internal divisions over energy policy.
The resources minister, Matt Canavan, reinforced the case for coal, as conservative backbenchers agitated for its use to drive down power bills.
“I don’t want to live in a nation where we just export our energy to the rest of the world to help their development, jobs and pensioners,” he told the Nationals council.
“We need to use some of that here and we don’t think it’s a sin to do so.”
Party delegates also resolved to push the parliamentary Nationals to give urgent money to drought-stricken farmers to maintain breeding stock and help grain growers sow crops.
The council also requested South African and Zimbabwean farmers whose land has been “expropriated without compensation” are given humanitarian visas.
But Victorian MP Damian Drum warned against white Africans being given special treatment.
“When we pick a specific group like this and say we want to give them special recognition then we tread on a very dangerous path,” he said.
But Canavan said he believed because they were white, African farmers were being treated differently to Syrian or former Yugoslavian refugees.
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