Nuclear energy like ‘building a Blockbuster video’ store in the age of Netflix, says Kean
Matt Kean, former NSW minister for energy, likened building nuclear power plants in 2025 to opening a Blockbuster store “when Netflix is already here” on Q+A last night.
He was responding to policy strategist Parnell Palme McGuinness, who was urging a start to nuclear “right away” for “prosperity long-term”.
Kean said:
We’re not starting 20 years ago, we’re talking about today, and people talking about building nuclear today are the same people that are … arguing that we should be building a Blockbuster video complex when Netflix is already here.
There’s new technology which looks like wind, solar and storage … We need more energy, I agree with you, energy to the system grows our economy and under the frontier modelling it will have 40% less energy than alternative and that will mean a massive hit to our economy. Under the frontier economics modelling, there’s a $300m smaller economy for Australia, that’s the reality.
Key events
Rafqa Touma
Good morning blog readers – this is Rafqa Touma, and I’ll be taking you through the day’s live news updates. Thank you to Martin Farrer for getting us rolling this morning.
125,000 properties without power days after cyclone
More than 125,000 properties are in the dark as crews work to restore power across QLD and NSW in Alfred’s aftermath.
At 6am, there were 118,319 outages in South East Queensland, according to Energex – 4444,000 in Gold Coast, 20,000 in Redland City, 15,000 in Brisbane City, 15,000 in Moreton Bay Regional, and 12,000 in Logan City.
There were more than 7,500 properties without power in NSW, mainly in the Northern Rivers region, according to an Essential Energy update this morning.
‘Not give into bullies’: Turnbull doubles down on Trump
Malcolm Turnbull has doubled down on his criticism of Donald Trump, saying that it was “ludicrous” for world leaders to “become just a conga line of sycophants” in the hope the US president would not place tariffs on their economies.
Speaking on ABC’s 7.30 program last night, the former prime minister said world leaders should “not give in to bullies” after Trump lashed him in a late-night social media post. The US president was responding after Turnbull said his “chaotic” policies played into China’s hands.
Here’s our full story:
How Brisbanites are responding to Cyclone Alfred
Our team of reporters have been busy talking to people and finding stories in the aftermath of Cyclone Alfred.
After some of the wettest weather the city has ever seen, Brisbanites are feeling Covid flashbacks and cabin fever as they cope with being unable to go outside.
There was a different sort of problem for Amber Butler whose partner had to drive her to hospital through the height of the storm to give birth.
And when the storm forced a wildlife hospital to close, a koala recovering from abdominal surgery bunked up with a possum in Mallory Wilson’s house in Nerang.
Shark attack fears after surfer missing off WA coast
Emergency services are scouring waters for a missing surfer feared taken by a shark after a surfboard with bite marks was recovered off a remote southern beach, Australian Associated Press reports.
The “reported shark bite incident” was being investigated at Wharton beach in the Duke of Orleans Bay area, about 60km east of Esperance, the state’s primary industries department said on Monday.
Police said that at 12.10pm, there was a report of a “possible surfer in distress”.
“A surfboard with evidence of bite marks has been recovered from the water … but no surfer has been sighted,” police said in a statement.
“It is believed the surfer was the victim of a serious shark bite incident.
“A shark was sighted in the area a short time prior, and beachgoers left the water.”
Police, Marine Rescue WA, and SES personnel were searching the coastline for the missing surfer.
Ipswich avoids more severe flooding as Brisbane and Lismore residents return to inspect damage
Ben Smee
The city of Ipswich west of Brisbane appears to have avoided more severe flooding overnight by mere centimetres – the Bremer River peaking just below the major flood level.
Some parts of the Ipswich CBD were inundated and some homes underwater, but residents had been narrowly watching the Bremer, which peaked at 11.49m, just shy of the major flood level of 11.7m.
Some of the focus in Queensland today will switch to the west, including the Lockyer Valley, which was particularly badly hit in 2011.
The town of Laidley was inundated and flood sirens were sounded in Grantham. The warnings are a legacy of the 2011 event that swallowed the town.
In places like Brisbane and Lismore, locals are returning to inspect flood damage.
But there are still active warnings that the threat might not be over. More rainfall and thunderstorms associated with ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred are expected in flood-hit areas on Tuesday.
Richard Scolyer reveals brain cancer has returned
Former Australian of the year Richard Scolyer has revealed his brain cancer has returned and surgery to remove it was unsuccessful.
Scolyer was diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer in 2023 and it was treated with pioneering immunotherapy based on his own research.
In a post on Instagram on Tuesday evening Scolyer said “unfortunately there is a larger volume of quickly growing brain cancer (glioblastoma) in my left brain”.
“The prognosis is poor.”
Some of the tumour was removed last week but “some of it couldn’t because of its site”, he wrote.
He said the immunotherapy and other cancer treatment he received “may have made a difference in my brain tumour and survival”, but more work was needed in a clinical trial to prove this.
“Either way I am proud [of the work],” he said. “I hope [it] will make a difference for others.”
Scolyer told the Sydney Morning Herald the medical prognosis was that he has “months, not years” to live.
More on that competition report:
One area examined by the taskforce was non‑compete clauses, which can be written into employment contracts to prevent or restrict an employee from joining a competitor or starting their own rival business.
These clauses have been used to unreasonably prevent workers moving to more desirable jobs in industries such as childcare and the broader care sector.
Workers affected by non-compete clauses experienced a 4% lower wage relative to comparable workers without non-competes, Andrew Leigh is due to say in his speech today.
“Recent Productivity Commission modelling suggests reforming non-competes could permanently lift Australia’s productivity and GDP, by allowing workers to move more easily to higher value jobs, and by facilitating firm entry and expansion,” he will say.
The taskforce, which was set up in 2023, also examined the aviation sector, finding competition had helped to “bring down prices, improve service, and give Australians more choices in the skies”.
“Because when competition works, consumers win.”
The federal government has also announced it will contribute $1.2m to jointly launch the social enterprise loan fund alongside other investors.
The fund intends to provide capital for social enterprises, especially those providing employment opportunities for people facing barriers to work.
Competition change could boost household finances, Leigh to argue
Household budgets would be bolstered and cost-of-living pressures would ease under proposed changes to the nation’s competition policy, the federal government says, Australian Associated Press reports.
The assistant treasurer, Andrew Leigh, will today reveal the findings of a government taskforce in a speech to the Economic Society of Australia in Perth later this morning.
Leigh will argue a revitalised national competition policy could result in an ongoing boost to GDP of up to $45bn, according to Productivity Commission modelling – an increase of up to $5,000 a year for every household.
The commission also estimated proposed changes would lower prices by an estimated 0.7% to 1.5% in the long run, he said.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Rafqa Touma with the main action.
In sad news that broke yesterday, former Australian of the year Richard Scolyer has revealed his brain cancer has recurred and his “prognosis is poor”. More on this soon.
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have both cancelled fundraising events with donors amid heightened sensitivity about political campaigning in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. We reported exclusively last night that the prime minister had decided to postpone a dinner with 10 wealthy donors in Sydney because of fears he could be accused of insensitivity in the same way Labor attacked Dutton for attending a plush event with pubs tycoon Justin Hemmes. But the Coalition leader then cancelled another event.
Thousands of homes are still without power, schools remain shut and the threat of further flooding remains in Queensland. We will have the latest from the areas hit by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Plus, our political correspondent writes that while the storm may have blown Albanese’s election plans off course, his high-profile response could help him win back voters.
There’s been another sharp selloff on Wall Street overnight on fears that Donald Trump’s economic policies could lead to a recession in the US. The benchmark S&P 500 index fell 1.4% to its lowest point since September, while the tech-focused Nasdaq has slumped by 2%. The ASX is on track to open down 0.81% later this morning as a result so a government plan to improve household finances being outlined by Andrew Leigh this morning is well timed. More coming up.
