One of the federal Coalition’s most senior figures has made clear he expects Queensland’s new LNP government to fall into line on nuclear power should the Coalition win the next federal election.
David Crisafulli and the Queensland LNP ran on a platform opposed to nuclear power in Queensland, at odds with their federal Coalition colleagues.
The federal Coalition has detailed a plan to roll out nuclear power nationwide should it win office, including two nuclear power plants in Queensland.
It is expected to provide detailed costings for its energy policy before the end of the year.
Mr Crisafulli insisted while campaigning for office that his position would “remain consistent” should the Coalition win power.
But in the wake of the LNP’s election win in Queensland, federal Nationals leader David Littleproud has made clear he would expect all states, including Queensland, to fall into line should the Coalition win the next federal election.
“We expect that if the Australian people give us that mandate, the state premiers around the country respect that mandate, and we get on with the job,” he said.
“We’ll get a mandate from the Australian people.
“We have to manage a national energy grid that transcends past Queensland into other states.”
David Littleproud expect all states to support the Coalition’s nuclear power plan if it wins the next federal election.
And he floated the possibility of using federal powers to intervene if the states were unwilling to comply.
“We will work with the Queensland government to ensure that we can get there,” he said.
“Collectively, there are federal powers that exist but we don’t want to have to use them.”
Appearing on the ABC’s election night panel, LNP frontbencher David Janetszki appeared to soften the LNP’s position on nuclear.
“Our position has been that it is a decision for Canberra, it’s not part of our plan,” he said.
Asked to clarify what that would mean should the Coalition win office, he would not weigh in.
“That’s hypothetical heaped on hypothetical,” he said.
Federal Labor sees silver lining in Qld defeat
Federal Labor figures are downplaying the significance of the election loss for their own electoral prospects, arguing the result could have been much worse.
Labor’s primary vote dropped close to 7 per cent across the state and the trend was more pronounced in regional areas.
But federal Labor frontbencher Murray Watt said it was not all bad news.
“Queensland is a tough state for Labor federally and the record shows that. But I actually take great hope from the results last night in Queensland,” he told Sky News.
“Our vote hasn’t gone backwards too far in the seats around Cairns, which is the federal [Liberal-held] seat of Leichardt.”
Labor frontbencher Murray Watt says the Queensland election results are not all bad news. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
And he said the drop in vote for the Greens in some inner-Brisbane seats was encouraging for Labor’s chances in those contests.
“Last night was a terrible result for the Greens,” he said.
“It gives us real hope that we can reclaim the seat of Griffith, and potentially gain the seats of Brisbane and Ryan as well when you look at those state results.”
Coalition figures were also buoyed by the Greens results, given two of the three seats held by the Greens in Queensland — Ryan and Brisbane — were previously in Liberal hands.
