States opposed to building nuclear power plants will be overridden if he wins office, Peter Dutton says, after name-calling Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a "fraud" and a “child in a man’s body” over the issue.
The opposition leader continued to spruik his nuclear pledge to Liberal officials during an address to a meeting of the party's federal council on Saturday.
This time, he took a decidedly more personal swipe at Mr Albanese, veering from pre-written notes distributed to the media.
“He’s a man with a mind still captured in his university years; he’s a child in a man’s body,” Mr Dutton told the loyalist audience.
"We need a mature conversation in this country," he added, referring to cartoon memes posted on social media by senior Labor MPs since he outlined the coalition's nuclear plan.
Describing Mr Albanese as “a political appeaser, not a leader of conviction”, Mr Dutton said he "places a higher value on political survival than statesmanship".
Mr Dutton responded to promises of refusal from NSW and Victorian premiers Chris Minns and Jacinta Allan to build nuclear power plants in their states.
"I don’t answer to them," he shot back.
“Commonwealth laws override state laws … so support or opposition at a state level won’t stop us rolling out our new energy system.”
Mr Dutton made clear his nuclear energy policy would form the centrepiece of the election debate.
"The next election will not only define the next political term - it will define the future and fate of this nation," he said.
But Assistant Climate Change and Energy Minister Jenny McAllister said Mr Dutton lacked any policy detail or costs, accusing him of proposing "a risky, untested experimental technology with no costs associated with it, and lack of clarity about how it will be rolled out".
"(He) is always about the politics and never about the policy," she told reporters on Saturday.
"Mr Dutton may wish to resort to personal attack but it is no substitute for actual policy."
"The bill will be met by energy users, the risks will be borne by taxpayers, and the costs will be borne by the communities that miss out on the jobs that will come about as the world moves to net zero," she said.
The coalition on Wednesday unveiled plans for seven nuclear reactors across five states on the sites of coal-fired power stations, should it win government.
The plan prompted safety concerns in regional areas where the reactors are due to be built, as well as criticism the coalition had not released any costings.
Mr Albanese was panned for adhering to "unachievable" renewable emissions targets, which the opposition said were blowing the budgets of Australians.
"He's more interested in appeasing the international climate lobby than sticking up for the interests of everyday Australians," Mr Dutton said.
Opposition frontbencher Paul Fletcher dismissed fears the nuclear policy could make metropolitan electorates harder to win at the next election, saying it demonstrated the party's commitment to achieving net zero by 2050.
The coalition faced significant challenges at the 2022 federal election in blue-ribbon, inner-city seats from teal independents who pledged greater action on climate change.
While the reactors would be built in regional locations, Mr Fletcher said those in inner-city areas would also embrace the idea of nuclear.
Under the plan, it would take until 2035 to 2037 at the earliest for the first facility to be built.
