PETER GARRETT FLIP-FLOPS ON NUCLEAR POWER

In an April speech at the Sydney Institute, Garrett, Labor Member for Kingsford Smith and former Midnight Oil front-man, announced that despite what he saw as unresolved issues, nuclear power should be openly debated:

Open debate on this issue is to be welcomed but as someone who has watched for 25 years nuke proponents say they have the magic bullet for safe radioactive waste disposal, we’re still waiting.

Garrett has changed his mind:

Federal Labor MPs have shouted down New South Wales Premier Bob Carr's call for a debate on the merits of nuclear power at the ALP's state conference in Sydney.

The option has been described as a no-brainer by federal backbencher Peter Garrett.

"The issues that bedevilled it in the 70s and 80s still bedevil it today," he said.

He says it is too expensive and is too dangerous, with radiation risks and problems of waste disposal.

If the disadvantages of nuclear power are so obvious, it should be a short debate. Let's have it.