It strikes me that somewhere in the overall nuclear and energy debate, perhaps we should find room for an apology to the much derided Whitlam government minister for Minerals and Energy, Rex Connor.
Although his methods of raising finance were somewhat unorthodox and he was dismissed by his contemporaries as being “as mad as a hatter” and in the scheme of things, led to the downfall of the Whitlam government, with the passage of time and in hindsight, he might be regarded as something of a visionary with his big thinking and big ideas of energy development, particularly in the area of uranium enrichment and nuclear energy.
The Financial Review on Feb 12, 2015 notes: “Only several decades ago, most traditional Labor types were pro-nuclear. Until the 1970s, progressives viewed the nuclear industry as promoting the scientific possibilities for human advancement”
Meanwhile, here we are in 2022 and Chris Bowen and Labor continue to milk nuclear energy for their own base political purposes and to hell with solving the looming energy crisis.