Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is looking for an earthquake excuse to launch a new attack on the alliance's nuclear policy

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised a long-standing criticism of the alliance's nuclear policy during a news conference with Queensland Premier Steven Miles, arguing it is unsafe to build reactors in areas that have “experienced a major earthquake”.

Nuclear power has not featured heavily in the Queensland election campaign for either major party, but Miles caused a stir on Monday when he appeared to suggest he would hold a referendum on lifting Queensland's ban on nuclear power if he won.

Clarifying those statements when pressed by reporters, the Prime Minister explained that state law required the government to hold a vote if and when it was clear that the federal government was seriously considering implementing nuclear power and that he was simply committed to following the law.

Asked for his thoughts, Albanese acknowledged that the referendum on repealing the state's nuclear ban was a “Queensland matter”, but expressed hope that a Labor win would end the coalition's “nuclear fantasy”.

The Prime Minister initially highlighted the fact that Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has so far failed to pinpoint an exact cost for the plan, then raised the specter of safety when he repeated previous claims that seismic activity could pose a threat to any reactors built in vulnerable areas. From earthquakes.

“One of the sites is in Newcastle that has witnessed a fair amount of underground activity in recent months,” he said.

“I mean you don't build a nuclear power plant in an area that has had a major earthquake in Australia; in Newcastle where a lot of people lost their lives and which has had recent seismic activity as well.”

This is not the first time Albanese has cited the risk of earthquakes as a reason to avoid building nuclear plants, but the claim is widely disputed by experts.

They highlight countries such as Japan, which has 33 reactors and experiences stronger earthquakes much more frequently than Australia, saying low levels of seismic activity would not pose a threat to the safety of any plant.

However, this has not stopped the government from citing earthquakes as an issue when criticizing the coalition's plans.

In June, Murray Watt, then agriculture minister, also brought up seismic activity when discussing nuclear power, specifically highlighting the 2011 Fukushima disaster that was caused by an earthquake off the coast of Japan.

While Watt correctly pointed out that Australia also occasionally experiences strong earthquakes, it has never experienced an earthquake of the size recorded near Fukushima.

Australia's largest earthquake occurred at Tennant Creek in 1988 and had a magnitude of 6.6, making it about 3,981 times weaker than the earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan in 2011.

The earthquake Mr. Albanese referred to occurred in 1989 and measured 5.6 on the Richter scale. 13 people died as a result, and more than 160 others were injured.

According to Geoscience Australia, the agency responsible for monitoring seismic activity in and around the country, Australia only experiences damaging earthquakes, of magnitude 5 or higher, once every one to two years on average.

Strong events, magnitude 6 or higher, tend to occur about once every decade.

Defending his comments on Monday, the Queensland Premier also sought to attack his political rival, Liberal National Party leader David Crisafulli, by suggesting he might go back on an earlier pledge not to try to overturn the state's nuclear ban.

“I said I would abide by the law,” Miles said.

“David Crisafulli also said he would abide by the law. The law prohibits the use of nuclear power in Queensland, but also requires a minister to hold a referendum once he reasonably believes the Australian government intends to build a nuclear reactor.

“I said I would abide by this law, and David Crisafulli says he does too, but I wonder if he actually intends to hold a referendum.

“I saw (Federal Liberal Leader) Peter Dutton being really honest about this when they had that joint press conference. The first step to getting nuclear reactors in Queensland is to elect David Crisafulli,” Peter Dutton said.

Miles added that the first step towards “derailing” nuclear energy development in Australia was the re-election of his government, a claim which was supported by the Prime Minister.

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