Chris Bowen, Ted O’Brien exchange brutal barbs over climate and energy as battle over nuclear and vehicle emissions heats up

Shadow energy minister Ted O’Brien has continued his attacks on Chris Bowen and the government’s new “ute tax” as the minister dismisses the Coalition’s ambitious nuclear policy.

The Energy Minister and his opposition counterpart renewed their attacks on each other during separate television appearances on Sunday morning as the fight over energy and climate heats up.

Speaking to Sky News Australia’s Political Editor Andrew Clennell on Sunday Agenda, Mr O’Brien declared the Coalition would look at introducing nuclear power within 10 years of getting elected.

He said Australia was “already a nuclear nation” and would not be starting its project of transitioning coal-fired power plant sites to nuclear energy reactors “from scratch”.

However, the shadow energy and climate minister left his most scathing criticism of his government counterpart for last.

Asked whether the government should abandon its proposed vehicle emissions standards, Mr O’Brien launched an all-out assault on Mr Bowen.

“Nothing Chris Bowen says is true. He hasn’t delivered on any one of his promises. And so I would just dismiss immediately any guarantee when it has a dollar figure against it that Chris Bowen says,” Mr O’Brien said.

Under the government’s new plan, a cap will be placed on emissions both passenger and light commercial vehicles can emit with the limit progressively decreasing to 2029.

It will see regular cars as well as utes, vans and popular American-style pickup trucks be forced to reduce emissions by 60 per cent – encouraging manufacturers to produce more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles.

But the Coalition has claimed the government has “failed to strike any balance” between emissions, price and choice.

Mr O’Brien said the opposition didn’t oppose a fuel efficiency standard “in principle”.

“But that’s not what this is, this is a tax,” he said.

“I mean, at the end of the day, if you are going to have Australians pay up to $25,000 more for their vehicles, that is a tax.

“Australia’s top five vehicles will not meet the standards introduced by Labor. They are going to be taxed in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.”

However, Mr Bowen staunchly hit back at the Coalition’s “ridiculous scare campaign” arguing the price of popular utes would not increase.

He claimed vehicle efficiency standards across the world, pointing specifically to the United States, had not resulted in a sharp rise in the cost of larger cars.

“This is just a ridiculous scare campaign from Peter Dutton. Peter Dutton is arguing that Australians deserve less choice and should be paying more for more petrol. He can make that argue if he wishes,” Mr Bowen told ABC Insiders on Sunday.

The Energy Minister said the Coalition had gone “backwards” under Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as then environment minister Josh Frydenberg had vaguely committed to fuel efficiency standards in 2017.

“The Liberal Party has gone so backwards under Peter Dutton’s watch and so negative that they oppose our policies and they oppose their own,” he said.

“Any big reform worth doing is subject to a scare campaign that’s been the case for reforms in Australia over the last 40 years.”

The fight over emissions clouded the Dunkley by-election campaign, with the Opposition Leader touring car yards across the electorate and the country.

But the climate battle has spilled over to Australia’s energy future, with the Coalition gearing up to announce its policy on nuclear power.

Sky News understands the Opposition will nominate sites where coal-fired power stations are being decommissioned as they would have connections to the power network and be less controversial.

The government has consistently shut the idea down, arguing nuclear is the most expensive form of energy – an attack line Labor will hone in the lead-up to the next election.

The Coalition however has rejected suggestions it would be too difficult for Australia to adopt nuclear power.

Mr O’Brien said leading energy experts around the world had advised Australia “could have nuclear up and running within a 10-year period”.

He said Australia had to “learn from other countries” on a lower emissions, cheap energy grid otherwise it would be “locked into a pathway dictated by Labor, who has lied to the Australian people that prices are going to get down”.

Responding to the shadow minister’s nuclear timeline, Mr Bowen said: “Tell him he’s dreamin”.

He rejected the claims of “experts” and said the experience in Europe and the United States, where there is already a developed industry and regulatory framework, was that power plants could take up to 20 years to come online.

“Ted O’Brien thinks he can do it in Australia from 10 with a standing start, no regulations, with it banned not only nationally, but in the three most populous states,” he said.

“I mean throw in the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and you might sell him something.

“The problem is with all Mr Dutton and Mr O’Brien’s cases for nuclear, when you put scrutiny on them, they crumble like a Sao in a blender.”