PM SHOULD RULE OUT NUCLEAR POWER STATIONSFOR TOWNSVILLE WHEN HE VISITS TODAY

The Prime Minister, John Howard, should rule out Townsville getting any nuclear power stations when he visits the city tomorrow, the Minister Assisting the Premier in North Queensland, Craig Wallace, said today.

Mr Wallace said while Herbert MP Peter Lindsay backed nuclear power stations, Mr Howard should show leadership and rule out the North going nuclear.

“John Howard should show he is not the Mr Burns of Townsville and Thuringowa,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we already know Peter Lindsay is Mr Smithers.”

A report released last year identified Ross, near Townsville, and Strathmore, west of Bowen, as two likely nuclear power station sites.

As well as problems with radio-active waste and hot exhaust water “cooking” the Reef, nuclear reactors are likely to impact adversely on the region’s water supply.

“We do not want North Queensland known as ‘beautiful one day, radioactive the next’,” Mr Wallace said.

Last month John Howard unveiled a new accelerated plan for a nuclear Australia.

He released guidelines for an expanded nuclear power industry and future nuclear power stations.

Mr Wallace said John Howard’s visit to the city provided a perfect opportunity for him to rule North Queensland out of any future nuclear power station development.

Media inquiries: Paul Childs, Craig Wallace’s office, on 0407 131 654.