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Anti-nuclear activists protested outside a fundraiser at the Double Bay bowls club on July 11, hosted by Nationals MPs Keith Pitt and David Gillespie, advocates of the Coalition’s nuclear power plan.

Chanting “Nuclear is not the answer”, the protest started near the Double Bay wharf, taking to the main street before marching to the bowling club.

James Langley, a regionally-based teacher with a background in nuclear physics, said: “The idea that building a nuclear industry is logistically possible for Australia let alone environmentally responsible is an absolute farce.

“What we need and what the community has been demanding for decades … is investment in the infrastructure and training to support renewable energy generation.

“This would generate more jobs, dollar for dollar, than sinking billions of taxpayers’ money into a ridiculous nuclear fantasy.” 

Organiser Lilli Barto said Dutton’s plan is about “trying to create a culture war” because “that’s the only type of political context in which people like him get elected”. 

New South Wales Greens Senator David Shoebridge said Dutton has not provided a solution for the nuclear waste, costings and no timetable to deliver a single megawatt of power.

“It’s clear that the Coalition’s nuclear power play is really aimed at delaying critical investment in Australia’s renewable power future.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Langley said. “We fought this crap in the nineties; we fought it in the early 2000s, and we’ll fight it again for as long as we have to.”