Anthony Albanese has backed Steven Miles’s opposition to nuclear power while joining the Queensland premier on the first day of pre-poll voting in the state election.
At a joint press conference in the Gold Coast on Monday, the prime minister was asked about Miles’s plan to hold a plebiscite on nuclear if Labor wins this month’s poll.
Albanese said the proposal was a “matter for Queensland”, but supported the incumbent premier’s stance against nuclear power.
“What I certainly hope occurs is that Steve Miles is elected premier of Queensland. That’s what I want to see happen, because that’s a way of making sure that this nuclear fantasy [is stopped],” he said at a joint press conference with Miles.
Miles revealed the plan to call a vote on the issue in an exclusive interview with Guardian Australia, perhaps at the next federal election.
The premier said he hadn’t run the idea past the prime minister before making it public.
The nuclear facilities prohibition act both bans nuclear power and requires a plebiscite on any commonwealth plan.
“I’ve said I’ll comply with the law,” Miles said.
“[Opposition leader] David Crisafulli has said he does too, but I wonder whether he actually intends to hold that plebiscite.”
The Liberal National party leader refused to give an answer as to whether he would support a plebiscite, but called the premier’s comments “divisive”.
“We have an energy plan, and we will be rolling out that energy plan, and it doesn’t involve nuclear,” Crisafulli said.
He dodged questions about why he opposed the plans for nuclear power stations proposed by his federal counterpart, Peter Dutton.
The federal opposition leader will take a plan for seven commonwealth-owned nuclear power stations to the next election. That includes two in Queensland, replacing existing coal plants at Callide and Tarong.
The Liberal National party leader, who voted for the state’s renewables and emissions reduction targets earlier this year, has gradually hardened his position on green power.
Crisafulli said last fortnight that he would extend the state’s coal fleet beyond their planned closure dates.
He later dismissed Labor’s legislated green power transition as “fanciful”.
Crisafulli also dodged questions on abortion laws, again giving no commitment not to allow a conscience vote by his party members on a bill to be introduced by Katter’s Australian Party next parliament.
“I’m not giving you the answer that you want but I’m giving you the answer Queenslanders deserve,’ he told journalists
“There is an act in place that allows that and there’ll be no change to the act, none.”
Albanese and Miles took the Gold Coast light rail to Monday’s press conference at Parkwood, paying just 50c apiece for the journey, with the prime minister joining the campaign for the first time as pre-poll voting in the state election opened.
Miles had earlier declared he didn’t need Albanese’s backing. “David Crisafulli might think he needs some of Peter Dutton’s rizz to rub off on him, but I don’t,” Miles said last week.
Dutton joined Crisafulli 10 days ago, in the first week in the election campaign.
Standing in front of a pull up banner reading “all fares 50 cents”, Albanese backed his Labor left counterpart as a “new premier” leading a government that could “regenerate”.
“I’ll tell you what, this bloke here is going to get better and better,” he said.
All ballots in the election must be cast by 26 October.
