The Victorian Nationals MP in a region earmarked for a nuclear reactor by Peter Dutton has failed to meet with key constituents and community groups despite calling for “conversation” on the issue.
The Loy Yang coal-fired power station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, in Darren Chester’s Gippsland electorate, is one of seven locations shortlisted for nuclear reactors under the energy policy the Coalition will take to the 3 May election.
Chester has not expressed a personal position on nuclear energy but has called for “a calm and rational conversation” based on “facts, technology and environmental science” rather than fear, politics and “media-driven hyperbole”.
Speaking on ABC Gippsland radio, he said despite “small protests” at his office “a lot of other people contact me and say, ‘This is a policy direction we need to go in’.”
But several constituents have told Guardian Australia their attempts to raise concerns have been ignored.
East Gippsland resident Nola Kelly said she emailed Chester twice in early 2024 to request information about the Coalition’s nuclear policy but received a generic response.
She then made three phone calls between December and March requesting a meeting and was eventually told due to parliamentary commitments and the election a meeting “may be a while off”.
Kelly says she was being “fobbed off” because she is a member of the Greens, though she said she was seeking answers as a constituent and not as a political activist.
“I’m no radical,” she said. “I’m 76 – I’m not chaining myself to poles. I just want to have a conversation like he says he wants.”
Dan Caffrey, the president of the Latrobe Valley Sustainability Group, said he contacted Chester’s office in August 2024 but was told the MP was unavailable until after Christmas.
In February, he was asked to send his questions by email. Caffrey sent 20 questions to Chester, who replied, but Caffrey claims he did not answer them directly.
In his response, seen by Guardian Australia, Chester wrote: “Given neither of us are nuclear energy experts, I believe it is appropriate to wait for the full site analysis … before making any final decisions. Your opposition to the plan is noted.”
“No one is telling him they don’t want nuclear because he won’t let them,” Caffrey said.
Dave Sweeney, a prominent anti-nuclear campaigner with the Australian Conservation Foundation, said Chester had agreed to meet him during the February sitting week in Canberra after they briefly spoke during the parliamentary inquiry into nuclear in December.
But when Sweeney followed up to confirm the meeting, he says he was told the MP’s schedule was full.
“He’s telling people, ‘I want a mature conversation.’ But if your position is critical or hostile, he doesn’t want to hear it,” Sweeney said.
He intended to raise concerns about nuclear power’s significant water requirements and the difficulty of rehabilitating the Loy Yang site, which he said could take 20 years.
Wendy Farmer, the president of Voices of the Valley – a group founded after the 2014 Hazelwood mine fire – and organiser of Nannas Against Nuclear, said Chester and his staff had been largely unresponsive to weekly peaceful protests outside his electorate office.
“We’ve been told they’ll consult with us for two-and-a-half years, but then they will do it anyway with no right to veto,” Farmer said.
“How is that listening to the community?”
She said Chester agreed to meet with her and Environment Victoria’s Latrobe Valley organiser, Hayley Sestokas. But when Sestokas followed up by email to schedule the meeting, Chester declined and said he was “well aware” of the organisation’s position.
“I don’t see any point to meeting again at this stage,” he wrote.
Sestokas replied: “You agreed to meet us early this year. Are you withdrawing your previous offer?”
Sestokas, who lives in Orbost and has family in Morwell, said the proposed meeting would have included a range of local teachers, engineers, health workers and First Nations people.
“Yes, I’m with Environment Victoria, but I’m also a local community member, a volunteer and a constituent,” she said.
Meanwhile, in the central west of New South Wales, the former Nationals MP turned independent member for Calare, Andrew Gee, said the Coalition had not properly explained its plans to the communities that would be most affected.
Lithgow, part of the Calare electorate, is about 25km from a proposed nuclear site at Mount Piper power station.
“While there are people for and against on either side of the ledger, the message that has come through loud and clear is that people want the details of this plan, and they haven’t been provided,” he said.
“Why haven’t Coalition leaders been to Lithgow to properly explain the policy?”
Community environment groups in the central west also expressed their frustration about the lack of consultation.
“We just don’t like being bulldozed over,” said Chris Jonkers, the vice-president of the Lithgow Environment Group.
Jonkers said people in the community held serious concerns about water usage, long project timelines and costs, and warned of legal challenges if the Coalition pushed ahead.
Nick King, the president of the Central West Environment Council, said he expected strong community opposition if the Coalition formed government and genuinely pursued the plans.
A campaign spokesperson said if the Coalition was elected on 3 May “a number of steps will begin concurrently, including a 2.5-year period of community consultation and an independent feasibility study of the sites”.
They said “we are committed to keeping the community fully informed and involved”.
“If concerns remain after that period, we will take them seriously and work directly with local leaders and the energy minister to address them,” they said.
