Japan's nuclear emergency a warning to Australia and the world

The rising threat of nuclear terrorism means that we may also have to face potential deliberate damage to nuclear reactors in future.

Both Australian and Japanese communities deserve better than to have to face any of these nuclear risks.

Here at home, just as we have had to face climate sceptics and fossil fuel interests trying to prevent Australia addressing the science and the urgency of climate change, unfortunately we now face nuclear advocates and renewable energy sceptics trying to mislead the Australian people and push to take up nuclear reactors rather than adopt a clean and renewable energy future.

The spectre of a nuclear debate will delay and potentially damage Australia's pathway to a clean, renewable energy future.

It will unnecessarily absorb large amounts of political capital, energy and attention.

Such an expenditure of time and resources could be better deployed working towards the common goal of a safer, cleaner and fairer Australia.

Nuclear reactors are a discredited agenda that proved to be an electoral liability in an earlier era.

So why are some in the ALP now promoting nuclear energy and pushing to overturn long-term Labor core values and repeated federal election policy commitments that prohibit nuclear power reactors, uranium processing and other stages of the nuclear fuel chain in Australia? We should learn from this nuclear emergency in Japan, move to get Australia out of uranium mining and the hazardous nuclear trade and help our neighbours across the Pacific to recover from the nuclear risks they face.

Let's call on our political leaders to give assurances that they will avoid making the same nuclear mistakes and get on with delivering a clean, renewable energy future.