The coalition's nuclear plan would spell "economic insanity" for Australia, the treasurer says, as the fallout from last week's move rippled into the last parliamentary sitting before the winter break.
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The opposition has pledged to build seven nuclear plants across five states on the sites of coal-fired power stations if it wins the federal election.
Costs have not been revealed and doubt has been cast over its aim to complete the first facility by between 2035 and 2037.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government had "no plans whatsoever" to repeal bans on nuclear power introduced by the Howard government in the late 1990s.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers blasted the proposal as "economic insanity" which he said would lead to a weaker economy and poorer people.
Every affected state leader has condemned the proposal, with NSW and Victorian premiers Chris Minns and Jacinta Allan vowing to block nuclear power plants.
That stance has also been echoed on the coalition side by Queensland's opposition leader David Crisafulli.
"It's not part of our plan," he said.
Mr Dutton noted commonwealth laws override state laws, meaning their opposition would not stop a federal coalition government.
Asked how much the coalition's proposal would cost, Nationals leader David Littleproud said they would announce that "very soon" but would not reveal a figure.
Independent senator Jacqui Lambie said she would love to see nuclear energy, but the coalition "couldn't get their s*** together" on energy policy when in power for almost a decade.
In a 2019 inquiry report into nuclear energy tabled under the previous Liberal government, committee chair and Queensland MP Ted O'Brien wrote "the will of the people should be honoured" and "nuclear power plants or waste facilities should not be imposed upon local communities that are opposed".
Mr O'Brien, now the face of the coalition's nuclear push as opposition energy spokesman, tried to dodge the question of what had changed from then to now, before saying "what I wrote in the report then is consistent with this term of government".
Though he said he did not think locals would reject the proposal, a survey from the Australia Institute shows 65 per cent of Australians are not prepared to pay any more to have nuclear power in the nation's energy mix, regardless of their voting intentions.
A News Corp Australia survey of more than 920 people found about 60 per cent of participants agreed nuclear power "has a place" in Australia's energy mix.
In a separate question in the Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, 43 per cent preferred a Labor plan for renewables supported by gas for the next 10 to 20 years while 33 per cent opted for a coalition plan for nuclear power and some gas to support renewables.
The Smart Energy Council - a body set up to promote renewable energy - said a breakdown of figures from the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator indicated that it could cost up to $600 billion to build seven nuclear plants, which it said would deliver just 3.7 per cent of Australia's energy mix in 2050.
Australian Associated Press
