Coalition's Energy "Plan"

In November 2025, the Coalition released their energy policy, shortly after the Nationals released their energy plan, written by a coal lobby group. Neither plan offers any analysis of what the electricity generation mix look like in the 2030's nor do they offer any economic modelling to support their claims of lower costs.

Their Plan:

Build nuclear baseload.
"Sweat" coal for 15-20 years.
Switch off grid-scale solar.
Stop new offshore wind farms.
Be "technology-neutral".

Their Rationale:

Electricity up 39% under Labour
Due to renewables & net zero
Renewables can't run the grid
Need coal & nuclear baseloads

Fatal Flaws:

No economic modelling.
Nuclear impossible before 2045.
Can't extend coal for 20 years.
No impact possible before 2035
Cannot deliver cheaper energy

Renewable energy is already delivering more electricity than coal and will exceed 80% of generation by 2030. Experts agree that is the cheapest path to lowest cost electricity, lowest emissions and energy independence and security.
A plan that relies on clapped-out, filthy and expensive coal and unaffordable nuclear in 20 years is simply not credible.

Some Fact-Checking

Prices up 39% due to Labour, renewables & net zero

Yes, electricity prices are up 39% since 2022 but the experts are clear on the causes:

The Ukraine war surged energy costs globally, especially for gas and coal. EVERY advanced economy's electricity price went up, the UK's by up to 400%.
Ingoing multiple coal-plant failures continue to push up local wholesale electricity costs (source).
Weather events - floods, storms, etc – have affected coal output.
They also state that prices would be higher still if not for our high levels of renewables.

They are misrepresenting the causes of rising electricity prices for political advantage.

Cannot deliver for 10-20 years

No possibility of any benefits before 2035:

Cannot win power before 2031 and cannot deliver any build projects they before 2035.
Their is no way any nuclear program could deliver energy at scale before 2045.
By 2035, over 80% of our electricity will come from renewables and under 5% from coal.
No existing coal plant operator is interested in life extensions, given most have plans for renewable energy hubs on their existing sites.

Their plan cannot be implemented before the existing energy transition makes it superfluous.

Economics just don't stack up

Their claims of lower prices are not supported by the facts or expert opinion:

Experts are united in saying the fastest path to the lowest cost electricity is renewables.
CSIRO GenCost, Lazard and others show LCOE wholesale prices, compared to firmed renewables, are $50/MWh higher for coal and $102 higher for nuclear.
Baseload coal and nuclear only work economically when they run at continuous high capacity yet firmed renewables will price them out of the market for most of each day. Thus, their average electricity cost will be much higher than their standard LCOE estimates.

They cannot explain how higher-priced nuclear and coal will deliver low electricity prices.