As Opposition Leader Peter Dutton threatens to ride roughshod over states resistant to his plans for a nuclear-powered future, Australians’ wishes are being overlooked, a minister claims.

The coalition has pledged to build seven nuclear plants across five states on the sites of coal-fired power stations if it wins government.

Costs and details of the plan remain scant, giving rise to concerns about safety in regional areas, and doubt has been cast over its timeline, with aims to complete the first facility between 2035 and 2037.

Every affected state leader and even would-be Liberal National Queensland premier David Crisafulli, has condemned the proposal.

“It’s not. part. of. our. plan,” he told reporters on Sunday, many of whom who have been asking the same question at every opportunity since the announcement.

“(Nuclear) is a matter for Mr Dutton.”

NSW and Victorian premiers Chris Minns and Jacinta Allan have both vowed not to build the power plants in their states.

But on Saturday, Mr Dutton pulled rank, noting commonwealth laws override state laws, meaning their opposition would not stop a federal coalition government.

Cabinet minister Mark Butler said it was an “extraordinary” message from an alternative prime minister.

“Mr Dutton has made it clear he doesn’t care what the people of Queensland, or the people of Western Australia, or their state governments think,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“He is going to force his nuclear power plan on them, irrespective of local community wishes.”

In a 2019 inquiry report into nuclear energy tabled under the previous Liberal government, committee chair and federal 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”.

Pressed on this, the opposition energy spokesman tried to dodge the question 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 Resolve poll published on Sunday night indicated 41 per cent of respondents supported the use of nuclear power, 37 per cent were opposed to the idea and 22 per cent were undecided.

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 10-20 years while 33 per cent opted for a coalition plan for nuclear power and some gas to support renewables.

The poll surveyed about 1000 eligible voters from Thursday to Sunday.

Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating also chimed in with a typically acerbic take on the debate on Sunday afternoon.

“Dutton’s policy, of its essence, is that human-induced climate change is a fraudulent concept propagated by environmentalists and left-leaning fellow travellers – a concept he believes should be deplored and opposed,” he said via a statement.

Mr Keating further accused Mr Dutton of “seeking to camouflage his long held denialism in an industrial fantasy” and resorting to “the most dangerous and expensive energy source on the face of the earth”.

Mr O’Brien was also asked whether the issue would be dropped if the coalition failed to win government.

“We plan to win,” he said.

“We are doing nuclear energy as part of our mix because it’s the right thing by this nation.”

A report released by the Smart Energy Council reveals it could cost up to $600 billion to build the seven plants, which would deliver just 3.7 per cent of Australia’s energy mix in 2050.

This post was originally published on Michael West.