Mr MARLES (Corio—Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence) (14:59): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. For his benefit, I'll try and take this slowly. There are eight sealed nuclear reactors which are going to be utilised for the nuclear powered submarines that the Navy will operate. What a sealed nuclear reactor means is that, for the life of the reactor, it does not need to be refuelled. So it exists within the reactor. When the reactor is disposed of is the first moment that there is a need to dispose of high-level nuclear waste. Ms O'Neil interjecting— Dr Reid interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order, the Minister for Home Affairs. The member for Robertson will cease interjecting. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order. Mr Dutton: It's on relevance. And, perhaps, to be of assistance to the minister, the propulsion system burns energy—that's how the system is working—and it's stored in the— The SPEAKER: Resume your seat. Mr Dutton interjecting— The SPEAKER: Resume your seat. You don't have the call. The microphone's not on. Order! The Leader of the Opposition's getting into the habit of abusing the standing orders. It's not an excuse to get up and give a statement. He knows that. Out of the respect I have for his office—it is not in order to raise other material. It's going to be really simple. If this behaviour continues, I don't have to take points of order, as other Speakers have done. If people abuse the standing orders, they'll immediately leave. I'm just setting, for the next two weeks, how things are going to roll. Mr MARLES: Actually, it doesn't burn any fuel, because burning is oxidisation, which is what happens in an internal combustion engine, which is exactly what happens when you use hydrocarbons. What this is is a nuclear reaction which gives rise to power. That is what happens inside the sealed nuclear reactor. The point is that the waste that will need to be disposed of— Ms Mascarenhas interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Swan is warned. Mr MARLES: is there to be disposed of when that reactor has reached its end of life, and that is in the early 2050s. Mr Josh Wilson interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Fremantle is warned. Mr MARLES: But the point is this— Mr Violi interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Casey is warned. Mr MARLES: A simple nuclear reactor that is designed to power cities uses fuel rods. There are spent fuel rods, which are not the size of a can of Coke but are actually measured in tonnes, which will be produced each and every year from the moment that you operate that power station. They will need to be disposed of as soon as that occurs. If these reactors that the Leader of the Opposition is proposing for a civil nuclear industry are to have any impact at all on achieving zero net emissions by 2050, then we are talking about those reactors being in place in the 2030s and the 2040s, which means we're talking about tonnes of waste in the 2030s and the 2040s. We are talking about the need to dispose of our first spent nuclear reactor in the early 2050s. Government members interjecting— Ms McBain interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! Members on my right will cease interjecting. The minister for regional development is now warned. This free-for-all on day one is not acceptable. Members on my right need to show some more restraint so I can hear. The member for Bendigo's been on her feet. She deserves to be heard in silence.