The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a lesson to Australian leaders on the need for energy independence and should spark the development of its nuclear energy industry, according to Australian Senate candidate Campbell Newman. The former Queensland premier and now-candidate for the Liberal Democrats was also critical of tech billionaire and green activist Mike Cannon-Brookes’ attempts to continue calling for more renewable technology as a means to shore up Australia’s energy sovereignty. Newman said the slow response by European leaders to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was in part due to an over-reliance on Russian energy sources, which they were reluctant to disrupt. “I believe very strongly that one of the big reasons that Putin has gambled on this is because he thought that the energy dependence of Western Europe, particularly Germany, meant they wouldn’t oppose him,” he told The Epoch Times. “He thought he had them on the energy …