Thursday, 26 April, 2007

by Mark Parnell
The Greens

A proposed 'compromise' policy amendment to be debated at this weekend's ALP National Conference that allows increased uranium mining, while restricting nuclear waste and uranium enrichment, is naïve and divorced from global political reality, says SA Greens MLC Mark Parnell.

"Like it or not, the simple fact remains: the more we export our uranium to the rest of the world, the greater the pressure for us to take it back in the form of nuclear waste.

"Mike Rann and his Labor colleagues just to want to cherry pick the comfortable parts of the nuclear cycle. Yet, grand schemes for Australia to become the world's nuclear waste dump continue to be proposed," he said.

In an interview with The Age newspaper on April 5, former WMC Boss Hugh Morgan indicated he was in the nuclear business 'for the long haul', stating: "If you were serious about making money and lowering carbon, you would look at waste repositories".

"Just this month, it was Hugh Morgan. Before that it was Pangea. Then there is the US proposal to 'lease' Australian nuclear fuel before it's returned here for disposal.

"Our ability to say 'no' to these schemes becomes much harder if we are awash with uranium dollars from our exports.

"Labor delegates this weekend need to take their responsibility to future generations of Australians seriously. A vote to expand uranium exports is a vote for Australia to become the world's nuclear waste dump," Mark Parnell said.