Wednesday, 15 August, 2007

by Katharine Murphy and Brendan Nicholson
The Age

SENIOR Howard Government players have talked up the benefits of selling uranium to India as Labor prepares a fresh political assault over nuclear power in the countdown to the federal election.

Ahead of a meeting late yesterday of cabinet's powerful national security committee, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer confirmed the Government was considering a new export agreement with India.

The deal is regarded as as good as done in India, whose government has said the uranium would be used purely for energy purposes.

Power cuts are a regular feature of life, even in the Indian capital. Indian industry is plagued by prolonged power cuts that affect efficiency and productivity.

"The agreement with Australia is a great breakthrough between the two countries. It is a direct result of the Indo-US nuclear deal which has finally removed the stigma that has stuck to India for decades for not signing the NPT (non-proliferation treaty).

The deal with the US — and now uranium from Australia — is a recognition of India's responsible behaviour on proliferation for decades," said Vinod Kumar, associate professor at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in Delhi.

Despite analysts' fears that selling yellowcake to India could increase regional instability, Mr Downer argued there were no risks associated with selling uranium to India.

"India has no record of being a proliferator of nuclear materials," he told the ABC.

Yesterday's deliberations came as Labor prepares an electorate-by-electorate campaign against the prospect of nuclear energy in Australia, starting next week in Queensland.

The Opposition will target coastal seats over the next three weeks, highlighting the risks associated with nuclear power plants. Pundits believe Mr Howard could call the election soon after the meeting of APEC leaders in Sydney early next month.

"If John Howard is re-elected, he will impose 25 nuclear reactors on the Australian public and do nothing about the renewables that the Australian public support," Labor's water and infrastructure spokesman, Anthony Albanese, said last night.

Several Government MPs have expressed either nervousness or outright opposition to the idea of a nuclear power plant in their electorate.

Liberal backbencher Joanna Gash, the member for Gilmore, has started an online petition opposing the construction of a nuclear plant in her electorate, which is on the south coast of NSW.

The Prime Minister and Mr Downer have made it clear they support selling uranium to India provided Australia can negotiate a safeguards agreement with the Indian Government along the lines of a recent co-operation treaty reached between India and the United States.

The Age believes the issue was discussed by the security committee yesterday.

But Labor, the environmental movement and the Greens said it was too risky for Australia to export uranium to India.

Labor's foreign affairs spokesman, Robert McClelland, said the sale would undermine the nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Mr McClelland said Labor opposed the sale of uranium to any country that was not a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty.

He said a Labor government would set up and lead a diplomatic push by like-minded countries, including nuclear suppliers and users, to carry out a review to strengthen the non-proliferation treaty.