Tuesday, 9 January, 2007

by Katharine Murphy, Canberra
The Age

CANBERRA should back off and leave such sensitive issues as uranium mining to the discretion of state governments, Queensland's outspoken senator Barnaby Joyce has said.

A new push by Canberra to convince Western Australia to end its ban on new uranium mines has prompted a fightback from Senator Joyce, of the Nationals, who is an outspoken advocate for states' rights.

"If you believe in states then you have to believe in states' rights," Senator Joyce told The Age yesterday. "It's not just about uranium, it is about everything. I think the states would never have federated if they had seen how much over-centralisation there would be."

Senator Joyce's comments follow the weekend decision by Environment Minister Ian Campbell to resume pressure on the WA Government, which bans uranium mining and nuclear activities.

The Federal Government has been campaigning to have states with valuable uranium deposits, particularly Queensland and WA, scrap their restrictions and allow the industry to expand.

Legal experts believe Canberra would have power under the constitution to override state objections to nuclear power plants, by creating laws using the corporations power to allow business to build reactors.

Senator Campbell said WA was failing to tackle the challenges of global warming by not allowing more uranium mining, which could fuel nuclear power plants, which do not emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

"The more the community is aware of the seriousness of climate change and the contribution that WA can make, not just exporting gas but also exporting uranium, the public pressure will build to the extent that the absurdity of the WA policy will become obvious," Senator Campbell told the ABC yesterday.

Senator Campbell's call was backed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader, Mark Vaile.

But Senator Joyce rejected the new push, which he said would only increase centralisation.

He said people might support a concentration of decision-making in Canberra in times when they liked the government in power, but this would change if a new party took office, and imposed policies they did not agree with.

The new push was also rejected by the WA Government yesterday.