Tuesday, 12 December, 2006

by Michelle Grattan, Bundaberg
The Age

LABOR leader Kevin Rudd has pledged to push to liberalise Labor's restrictive uranium policy at the party's national conference in April, despite opposition from shadow environment minister Peter Garrett.

The new Opposition Leader yesterday predicted change would be delivered as he stood beside Mr Garrett on the second day of his "listening tour".

Mr Rudd said the present policy, which bans a Labor government from approving new mines, "does not make a lot of sense".

Mr Garrett said he would put his anti-uranium views in party forums and in discussions with his colleagues. But he would abide by whatever the national conference decided.

The future of the move to liberalise the uranium policy has come into question with the shift of Martin Ferguson out of the resources shadow portfolio and the elevation of Mr Garrett to the front bench. Mr Ferguson had been driving the policy liberalisation but he has been replaced as spokesman by Senate leader Chris Evans.

Party sources believe Senator Evans is more likely to vote with the Left faction, opposing any change in uranium policy, but this idea was dismissed by party powerbroker and trade union official Bill Ludwig.

Mr Ludwig told The Age he believed that Senator Evans would be for a change in uranium policy to support the mining industry in his home state of Western Australia.

"The policy is ridiculous and nobody can get around that. We've got to get our economic credentials in order and this is one good way of doing it," Mr Ludwig said. Telling journalists that he believed change would be delivered at the April conference, Mr Rudd said: "I intend to lead it in that direction."

Mr Garrett said he had always predicted uranium would be a "vigorous debate within the party" before the conference. "It would have been with Kim Beazley as leader; it will be with Kevin Rudd as leader," he said. Mr Rudd hinted that Labor could embrace a target for renewable energy substantially above the minimum 5 per cent to which it is committed.

Mr Garrett flagged that under a Labor government the record of the AP6 regional climate group, which is a forum for Australia, would be toughly scrutinised. A Labor government would assess how far AP6 had progressed. On the surface "it lacks teeth … it certainly has no targets", Mr Garret said.

Mr Garrett was cautious about conceding that measures to combat climate change would drive up prices for consumers.

He was confident that he could work effectively with business on issues relating to climate change, pointing to the co-operative relationship he had with business when he was president of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

He said companies needed to invest in reducing emissions. Not only did the problem have to be tackled now but companies that did so would get "first mover advantage" in relation to their competitors.