beattie to await alp conference verdict in april 0

"THIS WILL NOT BE A STATE ALP DECISION."
does the end dicision need to be unanimous? Any Politicions out there? Are you online Peter?



ALP divided on uranium mines
By Maria Hawthorne and Paul Osborne
03-04-2006
From: AAP
MORE divisions have opened within Labor ranks over whether to end the party's no new mines policy on uranium mining.

Australia and China have signed a deal allowing China to import Australian uranium.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who is visiting Australia, has promised the uranium will be used for peaceful purposes only.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said while Labor supported the agreement, many Australians would feel uneasy about it.

And he says the Government has missed an opportunity to use Australian uranium sales to mobilise an international group devoted to nuclear non-proliferation.

Industry groups are concerned that Labor's policy not to approve any new mines could put the deal in jeopardy should a federal Labor government be elected.

But Mr Beazley said the policy was specifically designed to eliminate the need for a Labor government to cancel agreements already in place.

He says there's no rush for Labor to come up with a new policy.

"In terms of the supplies that will be demanded of us, our current mines will produce more than enough in the medium term to handle the demands that will come through from China," Mr Beazley said.

"So we have the opportunity to look at this sensibly and carefully."

Mr Beazley said Australia would be the world's biggest supplier of uranium following the expansion of the Olympic Dam mine.

"The issue is not whether we sell it – the issue is the terms and conditions under which we sell it. And those terms and conditions have got to have in focus now non-proliferation," he said.

The issue will be put to the party's national conference, to be held early next year.

Labor's resources spokesman Martin Ferguson has called for a policy change so states can open up new mines.

But Labor's environment spokesman Anthony Albanese says the problems of cost, safety and nuclear proliferation still remain.

"There's certainly no push from the rank and file of the Labor Party for a change in policy," Mr Albanese said on ABC radio.

"I'm yet to see a single branch resolution calling for change."

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has expressed reservations about allowing uranium miners to compete with coal miners in the world's energy market.

Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Rudd said Mr Beattie would be bound by the decision of Labor's national conference.

"Peter Beattie like the rest of us is subject to the decisions of our national conference of the party," Mr Rudd said.

A number of companies are exploring for uranium in Queensland, but the state has not exported any since the Rio Tinto-controlled Mary Kathleen mine near Mount Isa was shut down in 1982.

Mr Beattie said he did not want to undermine the lucrative coal industry but would await the verdict of the ALP conference.

"I will be guided by ALP policy and that won't be debated at a state level, it will be at a national level," Mr Beattie said in Canberra.

"We will do whatever it takes to get jobs and opportunities for Queensland, but I'm not going to see the Queensland coal industry, which has a lifetime of 300 years ... undermined."