ENVIRONMENT Minister Ian Campbell said state Labor governments should withdraw their opposition to more uranium mining. Australia and China are poised to sign a deal next week which will open the door to uranium sales between the two countries.
The safeguards deal, to be signed by Prime Minister John Howard and visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, is expected to increase pressure on the states to allow more uranium mines beyond Labor's three-mines policy.
State governments are standing firm on the policy, but Senator Campbell said it made no sense when nuclear power offered a solution to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
He said the problem of greenhouse gas emissions was particularly bad in countries such as China, which rely heavily on carbon-based energy and needed to move to renewable and nuclear power to slow climate change.
Advertisement: But the minister also said Australia was not prepared to store high-level nuclear waste.
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