labor divided on nuclear debate

Labor divided on nuclear debate
By Katharine Murphy
June 07, 2005
From:
FEDERAL Labor's resources spokesman, Martin Ferguson, has spoken out in support of a renewed debate on nuclear energy in a rebuke to colleagues opposed to the alternative energy source.

"Whether the Labor Party likes it or not, this debate is not going to be closed down," Mr Ferguson told The Australian yesterday.
New South Wales Premier Bob Carr's call last week for a national debate on nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels to combat global warming has already split the Labor premiers, with Queensland's Peter Beattie and Western Australia's Geoff Gallop hostile to the idea.

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Mr Ferguson intervened after his frontbench colleague and environment spokesman Anthony Albanese said federal Labor would remain opposed to nuclear power.

"I'm certainly not opposed to this debate," said Mr Ferguson. "Bob Carr is a committed environmentalist who is concerned about global warming. You can't stop an international debate about greenhouse gases."

Mr Ferguson's rebuke came as the Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane declared he wanted a looming uranium export deal with China to lead to more Australian uranium mines being opened.

"I hope so, I hope some of those mines will be in the Northern Territory, and I hope some of them will be in Western Australia and ... Queensland," Mr Macfarlane said.

"Uranium mining in Australia is an export income earner, it creates jobs. It supplies uranium yellowcake under the strictest standards in the world," he said. "We should make sure that we improve our market share, which at the moment is pretty ordinary."

Mr Ferguson said the key policy issues for future governments remained how to dispose of nuclear waste and how to create the necessary safeguards to ensure that uranium was used only for peaceful purposes.

He said it was unlikely that either Labor or the Coalition would go to the next federal election with a policy supporting a domestic nuclear power industry.

But he warned that shutting down the debate was impossible, given its momentum internationally and its currency among some environmentalists as a potential solution to greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Ferguson also said he had no problem with another uranium mine operating in South Australia, despite the fact it would technically breach Labor's 20-year-old three mines policy.

He said the Rann Government in South Australia had inherited an approval for a new uranium mine in the state.

"There was an approval in place and the South Australian Government will honour that approval. There is no way you can undermine existing contractual obligations," Mr Ferguson said.

Developing the massive Olympic Dam site, now controlled by BHP Billiton after its recent takeover of WMC Resources, is already covered by the three mines policy.

The three mines policy covers the Nabarlek, Ranger and Olympic Dam sites.