alp rethink on mines re: only a matter of time the
"if there is even a hint that QLD will allow a single mine, then it will only be a case of time that SMM will follow PDN to the hills "
Read this from today's "The Australian":
Dennis Shanahan: ALP rethink on mines
March 30, 2006 MOVES are under way to lift the Labor Party's longstanding ban on any new uranium mines as Australia prepares to sign a historic nuclear deal with China.
Labor is preparing for a debate over its position on uranium mining, nuclear waste and nuclear power as demand for Australian uranium rises and pressure builds for clean energy in China and India.
Kim Beazley yesterday left the way open for a debate at the next national ALP conference due next year on the ALP policy banning new uranium mines.
"Anybody is entitled to move at a Labor Party conference any change to party policy," the Labor leader said.
While the Howard Government is expected to sign a uranium export deal with China early next week and is continuing to look at the possibility of a similar deal with India, Labor is concentrating on nuclear safeguards.
"I don't think it's a question so much of who digs it up or how it's dug up, it's a question of the terms and conditions on which it's exported," Mr Beazley said.
"We've got to start getting real now and start getting a detailed understanding of where it is that we're going with uranium exports.
"We're going to be the world's leading supplier, that's whether there's any new mines or not. We have got to make absolutely certain we deal with the issues of waste disposal and proliferation."
Mr Beazley said nuclear waste and proliferation safeguards were being undermined by the Howard Government which is looking at ways to export uranium to India even though it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
There is pressure within the Labor front bench and at state level for Labor to drop its compromise position of allowing uranium mining and exports from three existing mines and instead allow exploitation of Australia's 40per cent share of the world's uranium reserves.
The policy banning new mines has been described by some Labor leaders as anachronistic and "half pregnant".
The 20-year-old ALP policy was forged as a compromise between the Right and Left to settle divisions within the Labor Party. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is expected to witness two steel and coal power deals between Australia and China worth more than $2billion and agree to a multi-billion-dollar uranium deal in the next few days.
Labor MPs are moving towards a new uranium position with South Australian Premier Mike Rann, federal resources spokesman Martin Ferguson and incoming MP Bill Shorten all calling for a new uranium debate in the past two weeks. Mr Ferguson is expected to call for a wider uranium debate at a uranium conference in Adelaide tomorrow, pursuing his belief that Australia has to take responsibility for its role in the world nuclear cycle.
Yesterday Mr Beazley said: "We have to start accepting a bit of responsibility in this country. That's what my speech was about last week. It's not a question of just digging it up and exporting it."
SMM Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
