WA AND QUEENSLAND STILL OPPOSED ALP won't interfere with Australian states' uranium mining bans although such bans "unsustainable"
A Federal Labor Government would not intervene in the decisions made by the Labor state governments of Western Australia and Queensland to change their minds on not allowing uranium mining to take place. Author: Ross Louthean Posted: Thursday , 26 Jul 2007
FREMANTLE -
All the polls are showing, barring a dramatic late change in public sentiment, that the long reign of Prime Minister John Howard in Canberra will end with the general election late this year. This will mean the Australian Labor Party (ALP) will totally dominate Australian politics as it is already in control of all state governments.
For the hopeful Australian uranium mine developers this is currently producing a mixture of champagne and flat beer, following the much publicised ending of the ALP's ‘No New Mines' policy to allow new Australian uranium mines to be developed.
Where the flat beer came in that celebration was the vow by Western Australian Premier Alan Carpenter to not allow uranium mining to take place in the state during his reign, and the wavering Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, while supporting Federal Leader Kevin Rudd's bid to end the restrictive earlier policy, has now made it clear he won't allow approval for uranium mines in Queensland.
Senator Evans told delegates at Vertical Event's Australian Uranium Conference that both the WA Government (originally through Geoff Gallop, replaced late last year by Alan Carpenter) and Queensland had been elected on policies including disallowing uranium mining, and both considered they could not change.
This scenario was not the same for the existing uranium mining states of South Australia and the Northern Territory, and this was evident with project blueprints pressing ahead in SA.
Senator Evans said a Federal Labor Government would support new uranium exports but, as was made clear at the recent Federal Conference, it would not support the development of nuclear energy in Australia. This was because it was clear to the party that nuclear power would be far too expensive - as well as issues such as dealing with spent fuel rods -- compared to existing coal and gas that provide the base load for the nation's power requirements.
In question time, a share investor claimed it was immoral and illegal for WA and Queensland to take funds and allow uranium exploration to take place and then disallow development. Senator Evans said exploration was continuing around Australia where it would be obvious to enquiring investors what the views of current WA and Queensland governments were, so there should be no surprises.
"So what is the prospect of State Labor governments in Queensland and WA changing their positions? I think it unlikely in the short term, but much more likely than it was prior to Federal Labor's National Conference decision in April," Senator Evans said.
"The question State governments must now confront is why they should continue to ban uranium mining in their state when there is no Federal impediment to mining and SA and the NT reap the benefits of their development of their uranium reserves. The logic of state bans on uranium mining is unsustainable and the bans will eventually be removed."
He said that last year Australia's resource exports were valued at $A85 billion ($US74.8 B), in the context of total export earnings of $A209 B ($US183.9 B). As at February this year, mining employed 136,000 people.
"Favourable commodity prices and terms of trade have driven the Australian economy and delivered a financial windfall to the Federal Government. In the last five years - through soaring company tax receipts, resource taxes and increases in income tax revenue - the mining boom has injected more than $A300 B ($US264 B) into the Federal Budget.
"This year's Federal Budget Papers confirm that the mining boom is driving growth across the whole economy - highlighting a "continued stimulus to household income and wealth from high commodity prices" - not just from jobs growth, but also from record share prices being led by mining companies," Senator Evans said.
He said Australia's uranium industry already makes a substantial contribution to the economy. In 2005-06 Australia exported more than 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide valued at $A546 M ($US 480.5 M) and Geoscience Australia says the country has the world's largest uranium reserves with more than 700,000t of economic demonstrated resources - 36% of world resources in this category.
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