Antinuclear

Australia’s government shifts stand from nuclear non proliferation, to marketing uranium

Australian uranium sales overlook India’s nuclear history Crikey,  NAJ TAYLOR | NOV 16, 2011 So with prime minister Julia Gillard yesterday proposing Australia begin selling uranium to India, it appears to me successive Labor governments are fumbling their way through nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament issues……

Over the past 12 months, Labor’s position has shifted from one giving primacy to international arms control norms so that Australia had in place a non-negotiable recipient adherence requirement, to one in which Gillard has deemed those very same principles as incurring “all pain with no gain” since exports to India “will be good for the Australian economy, and good for Australian jobs”…..

Quite simply, India acquired nuclear weapons outside of the NPT, and has belatedly complied with IAEA at a level far below that required of NPT signatory states, with few of the consequences since what cooperation is given is fully outside of many of the instruments of international law. That says nothing of the added complexity nuclear weapons have had on existing India-Pakistan tensions.

According to the Australia and Japan-led International Commission on Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament report in 2009:

“10.5… One criticism – frequently voiced since the India agreement – is that [Nuclear Suppliers Group] members may be driven by commercial incentives to be less rigorous in their approach to countries not applying comprehensive safeguards or not party to the NPT.”

“10.7 The main substantive problem with the deal is that it removed all non-proliferation barriers to nuclear trade with India in return for very few significant non-proliferation and disarmament commitments by it. The view was taken that partial controls – with civilian facilities safeguarded – were better than none.”

Two years after these dire warnings – by an International Commission co-chaired by our former foreign minister Gareth Evans and instigated by then prime minister Rudd – Gillard also appears to be primarily “driven by comercial incentives”…….

I believe what Senator Ludlam seemed to suggest yesterday was right: Australia’s priority must be nuclear security not sales, and all sales – not just those earmarked by Ferguson to go to India – must be subject to stricter controls if Australia is to continue to help drive global nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation….

Ploughshares president Joe Cirincione’s interview with ABC is telling. Joe highlights how the US deal – which influenced Gillard’s shift – on nuclear energy “encouraged India to expand nuclear weapons programme” and “fuel arms race”. Pity there’s little other debate along these arms control lines with analysts here.

Senator Ludlum has chimed in again on National Community Radio surmising: “what we are doing is freeing up their domestic [uranium] supply for nuclear weapons” …. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/this-blog-harms/2011/11/16/australian-uranium-sales-overlook-indias-nuclear-history/

January 3, 2013 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, weapons and war | Leave a comment