Labor federal Member of Parliament’s scathing criticism of change in uranium policy
Uranium decision a ‘moment of madness’ ABC News, December 05, 2011 Labor’s federal Member for Page says her party’s decision to export uranium to India was a moment of madness. The ALP national conference yesterday endorsed the Prime Minister’s plan to lift the ban on selling uranium to India.
The move sparked some fierce opposition from MPs worried that India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Janelle Saffin says it was the wrong step to take. “Well I see it as a moment of madness,” she said.
“It overturns about four decades of a principal position that’s been taken in Australia on that issue and I just think it will be hard to implement with the stringent safeguards that have to be put in place.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-05/uranium-decision-a-moment-of-madness/3713358
Australia selling more of its (non radioactive) rice to Japan
Japan hungry for Aussie rice BY: SUE NEALES RURAL REPORTER The Australian December 06, 2011 AUSTRALIAN farmers are optimistic of boosting rice exports to Japan in the wake of its twin tsunami and nuclear disasters.
The Japanese government last month banned the sale of rice grown in the Onami district near the site of the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown in March after high levels of radioactive caesium were found in the food staple.
Three shipments each of 12,000 tonnes of Australian rice sold to Japan since April – already three times as much as last year – suggest it may require more imported rice this year.
As well, a recent study published in the National Academy of Sciences journal has concluded large tracts of arable land in northeastern Japan may not be safe for food production, including rice, for some time because of fallout from the radioactive cloud……http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/japan-hungry-for-aussie-rice/story-e6frg8y6-1226214563570
Reflecting on ALP conference, and on the 1976 Fox Report on uranium mining
The Fox Inquiry (often referred to as the Ranger inquiry) was comprehensive. It travelled around Australia, to hear evidence from 281 people, recorded in 12,575 pages of transcript.
The specific Fox recommendation that Labor decided to finally reject today was as follows:
“No sales of Australian uranium should take place to any country not party to the N[uclear] N[on]-P[roliferation] T[reaty]. Export should be subject to the fullest and most effective safeguards agreements, and be supported by fully adequate back-up agreements applying to the entire civil nuclear industry in the country supplied.” (Report No 1, 1976, p.186)
Then and now: Labor’s nuclear conflict, The Drum Dan Cass , 6 Dec 11, My father, Moss Cass, phoned just now and we talked about the Labor Party’s national conference decision to export uranium to India, a country not in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Uranium mining was a big issue in our household when I was growing up and it became the reason that I decided to not to follow Moss into the Labor Party…… In 1984 the Labor Party national conference adopted the ‘three mines policy’ which sanctioned the largest uranium mine in the world at Roxby Downs (Olympic Dam) and the Ranger and Nabarlek mines, while preventing any new mines from opening.
I knew then that it would not be possible for me to join Labor, on account of its ‘half-pregnant’ stance on this issue…..
In 1995 I finished at university and decided to join a political party: The Australian Greens.
Mr Fox and the nuclear industry Continue reading
Court upholds Jabbir Jabbir people and the Goolarabooloo people against W.A. govt’s land grab attempt
Court quashes Kimberley gas hub land grab ABC News, December 06, 2011 Western Australia’s Supreme Court has ruled invalid the State Government’s move to compulsorily acquire land for a gas hub in the Kimberley. Chief Justice Wayne Martin ruled three notices of intention to acquire the land at James Price Point were invalid because they did not contain a description of the land. However his declaration does not prevent the Lands Minister from issuing further notices of intent to take land in the area. The claimant’s lawyers say the ruling means the land deal struck between the government and the Kimberley Land Council is now invalid, putting the future of the Browse gas project in doubt.
The action was brought by traditional land owners the Jabbir Jabbir people and the Goolarabooloo people. Michael Orlov, lawyer for the Goolarabooloo people, told reporters outside court that Lands Minister Brendon Grylls will need to commence the process again…..”We’re not going to be pushed around by the WA Government. We’re there to show that we can do it, so can every Indigenous person in Western Australia.”…http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-06/court-quashes-kimberley-gas-hub-land-grab/3715390?section=wa
Australia’s renewable energy to double by 2020
Report finds Australian renewable energy to double, Australia Network News, 6 Dec 11, A new report has found that renewable energy sources now provide Australia with nearly 10 per cent of its power, and that figure is on track to double by 2020.
The report produced by the industry’s Clean Energy Council said more than a million Australians now live in homes powered by solar panels and heavy rains have boosted output from hydro-electric plants. It found uncertainty over the carbon tax had stalled investment in major projects like large wind farms. But the council’s Director Kane Thornton predicts that will change now the tax has passed.”Certainly we believe that we’re on track to achieving the 20 per cent
renewable energy target by 2020,” he said.
“We’ve seen a strong year for solar power, there’s a lot of pent up investment in large scale wind projects that now that we have a carbon price in Australia we’re optimistic that there’ll be a strong growth in large scale wind farms over the coming years to ensure we really track towards that 20 per cent
target”.http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201112/3384606.htm?desktop
Angry and determined reaction from Labor Left, to decision to sell uranium to India
Domino effect ACF nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney says exporting uranium to a country that is not a signatory to the non-proliferation treaty will undermine Australia’s credibility and reputation on nuclear issues. “It’s only a matter of time before the pressure mounts within the ALP to ‘oh, we export uranium, why don’t we enrich it’,” he said. “And then it’s ‘we export uranium and enrich uranium, why don’t we take back the waste and that will be custodianship and we’ll be a responsible country and a good steward’.
Labor Left vows to fight uranium exports, ABC News, December 05, 2011 “…….the move was fiercely opposed by several ministers and delegates who believe it is dangerous because India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Labor Senator Doug Cameron says there is no way Australia can get India to agree to proper safeguards. “There is absolutely no way we can get these commitments that the Prime Minister is talking about,” he said. “If Bush couldn’t do it, if the Canadians couldn’t do it, I don’t think we can.” Labor Senator Cameron says he will not give up the fight.” I think this is one of the worst decisions the Labor party has ever mad. in my time in the Labor Party,” he said. Continue reading
Nuclear lobby’s power to prevent Australia debating uranium to India, and to promote arms race
ALP downplay arms control considerations, Crikey, December 5, 2011 , by NAJ Taylor “…….The power of lobbyists There are numerous lessons to be learned from the US experience, particularly since the similarities in the way the matter was debated there.
There as in here, well-funded and resourced lobby groups successfully denied Australian’s of a debate, and a complacent and shameful standard of media proliferated falsehoods and empty rhetoric as if reasoned evidence such that even Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd – who as recently as last month strongly opposed any deal with India – begrudgingly toed the line of the party leader given the announcement was made whilst he was in Dehli.
For instance, following the vote, Nitin Pai, editor of Pragati – The Indian National Interest Review, and Fellow at The Takshashila Institution tweeted that:
” Rory_Medcalf And let me say that the consistent policy advocacy by a certain Sydney based think tank surely played an important role…..
What is clear to me is that Australia’s prospects of being awarded a seat on the UN Security Council next year are bound to have suffered already. http://blogs.crikey.com.au/this-blog-harms/2011/12/05/alp-downplay-arms-control-considerations/
South Australia’s Greens leader condemns Labor’s decision on uranium to India
Quoted on ABC News, 5 Dec 11 “..A Greens leader Mark Parnell says selling uranium to India would be dangerous and unprincipled. “This isn’t about climate change, this is about making money, making money for companies like BHP Billiton,” he said.
“They’ve (ALP) sacrificed their principles, they’re chasing the almighty dollar and they’re selling uranium to a country that is nuclear-armed and it’s in conflict with its nuclear-armed neighbour. “Selling Australian uranium to India means that even if they use it all in peaceful nuclear reactors, it will free up their own limited domestic supplies for use in nuclear weapons.”
Labor’s dangerous new uranium policy – but it’s really about career moves for Labor heavies
... Kevin Rudd is filthy with Prime Minister Gillard’s uranium decision and 
thinks India ought to have been forced to make some concessions in return for uranium sales, such as ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. If so, Rudd ought to say so publicly…..
South Asia is a dangerous nuclear minefield. All the more so in the wake of the US-India agreement, and all the more so in the wake of Labor’s decision to sell uranium to India with no conditions which would curb its weapons program or de-escalate the South Asian nuclear arms race.
Labor Signs Up To The Arms Race, New Matilda, 5 Dec 11, Paul Howes might think the Cold War is over but the nuclear arms race hasn’t slowed. South Asia is a nuclear minefield and Labor’s decision to sell uranium to India makes it more dangerous, writes JimGreen….. Of all the idiotic, asinine contributions to Labor’s faux-debate on uranium sales to India, Howes trumped the lot with his assertion that “The Cold War is over and it’s time for Labor to embrace that fact”.
Since the end of the Cold War the existing weapons states have been busily “modernising” their nuclear arsenals: Continue reading
Western Australia’s Labor Party would stop uranium projects
Ripper draws battle lines over uranium, The West, 5 Dec 11 Eric Ripper has put uranium miners on notice, vowing that a returned Labor State government would stop their WA projects from going ahead, however advanced.
Sparking warnings from Premier Colin Barnett that the State would be exposed to compensation claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the Opposition Leader said any government he led would withhold final approval for the mines.
Mr Ripper’s comments came after the ALP national conference backed Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s push to allow uranium exports to India, 206 votes to 185.
“No Labor minister or public servant responsible to a Labor minister will issue any approval to facilitate a uranium mining project under a WA Labor government,” Mr Ripper said yesterday.
“It does not matter how advanced the projects are – I’m putting the industry on notice, you won’t have your final approvals by the time of the next election and they will not be granted if WA Labor is elected.”…..
no uranium project would be completed or in receipt of final approval by the time of the next election in March 2013…..
Sell uranium to us, too, says Pakistan to Australia
Pakistan says it should get Australian uranium News.com.au , 5 Dec 11 PAKISTAN’S High Commissioner to Australia says if the Federal Government sells uranium to India it would be discriminatory for it not to sell it to Pakistan as well. Yesterday, the ALP overturned its ban on the sale of uranium to India after a divisive and passionate debate at the party’s national conference in Sydney.
Abdul Malik Abdullah said Australia should sell uranium to Pakistan as well, as India has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). “If, after the ALP’s decision, the Australian Government is going to change the policy, all we would like to have is an equitable and non-discriminatory decision,” Mr Abdullah told ABC Radio.
“If Australia is going to lift the ban on a country which has not signed NPT it is much hope that will also apply to Pakistan the same way.”…. http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/pakistan-says-it-should-get-australian-uranium/story-e6frfkur-1226213787193#ixzz1ffbvy7PN
India ramps up “China killer” nuclear missiles, As Australia’s Labor government ready to sell uranium to India
India’s muscle flexing comes at a sensitive juncture for Australia, too.
At the Australian Labor Party’s national conference this weekend, one of the pre-eminent agenda items is a motion to end the ban on selling uranium to India.
a new market offering high-grade uranium ore for India’s civilian reactors frees up the country’s limited indigenous supplies for boosting its military program.
India to test new missile dubbed ‘the China killer’, The Age 3 Dec 11, Given the incendiary moniker ”the China killer” by the more sensationalist press, India’s newest nuclear-capable missile will be its most powerful yet, and an unmistakable signal to its neighbours.
Agni V – formally named after the Hindu god of fire and acceptor of sacrifices – is set to be tested within three months. It will be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead 5000 kilometres, meaning it can reach not only Beijing and Shanghai, but all of northern China. India’s existing arsenal can already reach every corner of Pakistan…. Continue reading
A brief rundown on anti nuclear movement against uranium to India, and BHP’s new uranium mine
When one shareholder stated that he had no sympathy for the claims of the Aboriginal custodians in the room because “they are a conquered race,” the Chairman moved on due to time constrains, rather than commenting on the inappropriateness of the remark.
The 2011 alternative shareholder report, “The Dirty Energy Report” was also launched, and distributed to shareholders
The ALP National Conference started today and runs until Sunday (Darling Harbour, Sydney). Over the last few weeks activists from around the country have been lobbying on the question of uranium sales to India, who is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Guillard has stated publicly that Labours policy of not selling uranium to India will be reassessed at the Conference – a statement made shortly after CHOGM.
A briefing paper for delegates has been drawn up for distribution at the conference (attached). https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment?ui=2&ik=89ffab0dfb&view=att&th=133fd88397541553&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_gvosqovu0&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P8OhbnQ-7zUkqdP28HaekzG&sadet=1322880322723&sads=fkZG5AtzKZFUTQN-f554YOxHLh8
ICAN have received legal advice that if Australia sold uranium to India it would be breaching its obligations under international law Continue reading
Australia’s Northern Territory allows free groundwater to mining companies, not to any other users!
Mataranka residents surprised by mining’s right to ground water, ABC Rural News, By Steven Schubert, 02/12/2011 Members of a committee formed to develop a water plan for the Northern Territory town of Mataranka say they were never told mining operations could gain unrestricted access to ground water.
Mining operations don’t require a licence from the water controller under the NT Water Act, while other users have to apply for an allocation of ground water. Committee member Hamish McFarlane says if a mining project is formed near the town, there could be less water for irrigators and other users.
“Keeping in mind that you said before that the Water Act gives priority to mining, if a mining company came in here at this point in time and took the consumptive pool there would be no growth in Mataranka outside the mining industry.”… http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201112/s3382086.htm
Bendigo calls on Victorian government to reverse its anti wind energy legislation
Bendigo joins wind farm planning fight, ABC News, December 02, 2011 The State Government is coming under further pressure from central Victoria to overturn its controversial changes to wind farm planning rules. The Victorian Government moved in August to establish no-go zones for turbines in selected areas across the state, including land around Bendigo.
The decision upset several local environment groups and the Mt Alexander Shire at Castlemaine was among the first councils to voice opposition to the move. Bendigo Mayor Rod Fyffe says his council has also voted to ask the Government to reverse the decision…..”On balance, we feel that it was a decision that we would like to see reversed so that communities can look at what they want, work out what they want and plan for what they want.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-02/bendigo-joins-wind-farm-planning-changes-fight/3708280
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