Australia's ruling party votes to lift India uranium ban
Australia's ruling Labor party voted in favour of lifting its long-standing ban on exporting uranium to India Sunday following a passionate debate on nuclear proliferation and environmental fears.
The change, proposed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, was agreed by delegates at Labor's national policy summit 206 votes to 185, after a lengthy argument which saw strong views put both for and against.
Gillard argued that it was neither rational nor intellectually defensible to sell uranium to rising powers such as China and not to India, "the world's largest democracy" and a fast-growing nation of increasing global clout.
Though Canberra exports uranium to China, Japan, Taiwan and the United States, India has been excluded because New Delhi is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as historically required by Labor.
"Let's just face facts here - our refusal to sell uranium to India is not going to cause India to decide that it will no longer have nuclear weapons," Gillard told the Labor summit.
"We can honour the treaty, we can change our platform, we can - under the most stringent of agreements - sell uranium to India if we so choose and, delegates, I believe that we should make that choice."
She was backed by a number of speakers including Defence Minister Stephen Smith, who said India was not only voluntarily being monitored by civil nuclear regulators but was now a "rising power and a country which is deserving of being accorded that status".
Peter Garrett, formerly the frontman for the rock band Midnight Oil and a passionate anti-nuclear campaigner, was among those who spoke against the motion, saying it sent a troubling message to the global community about Australia's commitment to non-proliferation.
Garrett, now Australia's education minister, received a standing ovation for his remarks.
Although Australia uses no nuclear power, it is the world's third-ranking uranium producer behind Kazakhstan and Canada, exporting 9,600 tonnes of oxide concentrate each year worth over Aus$1.1 billion (US$1.1 billion).
It also has the world's largest reserves of uranium, holding 23 percent of the total, according to the World Nuclear Association.
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