• Julia Gillard green-lights uranium sales to India
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[release][img]http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2011/11/15/2011111544044884734_20.jpg[/img] [B]Gillard's policy shift comes on the eve of US President Barack Obama's visit to Australia[/B] Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister, says she favours overturning a ban on sales of uranium to India as a means of strengthening relations with one of the world's fastest growing economies. Gillard said on Tuesday the ruling Labor party would debate lifting the ban at its conference next month. "I believe the time has come for the Labor party to change this position. Selling uranium to India will be good for the Australian economy and good for jobs," Gillard told reporters on Tuesday. "This will be one way we can take another step forward in our relationship with India. We have a good relationship with India; it is the world largest democracy, a stable democracy." Canberra currently refuses to sell nuclear material to India because it has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which aims to control the spread of nuclear weapons while promoting the development of peaceful nuclear power. India conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998 and is one of three nuclear-armed nations, along with Israel and Pakistan, that are non-signatories of the NPT. Gillard's call is likely to spark a lively debate in Australia, but she can count on the support of Labor's dominant right faction in overturning the ban, as well as from the conservative opposition, which also supports uranium sales to India. The policy would not need to go to parliament for approval. Al Jazeera’s Andrew Thomas, reporting from Sydney, said: "Gillard wouldn’t get any trouble with getting any legislation through. She will have more issues with her own backbenches. Some on the left in her party do not want uranium to be sold to India. "Likewise, the Green Party that props up Gillard’s minority government is against this as well." [B]'Class of its own'[/B] Gillard said the policy shift would apply only to India and not open up potential sales to Israel or Pakistan, as only India had sought and received an exemption from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group. "So that puts India in a class of its own," Gillard said. "When you look at other nations, whether it be Pakistan or Israel, they are not in that same class." Gillard's policy shift comes on the eve of US President Barack Obama's visit to Australia and would bring Australia’s uranium policy into line with the US. Washington in 2008 signed a landmark civil nuclear agreement with India over the use of uranium for nuclear energy. Australia, one of the United States' closest allies in the region, supported the US-India nuclear agreement as a member of the 46-member Nuclear Supplier's Group, but had continued to refuse to sell uranium to India. India has long complained about the ban as it seeks access to nuclear supplies for its power sector and growing economy. Australia has almost 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves, but supplies only 19 per cent of the world market. It has no nuclear power stations.[/release] Source: [url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2011/11/2011111543555710556.html]Al Jazeera[/url]
I like when people touch me
No idea why she'd do this since she was under no pressure to do it and it only angered the Greens who are essential to Labour's continued existance.
[QUOTE=CheeseMan;33283464]No idea why she'd do this since she was under no pressure to do it and it only angered the Greens who are essential to Labour's continued existance.[/QUOTE] Because selling stuff to other nations is good for your economy?
[QUOTE=Craigewan;33283539]Because selling stuff to other nations is good for your economy?[/QUOTE] As true as this is, selling Uranium to a non-NPT country bugs me.
I think it's OK as long as India don't use the Uranium for military purposes and disposes the waste properly. I'm more concerned about the waste part more than anything, I can truly picture India just dumping it near some village or river or something.
[QUOTE=Craigewan;33283539]Because selling stuff to other nations is good for your economy?[/QUOTE] I don't think you understood anything that I said, whatsoever. In Australia, our government is basically a coalition of two parties - The Greens and the Labour Party. The Greens supported the Labour Party during our last election, which is how they got into power. The Greens party, well-known for being far-left and anti-nuclear-energy, are basically appalled at this and have called it "A betrayal". There was, as far as I know, no pressure from any sector of politics or government, or India itself, to do this. This was a spontaneous action from the PM unless there's clandestine activities going on. So basically, if there's no explanation to this, the PM has severed any chance of herself getting back into government next election for a (marginal in comparison to the loss) profit. [editline]peep[/editline] And this isn't even getting into the can of worms of sending uranium to India in the first place considering it's not a member of the Non-proliferation treaty
[quote]Selling uranium to India will be good for the Australian economy and [B]good for jobs[/B][/quote] you see, australians just import all their political rhetoric from the US our unemployment rate is within the top five of developed western/european states [editline]15th November 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=CheeseMan;33283464]No idea why she'd do this since she was under no pressure to do it and it only angered the Greens who are essential to Labour's continued existance.[/QUOTE] yup I don't think some of the independents are too keen on it either [editline]15th November 2011[/editline] It's not like we haven't sold India uranium before though
We still don't have any nuclear power plants HERE. We're a backwards craphole with a government full of hippies with their heads up their asses, and monumental idiots that pander to their every whim to hold power.
That image is just begging for captions
And the waste, which you can see here, floating in the Ganges...
Wont they be using it for the reactor they're building?
[QUOTE=TurbisV2;33284892]That image is just begging for captions[/QUOTE] [img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34347597/Misc/obama-gillard.png[/img]
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