Posted on 03/05/2006 7:26:01 PM PST by Dundee
Howard 'following Bush on uranium'
PRIME Minister John Howard was again holding on to the coat tails of US President George W. Bush in considering selling uranium to India, Labor's resources spokesman, Martin Ferguson, said today.
Australia should decide what was right on the issue, not simply follow America, he said.
Mr Howard, visiting New Delhi, said he would be happy to listen when his Indian counterpart today asked if his country could buy Australian uranium.
Mr Bush last week signed a historic nuclear accord with India.
Although details of the nuclear pact were not been released, negotiators had been working on a deal under which the US would extend civilian nuclear technology to India if it agreed to separate its military and civilian atomic facilities.
India has not signed the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
"John Howard has indicated he is open to selling uranium to India based on an agreement between India and George Bush which has not even been approved by the US Congress," Mr Ferguson said.
"It's for us to determine as an independent nation what's right for the export of our uranium, not to follow on the coat tails of the US."
Mr Ferguson said Australia's policy restricting uranium sales to countries that were signatories to the NPT and with whom Australia had bilateral safeguards agreements had been in place since 1977 and had served the country well.
"Australians want to know that our uranium is used for peaceful purposes only and it is a real concern to me that the UN failed to strengthen the NPT last year," he said.
Mr Ferguson said Mr Howard's response to the deal was at odds with those of Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.
"Alexander Downer said on ABC radio on Friday that a decision to export uranium to India would constitute a significant shift in Australian policy which had been developed over many years going back to the Fraser government," he said.
"As the world's second largest supplier of uranium, Australia has an obligation to strengthen, not undermine, the NPT."
Must be a good thing then. I wonder how quickly we could send the first ship load over...
Ping....looks like there might be some progress on the Uranium issue. Friendly ties between India and Australia are overdue...both democracies need to work together to prevent the spread of Chinese-style communism and Islamism in Asia and the Pacific.
"Excellent news" bump
I don't think Howard receives any better treatment from the Aussie press than Bush receives from ours.
PRIME Minister John Howard was again holding on to the coat tails of US President George W. Bush in considering selling uranium to India, Labor's resources spokesman, Martin Ferguson, said today.
Journalists are, with few exceptions, socialist clones. But Howard, with some 30 years of politics under his belt, and in his fourth term, deals with them very well. He gobbles them up and spits them out, it's a delight to watch.
And I understand that a key element of the US deal is that India will allow inspections of their sites, facilities, etc.
That's not the sole element giving me comfort, but it's a part of it. Theoretically some hostile government could come in, but the risk is much, much lower than the nations we are most concerned about. India knows China is a rival and a threat, and is looking for friends, too.
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