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Australia reaffirms insistence on safeguards

SINGAPORE: Australia on Tuesday reaffirmed its insistence on “safeguards,” as the Opposition Australian Labour Party (ALP) reinforced its arguments against exporting uranium to India even under “strict conditions.”

Treasurer Peter Costello said in Canberra that the “safeguards” Australia would apply to India, through a proposed bilateral accord, “will be very important to ensure that the uranium is put to peaceful purposes.”

However, Shadow Foreign Minister Robert McClelland said: “If we offend the Pakistan Government by selling uranium to India, common sense suggests that they [the Pakistanis] may well review and consider reducing that cooperation which they are [now] providing in the fight against terror.”

As a result, Prime Minister John Howard’s decision to authorise uranium sales to India, subject to some conditions, could still have harmful consequences for Australia. “It is a decision that, in the longer term, could potentially prejudice the safety of the Australian troops based in Afghanistan,” Mr. McClelland said. “There is every chance Islamabad will be less inclined to heed Australia’s calls to do more against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, who are based in and around Pakistan. These militia launch attacks against the Australian troops in Afghanistan.”

Citing another reason why Australia should not export uranium to India, Mr. McClelland said the decision already made only “increases the likelihood of a nuclear arms race in South Asia.”

He warned that “when it comes to nuclear proliferation,” Mr. Howard’s decision “is a risk not worth taking.”

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