Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their contributions to the debate. I particularly note that three coalition senators have spoken in this debate and not one of them has rejected the sale of uranium to India. That is of great concern to me because, as Senator Trood has just said, Australia has had a strong record in upholding nuclear nonproliferation and in trying to support the treaty. What we now have is a critical situation. We are at a crossroads in this country with regard to nuclear nonproliferation, and it is because of the Howard government’s relationship with President Bush.

India is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The treaty states very clearly that we should not be supplying nuclear materials to a state party that is not a signatory to the convention. Australia has upheld that position time and time again until recently. Foreign Minister Downer has been strong in saying that that would continue to be the case, in spite of the fact that Australia is prepared to sell uranium to China, which is the other Communist regime in Asia which is not condemned by Senator Johnston. However, the fact of the matter is that the Greens oppose the export of uranium to both India and China. The Australian government will be undermining the nuclear non-proliferation treaty if it moves to sell uranium to India. And what has the Prime Minister had to say? He has been shifting position. He said:

We are examining all the implications of the Indian request—

that is, for Australian uranium—

and the desire of India to be part of the nuclear system to get access to uranium for peaceful purposes, but it would require a change of policy.

He went on to say:

But as time goes by if India were to meet safeguard obligations some Australians would see it as anomalous that we would sell uranium to China but not to India.

On and on it has gone, and there is report after report in the Australian press that the Australian Prime Minister is shifting ground to endorse and support the sale of uranium to India. And why would that be so? It would be so because President Bush went to India earlier this year and struck a US-India technology deal. That deal has not been approved through the American political process yet—and may not be so if the mid-term elections change things in the US. The point is that the United States has gone outside the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It is undermining the treaty. The Nuclear Suppliers Group will have to deal with this issue if it goes through the US parliamentary process, and the Nuclear Suppliers Group operates on a process of consensus. Australia could block the US-India deal in the Nuclear Suppliers Group if it chose to. If it were serious about the nuclear non-proliferation treaty it would do so.

Yesterday in Vienna there was a meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. It was reported that the US-India deal would be discussed informally, but it will not be considered as a formal proposition until, of course, it is endorsed through the US process. But, if it were to be considered, what would Australia’s position be? Australia would either support the US-India technology deal and began exporting uranium to India as well or do as Senator Trood has said and continue to take a leadership role globally in supporting the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. We are at this crossroad right now, and that is why this is a critical matter. That is why I have moved that Australia should take every action to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, not to undermine it. That treaty, for all its failings—and I admit that it has been fraying in recent years, and what we have to do is strengthen it—is what we have under international law to stop proliferation.

Where we have been going in the last few years is for the US to undermine international law, and if you undermine international law, as Philippe Sands says, you have a lawless world. Australia must uphold the provisions of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and I am alarmed that not one of the three government senators today assured this chamber that Australia will not undermine the nuclear non-proliferation treaty by selling uranium to India. They made no comment about Australia’s support for the US-India deal under that treaty. (Time expired)

Question put:

That the motion (That the motion (Senator Milne’s) be agreed to.) be agreed to.