Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Evans for the question. Of course the arrangement that the Australian government would agree to, with appropriate safeguards, is not going to create an arms race. I want to make that point perfectly clear. The supply of uranium to India for peaceful purposes only, if proper safeguards are in place, as we have with China, would certainly not be creating an arms race.

The Labor Party’s position on this matter, if I may say so, appears to me to be both doctrinaire and somewhat illogical. India does have a good non-proliferation track record but has made it clear that it has no intention of joining the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. To this government’s way of thinking it is worth finding practical ways to bring India into the non-proliferation mainstream, as I said yesterday and the day before.

We note that, when in office, the Labor Party seemed to have no problems with uranium sales to France, for example, before it joined the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in 1992. India is a major and a rapidly growing emitter of greenhouse gases. This government has maintained for months now—