Aussie oppn asks govt to review stand on uranium sale to India

Melbourne, Oct 9 (PTI) Australian Opposition parties Thursday pressed the Federal Government to review its stand on selling uranium to India, saying the current "hypocritical" policy will hurt the mining companies with New Delhi back into the nuclear club.

The Opposition parties also reminded the Government
that it did not object to Nuclear Suppliers Group (N.S.G.)
waiver for India.

"Now that the U.S.-India agreement has been made law,
the Rudd government is in an untenable position by refusing to
allow the sale of Australian uranium to India under the same
terms, conditions and International Atomic Energy Agency
(I.A.E.A.) inspection program as Australian uranium sales to
China," Opposition resources spokesman Ian Macfarlane said.

"This is the same agreement that Australia approved
last month, as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, yet
the government persists with its ideological and patronising
refusal to allow a similar deal between India and Australia.

"This unsustainable position comes at the expense of
local jobs in the Australian resources sector, which is being
denied access to the substantial market and major investment
opportunities," Macfarlane was quoted as saying by A.A.P.

The Government led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has
insisted that it will not sell uranium to India while the
country remains outside the non-proliferation treaty.

Macfarlane said India will need extensive reserves of
clean energy to meet the needs of its growing population while
lowering its greenhouse gas emissions from electricity
generation.

"With the world's most extensive reserves of uranium,
Australia is well positioned to meet that demand," he said.

"But the government's obstructionist approach and
unsustainable double standards are holding us back and
standing in the way of jobs growth and new export
opportunities for the resources sector," he said. PTI NC