Aus govt to look into selling uranium to India: Oz High Comm

Ahmedabad, Feb 1 (PTI) Selling uranium to India will be an issue that Australian government will look into in the future, Australian High Commissioner to India John McCarthy said in India's western part Sunday.

"Under present Australian government led by the Labour
Party there is a policy prohibiting export of uranium to
countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation
Treaty (NPT) and India happens to be one of them," McCarthy
told reporters on the sidelines of Vikram Sarabhai Memorial
lecture here.

"Although there may be number of people who think that
policy is wrong, but it is deeply infringed in the Labour
Party. Fear of nuclear issues is very deep seeded in
Australia," the High Commissioner said.

"That does not necessarily mean that we shouldn't be
selling uranium to India. Change in the policy will be one of
the issues that we will look to in the future. But for now we
are not there yet," McCarthy said, adding that for the policy
to be overturned, it would not only be the decision of the
government it has to be finally decided by the Labour Party.

He said the approach to the need for membership of the
NPT for (selling uranium) is quite different to what it was
before, which even in Australia some members of the leadership
acknowledge.

"One of the factors that made difference to people's
thinking over a period is the importance of nuclear fuel in
the climate change debate. The other is the change in approach
taken by the United States of America last year with the
agreement on the Indo-US nuclear deal," McCarthy said.

McCarthy said that being part of the nuclear supplies
group (NSG), Australia was positive about the passage of
nuclear deal between Indian and the US.

"We did not try and obstruct it as some countries did. We
in fact tried to help it," he added.

The High Commissioner expressing caution over "change in
policy" said that for supply of Australian uranium one still
has to deal with the views of the Labour Party as a party.

"There are number of members of the government, who
clearly said that the policy (exporting uranium to India)
needs to be changed. But you can't change the policy on this
sort of issue unless there is unanimity," McCarthy said.

However, he said that change in policy is a difficult
issue looking into the longstanding policies of the Labour
Party. PTI PB