Australia to Lift Ban on Uranium Sale to India

MELBOURNE (NNN-Bernama) -- New Delhi will be able to buy uranium from Australia after the Australian Labor Party (ALP) lifted a long-standing ban on the export to India.

The ALP's national conference in Sydney on Sunday backed Prime Minister Julia Gillard's plan to remove the party platform's ban on uranium exports to India, in a 206 to 185 final vote.

Gillard said the move would boost trade and enhance Australia's relationship with the world's largest democracy.

"We are at the right time in the history of the world to seize a new era of opportunity in this, the Asian century," Gillard is reported by the Australian Associated Press as telling the conference.

She said the sale would be based on a new safeguards agreement and India's commitment to global nuclear agreements other than the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which it has not signed.

Facing opposition from a number of cabinet ministers and jeers from the public gallery, Gillard said it was not rational for Australia to sell uranium to China but not to India.

"There's always emotion and passion at Labor Party conferences, I think that's a good thing," she said. "It's a sign of a vibrant political party."

Seconding the motion, South Australian premier Jay Weatherill said India was one of his state's major trading partners, and the export of uranium was crucial to its economy.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson told the conference Australia couldn't lecture the world about the importance of climate change action while denying them sources of clean energy.

"Ten thousand tonnes of Australian uranium exports replaces 400 million tonnes of Co2 from conventional coal fired power plants," he said.

Fellow frontbencher Peter Garrett spoke out against the motion, saying it weakened the party's commitment to nuclear disarmament. - NNN-BERNAMA