New Delhi
15 June 2011
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prepares to visit Australia in October this
year, an Australian foreign policy analyst and the deputy leader of the Opposition in the
Australian parliament, alike, have argued that the Labour Government's refusal to sell
uranium to India cannot be sustained for long.
In an interview to this newspaper in New Delhi, Dr John Lee of the Centre for
Independent Studies in Sydney said, "I don't think anyone doubts that Australia will
eventually sell uranium to India. I think it's a matter of working through the Australian
political process such that the focus is more on the benefits of selling uranium to India
as opposed to the strict interpretation of our commitments to the non-proliferation treaty."
Julie Bishop, deputy leader of the Opposition, has reasoned that "the hypocrisy of this
decision [not selling uranium to India] is even more glaring in the middle of a debate in
Australia about a carbon tax designed to reduce greenhouse emissions in this country,
while Labour is refusing to supply the fuel that India needs to reduce its emissions."
Ms Bishop, who recently visited India, is also the deputy leader of the Liberal party and
the shadow minister of foreign affairs. Her party had agreed in principle to allow uranium
exports to India when John Howard was prime minister, but Howard's successor, Kevin
Rudd, overturned the decision after the Labour party came to power in 2007.
In a signed piece published by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Wednesday,
Ms Bishop wrote, "Labour's ideological games to satisfy domestic interest groups
should not be allowed to impact on our relationship with this valuable and strategic
partner."
"It is difficult for Australia to build closer relations with this important democracy to our
north-west when this ban clearly implies that Labour is of the view that India cannot be
trusted with Australian uranium, despite its strong record of non-proliferation," Ms
Bishop noted.
The current Labour government headed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard has continued her
party's policy of not selling uranium to a non-NPT signatory such as India. However, as
Dr Lee pointed out, India can draw hope from the fact that the Labour party is "genuinely
split" on the issue.
"There are strong advocates of selling uranium to India who are in Cabinet positions.
The advocates of not selling uranium to India are in more minor positions but they hold
significant influence within the party itself," Dr Lee said, adding that when India's rise
will begin to excite the Australian population, it will offer "more political incentives" for
the Labour party to actually sell uranium to India.
No comments:
Post a Comment