John Howard's Nuclear Debate

In mid-May 2006, Australian Prime Minister John Howard used an address to a joint houses sitting of the Canadian Parliament to foreshadow a major expansion in Australia's nuclear industry through George W. Bush's proposed Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. "In the energy area which is of course allied to climate change, Canada and Australia have much in common. We are the holders of the largest uranium reserves in the world and both of us must work together in relation to the recently proposed global nuclear energy partnership which seeks laudably to control proliferation, but we must as the holders of these vast uranium reserves, ensure that that particular partnership does not work against the interests of countries such as Canada and Australia,' he said.

Two weeks later, in a speech to the annual conference dinner of the Minerals Council of Australia "need to have a comprehensive debate about all stages in relation to the nuclear fuel cycle and the relevance of that to Australia." 

Howard Outlines His Key Themes
Howard argued that recent changes in public opinion necessitated a re-evaluation of Australia's participation in the nuclear fuel cycle. "There is, of course, a passage of time since those accidents [Three Mile Island and Chernobyl] and the realisation that with superior technologies, the likelihood of them occurring again has been greatly diminished. There’s been, of course, the growing realisation that nuclear energy is cleaner and greener than just about any other form of (inaudible) energy. There’s also been the recognition that with the growth of countries such as India and China, there is a growing potential demand for our natural resources, "he said. 

Howard also foreshadowed an extension of Australia's role from solely exporting uranium to potentially including uranium enrichment plans and the establishment of a high-level nuclear waste dump. There was, he told the mining indusrty audience, a "growing realisation that in relation to uranium exports there is something fundamentally hypocritical in saying ‘well it’s too dangerous to use uranium in Australia because of the consequences, but we’re very happy to profit from the sale of it so other countries that use it can grapple with the dangers that we find unacceptable’. For all of these reasons the Government has come to the view that a proper expert inquiry into all aspects of nuclear power, whether it’s desirable and economic that we have the possibility of uranium enrichment." 

"But can I say this will be a debate that will attract the usual fear campaign. ... I think it’s a debate that will test the capacity of this country to maturally examine issues related to our long term energy future, and of course our long term capacity to control greenhouse gas emissions and make the necessary environmental investment that I know and you know we must make in our future and the future of our planet," he said. 

Anti-Nuclear Groups Resources

 * http://nuclear.wilderness.org.au/ Nuclear Resource - The Wilderness Society
 * http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/ - Nuclear Policy Research Institute (US-based but founded by Helen Caldicott and has a lot of links to her material)
 * http://www.helencaldicott.com/articles.htm - Helen Caldicott
 * http://www.foe.org.au/nc/nc_nuke.htm#subs -Friends of the Earth website
 * http://www.energyscience.org.au - Energy Science Coalition
 * http://www.geocities.com/jimgreen3/nnn6.html - Jim Green's website

Other SourceWatch Resources

 * Adelaide to Darwin Railway
 * Australian Nuclear Energy
 * Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
 * Australian uranium exports to China
 * Australian uranium exports to India
 * Global Nuclear Energy Partnership
 * Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism
 * Ian Hore-Lacy
 * Harley Wright
 * Murray Jackson, Chief Executive Genesis Energy
 * Pangea
 * Silex
 * Uranium Industry Framework
 * Uranium mining in Australia
 * Uranium enrichment in Australia

Media Releases, Speeches and Interviews By/With Howard

 * John Howard, "Transcript of Doorstop Intervew Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi", March 5, 2006.
 * John Howard, "Address to the Joint Session of Parliament, Ottowa", May 18, 2006.
 * John Howard, "Transcript of the Address To the Australian Minerals Industry Parliamentary Dinner", May 31, 2006.
 * John Howard, "Review of Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy in Australia", Media Release, June 6, 2006.
 * John Howard, "Nuclear Review: Taskforce Membership", Media Release, June 7, 2006.
 * John Howard, "Address to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia", Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, 18 July 2006.

General Articles

 * Michael Gawenda, "Howard heralds lucrative nuclear era", The Age, May 19, 2006.
 * Ben Doherty and Katharine Murphy, "power twice as costly as brown coal", The Age, June 9, 2006.
 * Julie Macken, "Out, then back: the big N-plan", Australian Financial Review, June 7, 2006. (Not available online).
 * Cameron England, "Cheap coal the nuclear hurdle", Herald Sun, July 11, 2006.
 * Cameron England, "SA Outback for nuke dump", Courier Mail, July 12, 2006.
 * Andrew Davies, "We should be wary of a nuclear reaction", Opinion, Sydney Morning Herald, September 1 2006.
 * Paul Maley, "PM's nuclear push outrageous: Suzuki", Canberra Times, October 18, 2006.
 * Farrah Tomazin, "Parties give a resounding no to nuclear plant", Melbourne Age, October 18, 2006.
 * "Go nuclear? Forget it, says AGL chief", Sydney Morning Herald, April 23, 2007.