Acting Liberal Leader Julie Bishop linked the prime minister’s stance on gay marriage with her decision to reverse the ALP’s ban on uranium sales to India. “She’s picking a fight with the Right over gay marriage; she has picked a fight with the Left over uranium to appease the Right. (Australian HERE)
ABC Online:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has set the stage for a showdown with her party’s Left at Labor’s national conference by back-flipping on the ALP’s opposition to selling uranium to India.
In an opinion piece published in Fairfax newspapers this morning, Ms Gillard argues the move would strengthen Australia’s relations with India, which possesses nuclear weapons but is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
She says selling uranium to India for peaceful purposes will broaden Australian markets and increase jobs.
“We must, of course, expect of India the same standards we do of all countries for uranium export – strict adherence to International Atomic Energy Agency arrangements and strong bilateral and transparency measures which will provide assurances our uranium will be used only for peaceful purposes,” she wrote.
“[We] must be prepared to confront difficult questions about maximising prosperity and the strength of our relationships in our region of the world.”
Labor policy prohibits selling uranium to any country that is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the move will face opposition from the ALP’s Left faction.
• Michelle Grattan, SMH, The Age: PM grants conscience vote, dooming gay marriage
JULIA Gillard will back a conscience vote for Labor MPs on gay marriage, as the Age/Nielsen poll shows a growing majority of Australians favour legalising marriage equality.
But in a stand that will deeply disappoint those arguing for change, the Prime Minister also wants opposition to gay marriage to stay in the ALP platform, which will be debated at next month’s party conference.
Sixty-two per cent of voters would like to see gay marriage legalised, a rise from 57 per cent a year ago, according to the poll. Thirty-one per cent are opposed, compared with 37 per cent in November 2010.
Ms Gillard, who has repeatedly defended the status quo, has announced her position in an article in The Age today. The issue is one of the hottest for the conference, with many in the left arguing the platform should not just embrace marriage equality but that MPs should be bound to support it.
A conscience vote would doom a private member’s bill because Labor MPs would be split, while the Coalition would vote solidly against.
In her article, Ms Gillard writes she is proud that Labor has been at the forefront of changing laws to end discrimination against same-sex couples in many areas. ”However, I equally recognise the deeply held convictions in society on the questions of marriage. This diversity of public opinion is reflected in the passionate debate inside the Labor Party.”
Given the personal nature of the issue and the deeply held beliefs, a conscience vote for MPs is appropriate, she says, so they can decide ”according to their own values and beliefs”.
She writes that she has said many times that she supports maintaining the Marriage Act in its current form. ”My position flows from my strong conviction that the institution of marriage has come to have a particular meaning and standing in our culture and nation and that should continue unchanged.”
In the poll, Labor voters are overwhelmingly for changing the law (71-22 per cent), and Green supporters more so (86-10 per cent). But Coalition voters are more divided (50 per cent for change and 44 against).
There is majority support in every mainland state, with the highest backing (68 per cent ) in Victoria and the lowest in Queensland (56 per cent). Support is greater among women than men (71-53 per cent), and in capital cities compared with regional areas (65-58 per cent). Backing for a change declines with age, from 80 per cent among those 18 to 24, down to 41 per cent among those 55 and over. The poll of 1400 was taken from Thursday to Saturday.
Prominent left-wingers Senator Doug Cameron and Mental Health Minister Mark Butler oppose a conscience vote, saying MPs should be bound to follow a changed policy. Victorian Right faction leader David Feeney has urged a conscience vote.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/pm-grants-conscience-vote-dooming-gay-marriage-20111114-1nfm9.html#ixzz1djhFuyxa
• Bob Brown
Greens reject Gillard’s dangerous nuclear about-face
Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said today the prospect of selling uranium to India will horrify many Australians.
“Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott agree on selling uranium to nuclear-armed India although the Australian people have had no say,” Senator Brown said in Hobart.
“It’s all about helping multi-billion-dollar mining corporations make more money, as Martin Ferguson would wish, at the expense of regional security. The government has removed the super profits tax from uranium.”
“It will make Australia less secure. Enriched uranium, through this process, will end up in the nuclear stockpiles of India, including its growing fleet of nuclear-armed and powered warships.”
“This is a giant step towards another nuclear backflip by both major parties: hosting a global nuclear waste dump in Australia in the years to come,” Senator Brown said.
“Remember the words of President Obama two years ago:
Just as we stood for freedom in the 20th century, we must stand together for the right of people everywhere to live free from fear in the 21st century … So today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons … We, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, “Yes, we can.” – Barack Obama, Prague, 5 April 2009
• TASMANIA SHOULD REJECT GILLARD’S PROPOSED URANIUM SALE TO INDIA
Nick McKim MP
Greens Leader
The Tasmanian Greens today called for the State to take a similar position as Queensland under Anna Bligh, by rejecting Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s controversial move to sell uranium to India, one of the three countries which has refused to sign the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Greens Leader Nick McKim MP said it is widely recognised that by increasing India’s potential supply of uranium, will allow the country to free up its local supplies to be redirected into its nuclear weapons program.
“It is not news to anyone that India is engaged in a nuclear-arms race with Pakistan, which makes any move to increase India’s uranium supply a matter of national and regional nuclear security,” Mr McKim said.
“A clear message needs to be sent to the ALP National Conference that it is irresponsible to contravene international treaties and by doing so, enable India to free up its currently committed local supplies of uranium to be redirected into nuclear weapon production.”
“Senior Indian Defense analyst, Dr K. Subrahmanyam, has stated that, ‘given India’s uranium ore crunch and the need to build up [India’s] nuclear deterrent arsenal as fast as possible, it is to India’s advantage to categorise as many power reactors as possible as civilian ones to be refuelled by imported uranium and conserve our native uranium fuel for weapons grade plutonium production.’
“This mooted over-turning of Australia’s policy to not sell uranium to non-signatory countries to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is wrong-headed and irresponsible, and will undermine this nation’s strong international reputation for working towards nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.”
“Tasmania’s Labor and Liberal representatives should send a loud message to their Federal counterparts to not back-flip on, or water-down Australia’s policy to not allow uranium sales to countries which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
“Queensland’s Premier Anna Bligh has stood up for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation by her rejection of the Prime Minister’s move, and in the interests of national and regional security so should Tasmania,” Mr McKim said.
