Jon Lamb, Brisbane

Queensland Labor Premier Peter Beattie announced on April 4 that he no longer opposes uranium mining in Queensland. This will give mining companies the green light to increase uranium exploration. One site near Mt Isa, known as Valhalla, is Australia’s fourth-largest known uranium deposit.

Beattie’s announcement followed the federal government’s on the previous day that is plans to sell uranium to China.

Beattie had previously criticised uranium mining because it would adversely affect the state’s coal exports, especially to China. On March 28 he said on ABC Radio: “From the Queensland government point of view, the answer’s no [to uranium mining]”.

The prospect of booming coal and uranium exports to China has changed Beattie’s tune. On April 4, he announced a commission to study the economic impact of uranium mining on the coal industry. Asked about opposition to uranium mining from within the ALP, Beattie told the ABC’s PM on April 4, “Let me assure you, nothing involving the Labor Party or anyone else will stand in the way of Queensland’s advancement or development”.

There is a big push for more uranium mining from significant players in the Queensland ALP. Labor’s foreign affairs spokesperson Kevin Rudd said on April 4: “This is a big export business for Australia; it’s a half-billion dollar industry. I think there is room to expand our exports to the rest of the world, and we can do so in a manner which is consistent with our non-proliferation objectives.”

Australian Workers’ Union state secretary Bill Ludwig is another outspoken supporter of uranium mining.

Tensions within the ALP over this issue are likely to deepen in the lead-up to the mid-June Queensland ALP conference. The April 6 Courier Mail quoted Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary Andrew Dettmer as saying that Beattie’s shift had created “a wave of revulsion” within the ALP. “The AMWU and the left in general is completely opposed to this backflip”, he said.

From Green Left Weekly, April 12, 2006.
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