Coalition feigns anti-nuclear stand
In an apparent about-face, the federal Coalition government has welcomed the report from the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. According to Alexander Downer, the report contains "practical and realistic" recommendations to phase out nuclear weapons.
The commission was set up by the Keating government last year just as the French government was finishing its nuclear testing program in the Pacific. At the time it was widely viewed — including by Downer — as an election stunt aimed at restoring Labor's credibility after it refused to halt uranium shipments to France.
The commission's credibility was even further called into question with the announcement that its 17-member board included pro-nuclear types such as French former PM Michel Rochard and US former defence secretary Robert McNamara.
Now, Downer is praising the report, which does not contain a timetable for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
According to the Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of the Earth, "It is nonsense to adopt the rhetoric of nuclear disarmament whilst simultaneously embracing an expansion of uranium mining, the industry which makes nuclear weapons and waste possible".
Accusing the government of hypocrisy, Dave Sweeney of FoE said, "The civil nuclear industry creates long-life radioactive wastes, provides a pathway for proliferation and, as Chernobyl showed, is a direct human threat ... We must send a message that the nuclear age is at an end and refuse to countenance more uranium mining and export."