Australia’s new Labour government on Tuesday scrapped plans to sell uranium to India as it was not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), reversing a decision taken by the previous Howard regime.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith conveyed his country’s turnaround to Shyam Saran, a Special Envoy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during their talks held in Perth.

John Howard’s conservative government had in August 2007 decided to start negotiating uranium trade with India before it lost power in November last.

“India is a nation state that is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Smith said.