Australian minister denies secret uranium talks with India
Australian Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has denied that Australia is conducting a ''confidential dialogue'' to sell uranium to India.
According to ABC Radio, the minister's spokesperson have said talks with India have been about selling resources and energy and not uranium.
The spokesperson has also cited the ruling Labor Party's own policy which bans the sale of nuclear fuel uranium to countries which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Meanwhile, a partner in the ruling alliance, the Green Party, has expressed concern over the report of secret talk between India and Australia. The Australian Greens spokesperson on nuclear issues, Scott Ludlam, has demanded that the Labor government must categorically rule out any such plan.
"In January Minister Ferguson publicly rebuffed a request from Indian authorities to commence sale of uranium but the following month the Minister was forced to reveal his real position when documents leaked by WikiLeaks showed he was in favour of selling uranium to India," Senator Scott Ludlam said in a media release.
The Greens senator is also expected to move a motion in the Australian Senate Friday to express support for the current ban on sale of uranium to non-signatories of NNPT. The senator is also expected to ask the government to "make public the list of countries to whom it will not sell uranium".
Australian media had widely reported earlier Friday that covert talks are being held to remove roadblocks to the export of uranium to India.
The sensational news were based on a claim by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons group that it obtained documents through Freedom of Information Act revealing secret deliberations with India.
A confidential briefing note in February to the resources minister, Martin Ferguson, according to Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), said that a dialogue "may prove a useful avenue to communicate any policy shifts on the issue of uranium exports, which are banned to India under government and ALP policy".
"The dialogue could be elevated in the future as conditions allow agreement on exporting uranium to India," the SMH has quoted from the alleged note.
Australia has put a moratorium on the sale of uranium to India as the South Asian country has not signed the NPT.
