Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

You can stand up all you like, foreign minister, and argue the notion that we ought to have uranium enrichment here, but Putin and Bush have simply said: there ought to be no additional enrichment facilities anywhere on earth, because they directly threaten a proliferation regime. They absolutely do. Until we have dealt with issues on the possible extension of nuclear weapons in Iran or North Korea there is a high level of possibility that, if we fail with regard to the non-proliferation target that we seek in North Korea and Iran, the next set of nuclear powers around the Middle East, and likewise in North-East Asia, will all be contemplating the opportunity to develop a nuclear weapon. To be sitting down and talking about this, in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, as a serious option is frankly ridiculous. It is ridiculous—

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