Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Civil Nuclear Transfers to India Bill 2016. India is an important friend of Australia. I am strongly in favour of measures that will strengthen and deepen Australia's ties with India. Over 450,000 people of Indian descent currently call Australia home. India is our largest source of skilled migrants. Between 2010 and 2015 we welcomed 180,000 new Indian migrants. With keen entrepreneurial spirit, Indian Australians have already made and continue to make a significant contribution to our community. India is the second-largest source of international students, with 53,000 international Indian students studying in Australia in 2015.

Over the past 10 years there has been a noticeable development in the strength and intensity of our relationship with India, from cultural ties and people-to-people links to significant political and trade interests. Our two great nations share many of the same values, with a common thread of law and language. In my electorate of Berowra we are blessed with a strong and active Indian community of around 5,000 people, who make a much-valued contribution to our community.

India is a growing power in the region. With 1.2 billion people, India is the world's largest democracy. India has the world's third-largest total GDP and impressive growth rates that have exceeded China's stellar growth rates in recent years. India is Australia's 10th-largest two-way trading partner and our fifth-largest export market. The Australia-India relationship is in the ascendancy and over the past few years our relationship has grown steadily in depth and intensity. It is a tribute to the hard work of our outstanding foreign minister, Julie Bishop, the foresight of former Prime Minister Abbott and the continuing commitment of Prime Minister Turnbull.

Two-way prime ministerial visits in 2014 built significant momentum in our relationship with India. Prime Minister Abbott visited India in September 2014, during which the two leaders signed a number of bilateral memoranda of understanding, including, relevantly, cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In November 2014 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia. It was the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister in 28 years. I was privileged to be in a crowd of 16½ thousand Australians to hear Prime Minister Modi speak at the Acer Arena in Sydney, where he observed:

We see Australia as a vital partner in India's quest for progress and prosperity. There are few countries in the world where we see so much synergy as we do in Australia. India is a nation of more than a billion seeking development. Australia is a developed country of a few million people and vast resources. I see Australia as a major partner in every area of our national priority.

Moving to the issue of uranium exports, Australia's uranium export policy restricts exports of sales for peaceful purposes. It requires that states to whom we sell uranium provide assurances that Australian uranium will not be used for weapons and will be subject to the International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. In practice, this has meant that Australia does not export uranium to states outside the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, including India. A 2008 waiver granted to India by the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group allowed India access to civilian nuclear technology and fuel from other countries. In 2014, Australia and India signed the Australia-India nuclear cooperation agreement, which sets out strict conditions for the peaceful use, safeguarding and security of Australian uranium transfer to India for civil use.

This bill has a series of benefits. The Civil Nuclear Transfers to India Bill provides guidance for the approval of Australian uranium exports to India. It ensures that any such approval takes into account the particular safeguard arrangements that the International Atomic Energy Agency applies to India and which India has committed to apply in respect of Australian exports of uranium through its nuclear cooperation agreement with this country.

This bill recognises the robust regime of accounting and inspections to ensure non-diversion of nuclear material from the peaceful use that has been set up by the IAEA India Safeguards Agreement. This bill clarifies that decisions approving civil nuclear transfers to India are not to be inconsistent with, or have been made with due regard to, Australia's international obligations under either the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. These arrangements offer robust assurance that Australian uranium will be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.

By codifying Australia's international obligations in relation to the nuclear safeguards to be applied to India, this bill puts in place the domestic legal protections required to facilitate Australian export of uranium to India for civil purposes. It protects Australian exporters who are complying with all relevant international safeguards and obligations from the threat of a domestic legal challenge. Without this legislation, the risk of a domestic legal challenge could hinder the export opportunity available to Australian companies, several of whom already have potential sales contracts under discussion.

This bill makes an important contribution to our bilateral relationship, and it is an important sign of trust between our two nations. It adds to the suite of measures introduced to deepen our bilateral strategic ties and firmly places Australia and India on a path to further cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

This bill represents a new trade opportunity for Australia. We have the ability to provide safe uranium to India, while simultaneously enhancing our economic opportunities abroad and investing in jobs here at home. The Minerals Council of Australia said in 2014:

India is set to be a significant developer of nuclear energy over the next decade and a half. While it is already one of the largest energy consumers in the world, it still has around 400 million people without access to electricity.

As well as Australia, India now has civil nuclear arrangements with, among other countries, Canada, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The significant benefit to Australia from passing this bill is the security given to the uranium export opportunity. The bill opens the pathway for Australian companies to pursue the new energy market opportunity that India presents. With a GDP that has quadrupled in two decades, economic growth rates exceeding even those of China, and the world's third-largest total GDP, in purchasing power terms, India is a huge market opportunity for Australian businesses.

This new market opportunity will contribute to significant growth in our bilateral trade relationship. Trade with India has grown in parallel with our bilateral political relationship and, in 2015, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade valued trade between Australia and India at $18 billion. The opportunities for Australian businesses and exporters to profit from this massive diversified economy and youthful population are endless, particularly with regard to agriculture, energy, manufacturing, mining and services.

The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, currently under discussion between our two governments, will reap significant financial benefits and only further strengthen the ties that bind our nations together. With the prospect of a free trade agreement between Australia and India, it is imperative we pass this legislation. Nuclear power is already an important part of India's energy mix, and increased nuclear capacity in the future will help India reduce its carbon emissions and provide the secure supply of power it needs to continue its rapid economic development. The opportunity for Australia to supply uranium to India and to help fuel that development is a significant one. The first contracts for what promises to be a significant trade are already being negotiated.

There is already a strong relationship in energy cooperation between Australia and India. Coal, our largest export to India, was worth $5.5 billion in 2014-15. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in 2014 that achieving deep cuts in greenhouse gas will require more intensive use of a range of low-carbon technologies, including nuclear energy. In the same year, Prime Minister Abbott spoke in favour of the environmental argument supporting the sale of uranium to India. He observed that uranium 'is an important source of clean energy to a country that desperately needs power.'

As India's population grows and the country's economy develops it will need even greater amounts of energy. This bill will place Australia in a strong position to supply India with the energy required for its continued economic development, while supporting our mining sector and the thousands of hardworking Australian men and women employed in that sector. Exporting uranium to India will help create a clean energy future for India. Helping India to generate more energy from nuclear plants will help to protect the environment by reducing the greenhouse gases emitted during energy production.

In conclusion, this bill will place Australia in a strong position to supply India with the energy required for its continued development and contribute to significant growth in our trade relationship. It puts in place the domestic legal protections required to facilitate Australian export of uranium to India for civil purposes and ensures Australia's continued strength and prosperity in the mining sector. It is, further, an important sign of trust between Australia and India. It is an important sign of our deepening relationship and the depth of understanding between our two great nations. It is a sign of our commitment to a further strengthening of ties and a significant step on the path to the ongoing development of our bilateral relationship. We must pass the Civil Nuclear Transfers to India Bill without delay. I commend it to the House.

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