Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is again to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources. I refer to the minister’s answer to my last question, where he said that he would welcome discussions with Australian Nuclear Energy Ltd. My question to the minister is: has the minister already had discussions with Australian Nuclear Energy Ltd?

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes or no?

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know that the member for Hunter is a supporter of nuclear industry, because he said it on the radio. We are always happy to see a proposal of any type in my office, and I have not seen the proposal from this company put before me in my office. As I said, we need to have the debate and there needs to be a bipartisan position. One thing I do not understand is why the Labor Party or some parts of the Labor Party—it is a shame that the member for Batman is not here—say that we can export uranium to our friends so that they can lower greenhouse gas emissions by using it in base-load nuclear power stations, but they do not want to have a debate here in Australia about nuclear energy.