George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

As I was in the course of saying, there is the other side of politics, the Labor side of politics, which goes around the community raising concerns about energy, raising concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, raising concerns about global warming and yet, in the next breath, refusing even to contemplate one of the most important options available to Australia in relation to its energy future—that is, the option of nuclear energy. The Howard government has made it plain that all options are on the table. How can we possibly hope to have a sensible debate about energy in this country without considering the possibility of nuclear energy, which involves considering all stages of the nuclear fuel cycle—to come directly to the issue raised by Senator Marshall in referring to Mr Morgan’s speech. You know, Mr President, and we on this side of chamber know the history of irrationality and zealotry which has characterised the Labor Party’s attitude to uranium and nuclear power—