Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for her answer, although I found it rather confusing. I draw her back to her assertion that the government’s position will not lead to another arms race. I refer her to comments by leading Pakistani political figure Imran Khan, who said the Howard government’s decision to sell uranium to India will encourage Pakistan to spend more on weapons. Didn’t he also state that this would lead to an ‘arms race in the subcontinent which poor people in our countries cannot afford’? How would a decision by Pakistan to divert its resources from helping its poor to building nuclear weapons help to make the world a safer and more secure place?