George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to indicate briefly that Labor supports this reference to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. The reference gives the parliament the opportunity to examine the details of the bilateral agreement signed by President Putin and Mr Howard during APEC. Given that Russia is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Labor starts from a position of being open to sales of uranium to an NPT signatory. But Labor would certainly like to see Russia ratify the International Atomic Energy Agency’s additional protocol which it signed seven years ago. The additional protocol strengthens the inspections and safeguards regime.

The committee’s scrutiny of the agreement will be an important part of the process of detailed consideration. In particular, the reference to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee will provide the opportunity to examine the adequacy of safeguards being built into the agreement, domestic security issues relating to Russia and the importance of the IAEA additional protocol to the agreement. This is much the same process that was conducted in regard to the sale of uranium to China. Labor therefore supports this reference.