Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present report No. 94 of the committee, Treaties tabled on 14 May 2008, and move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

In doing so I would like to make some remarks in my capacity as Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The Chair is Mr Kelvin Thomson from the House of Representatives. I know everyone in this parliament works very hard on the committees they undertake, both government and opposition members and occasionally those from minority parties, but I have to say that the treaties committee does take on an extra burden of work. People would be surprised at just how many treaties governments deal with, both large and small. It is not and will not be my custom as deputy chair to speak on every one of those treaties, but a treaty in the report I have tabled today is of significance. It is a treaty that I would like to bring to the attention of the Senate. It relates to the agreement between Australia and the Russian Federation on cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. It establishes a regime that will, for the first time, allow Australia to provide uranium for use in Russia’s nuclear plants. Longstanding Australian government policy has only allowed Australian uranium and nuclear material derived from it to be exported to countries with which Australia has concluded a nuclear safeguards agreement. This agreement will establish safeguard arrangements, the key objectives being to ensure that no material is ever used for or diverted to any military purpose.

Australia’s safeguard agreements are designed to complement the International Atomic Energy Agency’s safeguards system and rely upon the IAEA inspections. The majority of the committee have recommended that ratification not proceed. The majority of the committee—in other words, the government members—have recommended that this treaty not be ratified. That is why I take this opportunity to stand up and note that the opposition members have put in a dissenting report—as rare as that is on the treaties committee—to recommend that the government and the parliament do ratify this most important and crucial treaty.

There is a distinct difference between the government members and the opposition members in relation to this particular treaty. It is an important difference to note, and, I think, one that many of the government members—the frontbench in general if not the foreign minister in particular—will be slightly concerned about. The concern would be that government members on this committee have gone off on a frolic; that is seemingly so if you read the report. Whose evidence did they rely on? They did not rely on the experts—those who came before us with the experience: the department and the atomic energy agencies. They did not rely on the experience and expertise of the departments; they have instead relied upon what I would classify as some extreme antinuclear groups, who gave very little or no evidence other than the prejudice and bias of their longstanding position against uranium mining and against uranium exports.

The fundamental reason why the opposition have recommended that this treaty be ratified is that it is in Australia’s national interest. It is in Australia’s trade interest and it is in Australia’s interests directly with the Russian Federation. Moreover, if you wish, when you finish reading this report, to go deeper into the Hansard of the committee hearings, you will notice that the opposition members rigorously challenged the department, their expertise and what they were telling us in regard to the safeguards necessary and the workability, if you like, of this particular treaty. We did not just accept it on face value; we rigorously challenged the department in regard to their assertions that this treaty ought to be ratified and that the safeguards were in place. We were convinced and we are confident that that is the case, and that is why we have put in the dissenting report. My colleagues also wish to speak to this report and endorse my words.