Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am almost speechless. That is such a difficult act to follow—the Nationals in spirited defence of jobs on the Titanic! I would like to briefly change the subject and talk about a matter of great public interest to Australians: the nuclear issue. It has been greatly in the media of late. I acknowledge at the outset that nuclear issues are one of the quickest ways to polarise debate. It is a debate that has been polarised since the dawn of the nuclear age 63 years ago—64 years this year—with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is a polarised debate, and that is why I would like to put a few things on the record today.

There are three reasons why nuclear issues are back in the media and why this issue bubbles along below the collective consciousness of the nation and occasionally breaks the surface. I am marking today, I suppose, in memorial, because this sitting week we were meant to see some very important legislation relating to the repeal of Prime Minister John Howard’s aggressive, regressive nuclear waste legislation. That was meant to be repealed, according to Labor Party policy and according to the very strong and clear recommendations of a Senate committee, by this week at the latest. As yet, we have no sign of that.

Australia is the world’s second-largest miner and exporter of uranium. There are people on either side of this chamber who would like us to take first place off the Canadians.