Campbell Newman's uranium backflip in Queensland

Adam Stone

"I am happy to be quoted at the next election. If you do not support uranium mining, vote for the Greens. A vote for the Labor Party is a vote for a confused party that has no policy on this any more." − Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, 31 October 2012.

I find myself in the unfamiliar position of being in agreement with Campbell Newman. Of the larger political parties, only the Greens still oppose the nuclear industry. We don't support uranium mining, nuclear power, or nuclear weapons.

The Labor Party opposed uranium mining in Queensland, but not so strongly that it was prepared to legislate a ban or put an end to the aspirations of prospective uranium miners by denying them exploration permits. The federal Labor Party abandoned its policy of banning new uranium mines at its 2007 national conference, then voted to export uranium to a non-party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (India) at its 2011 national conference, and by 2012 was actively lobbying Campbell Newman to permit uranium mining in Queensland.

However, Newman is being a bit cute when he paints himself as a proud uranium mining advocate, ready to submit to the will of the people. He had an opportunity to do that a year ago, but preferred the safety of the closet (claiming he had no plans to permit uranium mining) and a sure path to the Premier's office.

The claim that people who oppose uranium mining are 'against jobs' is equally suspect − who on earth is 'against jobs'?! Newman acknowledged on ABC radio in November 2012 that he has no modelling to substantiate his claims of "thousands of jobs and tens of billions of dollars of investment". Yet estimates of uranium industry employment across Australia range from 650 to 1760 jobs (depending on how many jobs at the multi-mineral Olympic Dam mine are attributed to uranium mining; and whether uranium exploration jobs are included).

Global demand for uranium is so soft that the Australian Uranium Association forecasts that no mines will be built in Queensland for another five to seven years. Mines will only be built after that time on the assumption that demand increases and the international uranium price escalates.

Then there's a separate question about whether more mining jobs would increase overall employment anyway. One area of the Queensland economy that is doing very well is mining. Indeed, we keep hearing cries of anguish about skill shortages and the need to import labour. Under these circumstances, new mining projects often simply shuffle jobs around from one project to another or out of less profitable industries such as manufacturing.

While the Premier's pro-uranium mining case rests on his fanciful jobs and investment claims, I would argue that Queensland's participation in this industry is globally irresponsible for at least two reasons (and more, but these are the real clinchers for me).

Firstly, it is impossible to break the link between civilian nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Even when operating inside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, any country can follow North Korea's example, ditch their international commitments, and redirect the technology and materials they have acquired ostensibly for peaceful purposes into a weapons program. As former International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed El Baradei said in 2005: "If a country with a full nuclear fuel cycle decides to break away from its non-proliferation commitments, a nuclear weapon could be only months away."

Secondly, there is still no long-term storage solution for high-level nuclear waste after some 60 years of the nuclear industry. We keep hearing that deep geological storage is the answer, but there is not one such facility operating anywhere in the world.

We might be willing to accept those risks if we were convinced that the world could not counter climate change without nuclear power, but that is simply not the case. Currently available renewable technologies are sufficient to meet our needs and many of them can do it more cheaply than nuclear power.

Adam Stone is the lead Senate candidate for the Queensland Greens.