HI

Speech a t u ra n iu m  demonstration  21 O ctober 1977* — The following is the text o f a  speech by the Leader o f the Opposition, the Hon.  E. G. W hitlam , at a uranium dem onstration in Perth:

The Fraser Government’s decision to renew the mining'  and export of uranium is a rush to judgment which gravely  threatens the health and safety of generations of AusÂ­ tralians and of people throughout the world. Every  rountry which anticipated, a few years ago, that their  energy requirements could be met by nuclear generated  electricity is now pulling back from reactor construction  plans and in many cases cancelling orders altogether.  Those decisions have been based on the two grave conÂ­ cerns expressed in the Australian Labor Party’s platform  Â°n uranium mining and export adopted at Perth this year.

First, any expansion in the world supply of uranium and  Â°>hcr nuclear raw materials will magnify the problem of

the proliferation of nuclear weapons. In this context the  Fox commission reported last November that ‘nuclear  power industry is unintentionally contributing to an  increased risk of nuclear war. This is the most serious hazÂ­ ard associated with the industry’. Consequently, the Fox  commission pointed out that it would be wrong for  Australia to renew the export of uranium until adequate  safequards against the proliferation of nuclear weapons  had been established.

The Fraser Government has ridden roughshod over this  vital finding and recommendation of the Fox commission.  It has announced its decision to renew export before those  safeguards have been developed. This is the wrong deÂ­ cision at the wrong time, Mr Fraser’s argument that-  Australia can only achieve those safeguards if it first deÂ­ cides to export uranium is the direct opposite of the truth.  Other countries will not be encouraged to develop adÂ­ equate non-proliferation safeguards unless the supply of  uranium is made conditional upon such development.

A basic structure of international safeguards does exist.  Its main components are the safeguards system of the InÂ­ ternational Atomic Energy Agency, the Euratom system  maintained by the countries of the European Community,  and bilateral agreements between countries. The InterÂ­ national Atomic Energy Agency has itself reported that  procedures to physically safeguard nuclear materials are  inadequate. A graphic illustration of this fact was given by  the recent report by the General Accounting Office of the  United States Government that over 8000 lbs of fissile  material is unaccounted for in the United States alone.  This is enough material for the fabrication of 200 nuclear  weapons.

In addition, IAEA and Euratom recently concluded a  framework agreement for safeguards against the proliferÂ­ ation of nuclear weapons. This agreement took almost ten  years to negotiate and although the framework has been

achieved it has not yet led to the physical application of  safeguards to any of the 300 nuclear facilities in western  Europe. .

Finally, effective bilateral safeguards are not even off  the ground. The Fraser Government has stated that it will  attempt to negotiate such agreements, but this decision.

has come after its decision to renew export. This is pre-  Ã¢ÂÂ   dsely the wrong sequence of events and it is a totally inadÂ­ equate response to what the Fox commission identified as  , ‘the most serious hazard’ associated with the nuclear

industry. : The international community is deeply concerned about ' the problem of nuclear proliferation. Its main current  1  response to this problem has been to accept President  l Carter’s suggestion that an international nuclear fuel cycle  ' evaluation study be started. The study is only starting now  ; and its results will not be known for. two years. It is tragic  i that the Fraser Government has not been prepared to wait  j until the results of the INFCE study are known. There was

i no need for a decision by Australia before the study is  ! completed because no major customer for Australian  i uranium will need new supplies of uranium until 1985. ‘ The second basic concern identified by Labor at Penh

: was the problem of waste disposal. High level nuclear waste remains toxic for a quarter of a million years.  Although procedures are under investigation, the safe  disposal of high level wastes has not been achieved on a  commercial or industrial scale anywhere in the world. It  was precisely for this reason that Labor has emphasised  the need for delay in any decision by Australia.

For the same reason Labor wrote into its platform the  deep concern of the Party over the genetic effects of the  dissemination and use of uranium. Labor alone in  Australia is genuinely concerned for mothers and for

future generations of children in the face of the horrible  damage that radiation and nuclear materials can do to our  children and to the children of future generations. There  was no reason why the Australian Government could not  wait the few years that are required to see if the problem  ; of waste disposal could be solved when the active life of  : high level radioactive wastes is a quarter of a million  i y e 3 " Â·

The Fraser Government’s decision on uranium exports  illustrates with terrifying clarity its willingness to callously  disregard and sell out the interest of ordinary people today  and in the future in order to gain a short term economic  advantage. The Fraser Government has consciously  created the largest pool of unemployed this country has  seen since the great depression. It has consciously created  a generation of disillusioned and hopeless youth in pursuit  of its version of economic normalcy. On the wider scale, it  is gambling with the threat of war and the spectre of large  scale genetic damage in order to get its hands upon the  minimal contribution that uranium exports might make to  our national income four or five years from now.

Labor has been greatly heartened by the rapid increase  in public awareness of the wrongfulness and stupidity of  the Fraser Government’s decision on uranium. It is conÂ­ fident that a clear majority of the Australian people are  recognising that the Fraser Government’s rush to judgÂ­ ment on uranium is wrong and that, as Labor policy  asserts, Australian uranium should not be further exported  until safeguards against the proliferation of nuclear  weapons and procedures for the safe disposal of radioÂ­ active waste are established.

