Prime Minister Julia Gillard leads Australia's ruling party in clearing the way for uranium sales to India.
A bilateral agreement is likely to follow the Labor Party vote to overturn the ban on uranium sales to countries that are not part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Gillard argues it is irrational to sell the resource to China but not India.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA, JULIA GILLARD, SAYING
"Now, I do want to say to you, when we sell uranium, of course we must ensure that there are strong safeguards. We are a peaceful people. We've always understood that uranium was a fuel of a different nature. We've always insisted that when we sell uranium that it comes with safeguards. Safeguards in the form of a stringent bilateral agreement between us and the nation that we sell uranium to."
Education minister Peter Garrett, whose former rock band sang anti-uranium songs in the eighties and nineties, opposed the move.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND YOUTH, PETER GARRETT, SAYING:
"Where is our vision here? Where is our commitment to a nuclear-free future? Where is our commitment for things like a nuclear weapons-free convention, and where is our insistence that those values that we've stood for in the past, and those measures that we've considered were absolutely crucial to disarm them, should be maintained. On that basis, delegates, we should oppose this motion."
But proponents pushed the plan through with 206 votes to 185.
A bilateral agreement represents both an economic and diplomatic opportunity for Australia, while India needs Australia's substantial uranium reserves to meet its ambitious nuclear energy plan.
Lindsey Parietti, Reuters
A bilateral agreement is likely to follow the Labor Party vote to overturn the ban on uranium sales to countries that are not part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Gillard argues it is irrational to sell the resource to China but not India.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA, JULIA GILLARD, SAYING
"Now, I do want to say to you, when we sell uranium, of course we must ensure that there are strong safeguards. We are a peaceful people. We've always understood that uranium was a fuel of a different nature. We've always insisted that when we sell uranium that it comes with safeguards. Safeguards in the form of a stringent bilateral agreement between us and the nation that we sell uranium to."
Education minister Peter Garrett, whose former rock band sang anti-uranium songs in the eighties and nineties, opposed the move.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND YOUTH, PETER GARRETT, SAYING:
"Where is our vision here? Where is our commitment to a nuclear-free future? Where is our commitment for things like a nuclear weapons-free convention, and where is our insistence that those values that we've stood for in the past, and those measures that we've considered were absolutely crucial to disarm them, should be maintained. On that basis, delegates, we should oppose this motion."
But proponents pushed the plan through with 206 votes to 185.
A bilateral agreement represents both an economic and diplomatic opportunity for Australia, while India needs Australia's substantial uranium reserves to meet its ambitious nuclear energy plan.
Lindsey Parietti, Reuters
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