Labor Uranium policy

[rockingham178]

Get ready holders of Australian U stocks....

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1856377.htm

Last Update: Sunday, February 25, 2007. 3:13pm (AEDT)
Gillard backs uranium mining
Deputy Opposition Leader Julia Gillard has announced she will support a push to end Labor's ban on new uranium mines.

Ms Gillard is breaking ranks with other left-wing Labor MPs ahead of the ALP conference in April.

She says uranium mining creates jobs, so it should be allowed to expand.

"On the question of uranium, I've had to think about this and think about what position I would take at national conference, and really I've decided that I will support [Opposition Leader] Kevin [Rudd]'s position at national conference," she said.

"I'm for jobs, I'm for jobs, jobs, jobs, and I understand that the expansion of the uranium mining industry in this country will mean jobs."

Another small hurdle has been overcome......just the start (Mcrae was far left on the U issue in WA)
WA Environment minister Mcrae has resigned (read sacked) today
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1856388.htm

 

[Halba]

yep policy will definitely change

only issue is WA- they are unpredictable IMHO

 

[rockingham178]

yep policy will definitely change

only issue is WA- they are unpredictable IMHO

and corrupt....they will be forced to back down over this and with Mcrae out of the way it becomes easier.....carpenter is strong but he will toe the party line...

 

[Halba]

i haven't touched any WA u's yet don't intend to. we're prolly just better of sticking to our african plays huh. even if they change policy, australia is very SLOW at developing mines in general, let alone u mines

 

[rockingham178]

i haven't touched any WA u's yet don't intend to. we're prolly just better of sticking to our african plays huh. even if they change policy, australia is very SLOW at developing mines in general, let alone u mines

One of the reasons I like PEN (Sth Africa, US and Aus) and EXT (Namibia)

However Aus U stocks/leases will be bought up heavily by the US, Canadians and Chinese with any change in policy and this is already showing signs of occurring....Aus U stocks will fly if this policy changes...

 

[Halba]

yep aussie fund managers

 

[Smurf1976]

I do think that the political process is undergoing a fundamental rethink on some long held views where the environment is concerned. That is particularly so in relation to energy.

It's a quarter century since we had the big uranium and hydro debates. In both cases it came down to coal being preferable both as a domestic power source and as a matter of foreign policy. Hence no new uranium mines and the end of big hydro dam construction (and in practice the end of practially all large dam construction), both driven by a federal Labor government keen to capture the newly emerged green vote.

25 years later and nothing fundamental has changed. We knew about the theory of climate change caused by carbon dioxide emissions back then. We knew that oil was a limited resource and indeed were in the midst of a price crisis that challenged previous thinking where energy was concerned.

But now climate change is something everyone knows about and many believe we're starting to see the effects. Meanwhile we've got an outright crisis as far as water is concerned. What were distant, future issues are now an urgent reality as far as many are concerned.

And so I firmly belive we're in the midst of a rethink on the two issues that effectively gave birth to the Australian environmental movement.

Faced with widespread community concern over climate change, the argument against uranium is no longer the clear cut issue it once was. Coal isn't seen as the harmless, safe alternative it was 25 years ago and politicians of all persuasions know it. We now have an answer to those "why not coal?" placards waved all those years ago in opposition to nuclear energy.

Likewise with the water situation it's hard to see anyone mounting an effective campaign against any new large dam proposal, at least not one concerned with water supply (as opposed to hydro-electricity). But even in the context of power, anyone pushing a No Dams argument would find it somewhat more difficult than was previously the case due to the issues surrounding fossil fuel use.

So I think we're very near the point of more uranium mines. It will happen regardless of who is in government although Labor would likely impose more controls on operations (to protect the environment and control which countries the uranium is exported to) than Liberal given their position to date on the issue.

For domestic nuclear power, I don't think we're there yet. Liberal isn't into building publicly owned power stations and the private sector doesn't seem interested (yet) in going down that track. But with the closure of effectively half Victoria's brown coal industry coming in the 2020's (as the Yallourn and Morwell mines are depleted thus closing the associated Yallourn, Hazelwood and Morwell power stations - roughly half the brown coal industry in Vic), I wouldn't be surprised to see the nuclear alternative receive serious attention.

As for the dams, for water supply I think we're at the point now where either new dams or desalination etc gets built. Indeed it's already happening on a small scale.

We're not there yet with hydro-electricity (and I'm not convinced we ever will be) but the expected depletion of virtually all existing gas supplies in SE Australia plus the Morwell and Yalourn brown coal mines around the mid-2020's combined with the climate change issue does create a "now or never" situation for hydro (and all other non-fossil fuel electricity generation including nuclear) in a few years time. If we don't build the reactors, solar towers, dams or whatever at that point then I doubt we ever will.

 

[56gsa]

how long is this WA Labor govt going to last tho as a result of the current crisis ... is the next election 2010? likely they will be out by then, if not before

that being said there is huge anti_U lobby in WA fuelled in part by the fear of become repository for global nuclear waste as Pangea tried in late 1990s.

 

[chops_a_must]

how long is this WA Labor govt going to last tho as a result of the current crisis ... is the next election 2010? likely they will be out by then, if not before

The funny thing is, the Libs are caught up in it as well, so they have to be careful. The Greens might be the only party left. Lol!

 

[56gsa]

The Greens might be the only party left.

surely Pauline Hansons One Nation party is still going strong Chops?

Not much of a response on the WA U stocks altho NEL is creeping up... any other good U deposits in WA u like (BHP with Yeerlirie and Rio with Kyntyre are the real beneficiaries)

ps thought the only way to a womens heart in perth atm would be through the subiaco boutique clothes stores - must be pretty crazy there with all that cash floating round...