Victoria sold France uranium despite ban

Press, 29 August 1986, Page 6

Victoria sold France uranium despite ban

NZPA-AAP Melbourne More than 400 tonnes of uranium concentrate have been shipped overseas from Victoria since the state’s anti-nuclear legislation went into effect in 1983. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that on page 1492, under Foreign Trade Statistics, 216 tonnes of monazite were sent to France in March, 1985. In the same month 198 tonnes of monazite was shipped to the United States. Monazite is a thorium ore that is converted to

uranium-233 in a reactor. In the statistics it is classified with “ores and concentrates of uranium and thorium.” The shipments are listed “by country of final destination and by state of origin.” Earlier this week, the Victorian Premier, Mr John Cain, said he did not know that 216 tonnes of uranium had been shipped from Victoria to France since the Nuclear Activities (Prohibitions) Act, 1983, went into force. The shipment to France was also in breach of the

Labour Party’s 1984 policy on uranium sales to France, affirmed unanimously at the national conference at Hobart in July. The relevant clause reads: “Refuse to allow the supply of Australian uranium to France until France ceases testing nuclear weapons in the South Pacific region.” ' The Federal Trade Minister, Mr John Dawkins, said earlier this week that the Government had breached party policy on uranium by deciding to resume sales to the French.