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Political Suicide in Australian Labor Government’s push for Nuclear Power

If the ALP wants to reverse this trend, re-energise its membership base and win Greens voters back to the Labor fold, the last thing it should be doing is trashing its remaining environmental credentials by adopting a pro-nuclear policy.

Labor going nuclear in rush to self destruct – Unleashed (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Sian Prior 18 Feb 2011, Someone’s clearly been handing out the idiot pills in the Labor Party.The first sign of it was in December 2010 when NSW Senator Steve Hutchins began publicly advocating a new debate over the party’s anti-nuclear power stance, with the aim of pushing through a change in Labor’s nuclear policy at the 2011 ALP National Conference.
This week Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson not only publicly supported this push for an Australian nuclear power industry, but he effectively conceded the accuracy of recent Wikileaks by urging his Labor Party comrades to use the forthcoming National Conference to approve the sale of uranium to India, a non-signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Those idiot pills must pack a powerful punch because surely no one in their right minds would want to alienate once and for all the remaining green-left rump of this formerly progressive party?…….

The ALP has been steadily leaking first preference votes to the Greens for over a decade. Not only that, it has been leaking membership, too………….If the ALP wants to reverse this trend, re-energise its membership base and win Greens voters back to the Labor fold, the last thing it should be doing is trashing its remaining environmental credentials by adopting a pro-nuclear policy. Not only might it be the last straw for many ALP members who are considering abandoning the party, but it makes no economic or environmental sense.Labor going nuclear in rush to self destruct – Unleashed (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

February 19, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, politics