Posts tagged australia

Photo: Kevin Rudd and British foreign secretary William Hague in London. (AFP: Adrian Dennis)

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia will follow the European Union’s lead in banning Iranian oil imports - but admits the scale of those imports at present is “negligible”.

On Monday the EU imposed a ban on Iranian oil imports from July in an effort to increase pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Speaking in London, Mr Rudd said Australia would be taking parallel action.

“On the question of Iran, let me be absolutely clear [regarding] the actions taken in Brussels yesterday on sanctions by the European Union, we in Australia will undertake precisely the same parallel action for Australia,” he said.

But this might be more of a symbolic gesture.

Mr Rudd was asked of Australia’s reliance, if any, on Iranian oil imports.

“They have become negligible over time,” he admitted, while saying “this is not a piece of idle philanthropy on the part of Australian foreign policy.”

The EU absorbs about 20 per cent of Iran’s oil exports.

Tehran denies its nuclear program is for military purposes, insisting it is for civilian use.

On Tuesday Iran said it expected the EU to backtrack on the embargo and repeated a threat to close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if the West succeeds in preventing Tehran from exporting crude.

“The West’s ineffective sanctions against the Islamic state are not a threat to us. They are opportunities and have already brought lots of benefits to the country,” intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi told the official IRNA news agency.

The tone in the Islamic Republic was defiant, even sceptical.

“The global economic situation is not one in which a country can be destroyed by imposing sanctions,” Mr Moslehi said, repeating Iran’s stance that with the EU in economic and monetary crisis, it needs Iran’s oil more than Iran needs its business.

A spokesman for the oil ministry said Iran had had plenty of time to prepare for the sanctions and would find alternative customers for the 18 per cent of its exports that up to now have gone to the 27-nation European bloc.

“The first phase of this (sanctions action) is propaganda, only then it will enter the implementation phase. That is why they put in this six months period, to study the market,” Alireza Nikzad Rahbar said, predicting the embargo could be rescinded before it takes force completely.

“This market will harm them because oil is getting more expensive and when oil gets more expensive it will harm the people of Europe,” state TV quoted him as saying.

“We hope that in these six months they will choose the right path.”

The embargo will not kick in completely until July 1 because the bloc’s foreign ministers who agreed the ban at a meeting in Brussels were anxious not to penalise the ailing economies of Greece, Italy and others to whom Iran is a major oil supplier.

(Source: abc.net.au)

The Australian Labor Party has overturned its ban on the sale of uranium to India in a fiery and emotional debate which Prime Minister Julia Gillard said was a sign of a “vibrant political party”.

The third and final day of the ALP’s national conference in Sydney was met with protesters angry over the carbon tax, offshore processing of asylum seekers and the party’s move to sell uranium to India, which has nuclear weapons.

Former prime minister and now foreign minister Kevin Rudd also made his first and only foray into the conference, praising Ms Gillard twice in a broad-ranging speech which also criticised the world view of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Ms Gillard said after the conference backed her resolution on uranium sales by a vote of 206 to 185 - to the jeers of anti-nuclear protesters and some delegates - that the ALP was alive and well.

“There’s always emotion and passion at Labor Party conferences, I think that’s a good thing,” she said.

“It’s a sign of a vibrant political party.”

Ms Gillard said it was illogical that Australia sold uranium to China and not to India, and any exports would be covered by a safeguards agreement and global checks that were better than those of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The industry says a safeguards agreement was likely to take several years but could yield export earnings of $300 million a year within two decades.

Resources Minister Martin Ferguson told the conference Australia couldn’t lecture the world about the importance of climate change action while denying them sources of clean energy.

But fellow frontbencher Peter Garrett spoke out against the motion, saying it weakened the party’s commitment to nuclear disarmament.

“What we are now saying is that we will make a one-off exception to a policy that has been held by Australian governments of both political persuasions for nearly four decades,” Mr Garrett said.

Speaking after the debate, Mr Garrett said he was disappointed but would be arguing strongly in caucus for “stringent safeguards”.

Left faction co-convenor Doug Cameron told the conference he didn’t want Labor’s light on the hill to become “a green pulsating nuclear light”.

“Prime minister, you are wrong,” Senator Cameron said.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was almost moved to tears as he spoke about his family’s experiences living in England near the Windscale nuclear plant at which there was a major incident in 1957.

“I’ve never voted for it, and I’m not going to vote for it today,” Senator Conroy said.

Greens senator Sarah-Hanson Young said outside the conference it was disappointing that Ms Gillard was lining up with former Liberal prime minister John Howard on uranium.

“This is Julia Gillard living John Howard all over again,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

In a final-day pep talk to ALP members, Mr Rudd - who went unmentioned in Ms Gillard’s opening address - praised the prime minister twice and criticised Mr Abbott for having a narrow world view.

“I think it’s a combination of Rudyard Kipling, Biggles and the Boy’s Own Annual - that’s Tony’s vision of the future,” Mr Rudd said.

“Mr Abbott has neither the experience nor the temperament to ever be the prime minister of this great country Australia.”

Mr Abbott told reporters in Brisbane the conference had been a “lot of internal navel-gazing”.

“They’re desperately trying to prop up Julia Gillard, at the same time to airbrush Kevin Rudd out of the Labor Party’s history,” he said.

Addressing a protest rally outside the conference, ACTU president Ged Kearney said unions and refugee advocates would continue to argue against the party’s support for offshore processing.

“The fight is in the hearts and minds of the people of Australia,” Ms Kearney said.

ALP president Jenny McAllister said at the end of the conference that delegates had delivered the “passionate policy debates” the prime minister had sought.

(Source: Yahoo!)

The Chinese government has questioned whether it is wise for Australia to host US Marines in the north of the country.

Up to 2,500 US Marines will be stationed in Australia by 2017 under a new agreement announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and US president Barack Obama.

The announcement comes as Australia and the US mark the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS alliance, and is widely seen as an attempt to balance against the rising influence of China in the region.

In response to a question from the ABC, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin contrasted his government’s actions with the stationing of American troops on Australian soil.

Mr Liu said China would never enter such military alliances.

“We believe that there should be real actions to further strengthen cooperation with the two sides,” he said.

“As for using the form of a military alliance, China has its own concepts of friendly co-operation with all countries.”

He also said that his country was actively promoting peaceful international development and called on other nations to adopt the same attitude.

Mr Liu said the global economy was in a rocky state and questioned whether now was a smart time for Australia to make the new agreement with the United States.

“It may not be appropriate to strengthen and extend this military alliance,” he said.

“Whether it suits the common interests of countries around the region and the whole international community remains under question.”

Mr Liu also said he hoped the United States will match its actions with its words in terms of promises that it is not trying to rein in China.

When questioned about China’s future in the Asia-Pacific, Mr Obama said he “welcomed a rising, peaceful China” but warned it must “play by the rules of the road”.

“What they’ve [China] been able to achieve in terms of lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty has been nothing short of remarkable,” he said.

“The main message that I’ve said not only publicly but also privately to China is that with their rise comes increased responsibility.”

Mr Obama also said he would welcome consultations with China.

“The notion that we fear China is mistaken. The notion that we are looking to exclude China is mistaken,” he said.

Indonesia has also expressed concern about the decision to station US marines in Australia.

Foreign minister Marty Natalegawa warned it could provoke a negative reaction.

“What I would hate to see is if such developments were to provoke a reaction and counter-reaction precisely to create that vicious circle of tensions and mistrust or distrust,” he said.

“That’s why it’s very important when a decision of this type is taken there is transparency of what the scenario being envisaged is and there is no misunderstanding as a result.”

(Source: abc.net.au)

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has set the stage for a showdown with her party’s Left at Labor’s national conference by back-flipping on the ALP’s opposition to selling uranium to India.

In an opinion piece published in Fairfax newspapers this morning, Ms Gillard argues the move would strengthen Australia’s relations with India, which possesses nuclear weapons but is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

She says selling uranium to India for peaceful purposes will broaden Australian markets and increase jobs.

“We must, of course, expect of India the same standards we do of all countries for uranium export - strict adherence to International Atomic Energy Agency arrangements and strong bilateral and transparency measures which will provide assurances our uranium will be used only for peaceful purposes,” she wrote.

“[We] must be prepared to confront difficult questions about maximising prosperity and the strength of our relationships in our region of the world.”

Labor policy prohibits selling uranium to any country that is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the move will face opposition from the ALP’s Left faction

But pressure has been mounting to change the policy, with Resources Minister Martin Ferguson and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd both in support of selling uranium to India.

India refuses to sign the treaty because it wants to retain the nuclear option to defend itself against nuclear-armed neighbours, Pakistan and China.

Mr Ferguson says India is not a rogue nuclear nation.

“The international approach to India has changed dramatically with the Nuclear Suppliers Group decision of 2007, led by the United States, to actually sell uranium to India,” he said this morning.

“We can sell uranium as a nation to countries such as China and Russia, but under our existing policy, which is outdated, it actually is a hangover from the 1970s … we can’t currently sell uranium to India, the biggest democracy in the world, 1.109 billion people, which I might say, 400 million live below the poverty line.”

He says the move is about “normalising” Australia’s relationship with India.

“India could purchase uranium from a range of countries, but they are desirous, at some point, of being able to purchase uranium from Australia,” he said.

Full Story ABC News

FULL-BODY scanners will be introduced at Australia’s eight major gateway airports after receiving the green light from the federal government.

The decision comes after trials of the scanners in Melbourne and Sydney and has a target date of July 1 2012.

EU Adopts Rules To Use Full-Body Scanners At Airports

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)—The European Commission Monday adopted rules that will allow airports in the European Union to use full-body scanners instead of metal detectors at their security checks, while also guaranteeing strict privacy standards for passengers.

The measures will “ensure that where this new technology is used it will be covered by EU-wide standards on detection capability as well as strict safeguards to protect health and fundamental rights,” Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said in a statement. “The new legislation legally allows member states and airports to replace current security systems with security scanners,” the commission said.

The use of this type of scanner—on which each country can decide—has seen some opposition in the EU, as the systems can detect plastic explosives that wouldn’t be found by a regular scanner, but can also give a full picture of a person’s body, possibly breaching their rights.

Because of this, the new rules, which will provide a common legal framework for the use of body scanners in the EU, state that passengers’ faces must be blurred and once the technology becomes widely available the scanners will only be able to show a matchstick picture. Images mustn’t be saved and the viewer will have to be in a separate room from the one where the scanning takes place.

Travelers will also have to be able to refuse to go through full body scanners and select another search method, the commission said, adding that no X-ray technology will be used for the scanners.

The industry welcomed the decision, saying it was an important move. “It’s a tremendous step forward…For the first time, you’re not adding layer on layer, you’re replacing equipment,” Magnus Ovilius, senior vice-president for government relations at Smiths Group PLC (SMIN.LN), a manufacturer of security scanners. Ovilius is also director of the European Organization for Security, a Brussels trade group.

Some EU countries, including the U.K., Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy, have been trialing the scanners, after an attempt two years ago to blow up a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit with plastic explosives hidden in an individual’s underwear, the commission said.

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