Resources Council backs push to allow uranium mining

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) is calling on federal ALP members to push the Government to overrule the states on uraniumrock sand using quartzite stone mining. Some federal Labor MPs want to debate nuclear power at the party's national conference next year. Queensland mining magnate and Liberal National Party (LNP) supporter, Clive Palmer, has also backed the development of nuclear power in Australia.

However, Premier Anna Bligh, who is also ALP national president, says she will not overturn the ban on uranium mining in Queensland. QRC spokesman Michael Roche says if federal Labor MPs are serious about developing nuclear power in Australia they should open up Queensland's uranium deposits. "We're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, thousands of jobs, and jobs in regional Queensland, places like north-west Queensland," he said. "We have vast deposits of uranium and instead we are allowing South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory to satisfy the demands of an energy-hungry world.